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Structured Procrastination - hahaha

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mouser:
ok, i know a lot of us hardcore procrastinators have already thought of this, but this is the best i've ever seen it described.

...
I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, an NSF proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of time.
...

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http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/




from digg.com

JavaJones:
lol! Pure genius. Loved the concluding bit:

The observant reader may feel at this point that structured procrastination requires a certain amount of self-deception, since one is in effect constantly perpetrating a pyramid scheme on oneself. Exactly. One needs to be able to recognize and commit oneself to tasks with inflated importance and unreal deadlines, while making oneself feel that they are important and urgent. This is not a problem, because virtually all procrastinators have excellent self-deceptive skills also. And what could be more noble than using one character flaw to offset the bad effects of another?
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That last line is priceless.

- Oshyan

app103:
Site designed by the author's granddaughter, who did the work while avoiding the far more weighty assignment of her literature test
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I see it runs in the family  ;D

It all comes down to things you have to do vs things you want to do. Even if the things you have to do are things you want to do, if they are work you are not going to want to do them. You will put them off till the last minute.

The best procrastinators can do in 6 hours what it would take a normal person 6 months to do. And it will look as if they took 12 months to do it rather than 6 hours. And they know this. And they work better under pressure...so they put it off and do other things in order to create that pressure on themselves that brings out the best in them.

But there is a need for a firm deadline for this to work. If something is due "sometime" it will never get done. If it's due tomorrow, it will get done tonight.

The greatest procrastinators are efficiency experts. They know just how & where to cut corners without compromising quality..and often times they increase quality with their corner cutting.

And my comment about it running in the family...it's true. Effective procrastination is a learned behavior, passed down from generation to generation...or it could be a genetic trait...I am not sure...but I do know it runs in families. I come from a long line of them myself....and my daughter is even better at it than I am.  :D

nudone:
nice find.

JavaJones:
Great comments app, very insightful! Deadlines are indeed key. I'm struggling with that right now. If you can believe it, one of my bosses is *too* lenient. :P

- Oshyan

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