The Art of Procrastination
August 13th 2010 13:32
It is a well known misconception that procrastinating is a preoccupation that one endures when something that is more important needs to be done which requires very little skill or effort where any lay person can achieve this state of procrastination with ease. But I'm here to tell you otherwise. Procrastination as the title suggests is an art from, one that requires dedication, determination, skill and experience to achieve the optimum level. It would be like me doing surgery on some unknowing patient, technically I could perform surgery however let's face I would do more damage than good. I know what you are thinking am I seriously comparing a procedure that helps save lives to a process that is usually done by lazy teenagers and uni students to avoid doing important but dangerously boring school work, and my reply would be yes. As I alluded procrastination allows me to avoid potentially life threatening (due to extreme boredom) content that is constantly being thrown at me by dull lecturers. With that in mind it’s not surprising that many in my position will do anything to avoid such situations.
Even in the field of medical professions (why not keep the analogy going) there are some that are exceptional and receive awards and buck loads of recognition for their work and dedication to the field of medicine and at the same token there are a bunch of doctors that are just pulling their weight. Well this is no different to procrastinators except the whole receiving awards for it, some procrastinators are boundless in their ability wiggle, talk, and rationalise their way out of doing something productive whilst others are weak and quickly succumb to the prospect of failing as too great of a risk. Similarly procrastinators need a few basic characteristics -
Motivation
Dedication and
Determination
And with these characteristics they are able to learn, develop and eventually master the art of Procrastination.
Motivation
One of my favourite statements is this - if there is a will there is a way. Procrastination encapsulates this; when one does not want to do a 3000 word essay on the economic trends in the past 50 years, here there is no actual will or motivation do so therefore the way into achieving a completed essay is pretty much non existent. For example instead of sitting down and writing the essay, you break the essay into parts, furthermore you write down all the things that needs to be writen in the essay in a timetable and then further coloured code your timetable and re-categorize your topic and so forth (some might call this planning while for others its simply procrastinating). The best aspect of the aforementioned statement is that it can be applied to the opposite. As much as there is no will to write the essay inturn there is an immense motivation to procrastinate.
Dedication
This is the aspect that many people struggle with. Most people that enter the world of procrastination usually don't lack the will or the motivation and hence they do moderately well in procrastinating however where many people fail is the aspect of dedication, even when everything that can be possible be done is done, for example you have coloured coded your timetable, re-categorised your topics, draw some unnecessary mind maps, and diagrams to help you "channel" your thoughts. You have now reached a road block most at this stage would realise there is no way to avoid it, its probably time to start that essay. But no, the dedicated procrastinators, the elite procrastinators would now embark on checking the emails. And there are so many emails to check too, there's your work email, your uni email, your hotmail, your gmail etc. This then undoubtedly leads to replying to emails, then further leads to checking the Facebook* notifications.
Determination
The elitist of the elitist of the elite procrastinators, some might call them the Master Procrastinators are the small few that have the sheer determination to procrastinate. Even when all unnecessary mind maps are made, when all emails checked and replied, even with a couple of hours wasted watching TV or watching your favourite show many by this stage have well and truly realised there is no avoiding it, that essay must be done. But for a Master Procrastinator when it seems that there is nothing left to do, their ability to identify and recognise boundless areas of which they have yet to have tired to avoid writing that essay they will explore. Even it requires staring at a blank wall for hours on end, they will do it. This, my friends is the real determination that is needed to be a Master of Procrastination.
If I haven't convinced already about the worthiness of procrastinating to be recognised not only a possible occupation but an actual art form then hopefully the next few lines will.
As aforementioned procrastination requires skill on top of these characteristics. These skills are not quite formalised hence it's difficult to teach to others. Although one must not underestimate procrastinators they may release a self help book in the distant future (but personally I wouldn't wait around for it). Therefore this lack of formal teaching leads most of the skills being obtained though word of mouth. At the every basic level, you would need to rationalise your actions, for example justify to your self that what you are doing is eventually going to be beneficial to in the long run e.g. I need my room clean for me to be able to study. The best way to do this is write down in a list all the things that need to be done which is both "important" but irrelevant to the task you are avoiding and then write down all the things that you need for the task to be completed (you can rationalise this as planning). After that you proceed to do this these “important but irrelevant” tasks. Here's is a example of good procrastinating, to avoid doing your task write down an unnecessary to do list, and since you have written them down you have to do them. Furthermore train yourself to write down in order the most pointless, most time consuming task first and then proceed to do this list in order.
Not doing anything productive is hard work, so hence it's highly recommended that you take frequent breaks. Sometimes you just need a fresh air to clear your mind of nothingness that currently fills it. Snacks are always needed particularly when you are about to study.
The rewards system was something that introduced to me by a teacher to help me to be motivated to study; I of course made some modifications to it. The reward system works like this; you do a piece of work such as a few hours of studying then after completion of this you reward yourself with a treat - half hour of your favourite show or food break. I however believe that you should always treat yourself or reward yourself even before you begin to open a book. 1 hour of 30 Rock will be done first then followed by studying. While others may take this approach, 2 hours of checking emails/FB notifications, 15 minutes of studying and then a well deserved reward of 2 episodes of Gossip Girl. Eventually one will do 3 hours of nothing and followed by 2 episodes of Gossip Girl then 15 minutes of studying.
If you don't have one already obtain a distraction may it be a blog, a gaming community, join some forums (that is strictly not educational), join a book club etc. These are avenues will allow you help procrastinate, remember these require easy access (such as a computer), requires constant input from you or updating and wastes copious amounts of time.
Here is an example that incorporates as much as possible all the things that I mentioned.
Spend at least 1 hour writing of all the things that needed be done before you start your intended task, then spend another 1 hour to make a timetable of how you wish your day should be like and don't stick to it, if you wish colour code your timetable do so. After this is completed take a break for half an hour, then clean your house/ work area (which should take about 2 hours). Now you are naturally tired and hungry hence take another break (30 minutes). This is followed by 2 hours of checking emails, this will eventually make you realise that you haven't blogged/wrote in a forum/another distracter in a while hence you do that (3 hours). Overwhelmed by how much your have "achieved" you now believe you deserve a reward hence 3 episodes of 30 Rock is watched (or some other show, 1.5 hours) and then finally when all that is done you do 30 minutes of intended task (naturally you don't finish it).
11.5 hours procrastinating
30 minutes being productive.
*sigh* that was hard work and that was pretty epic if I do say so myself. But hopeful that was extremely useful although I guess I should mention that procrastination does lead to adverse effects but I feel that I need not to mention it extensively. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know its long and half way you may lose concentration hence if you are reading this thank you so much and kudos to you for being able to reach the end.
*This requires its own blog entry for its contributions to the art of Procrastination, without it many people out there would be at lost and dare I say highly productive.
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