What's Happening Lately
I'm a procrastinator. I know a lot of people claim to be but I'm really bad. It's my grand shame. I read a book once about procrastination and how to "overcome" it. It was written by some psychologists who claimed to be procrastinators as well. In an early chapter they made the claim that procrastination isn't an across the board behaviour--rather it's a chosen behavior in certain situations. Later they introduced a little quiz to help isolate the problem. Their point was that once you figure out what types of activities/tasks you put off you can then address your issue/s. Typical therapists.
"You will probably find that no matter how pervasive you believe your procrastination to be," they say, "when you take a closer look you'll see that you procrastinate selecively." Here's their list and I'll mark my problem areas with an X.
Household:
X day-to-day chores (e.g., dishes)
X minor home projects or repairs
X gardening and yard maintenance
X calling a repairman
X returning defective or unwanted merchandise
X large home or yard projects
X car maintenance and repairs
X paying household bills
X grocery shopping
X running errands for spouse or children
Work:
X being on time for work
X being on time for meetings
X making business phone calls
X making decisions
X doing paperwork
X writing reports
X keeping up with work related reading
etc.
School
attending classes (tardy but not truant)
doing homework assignments (But I do them at the last minute.)
X keeping up with reading for classes
X studying for tests
X writing papers
X talking with a teacher or advisor
X applying to college
X doing bureaucratic tasks
X returning library books
etc.
Personal Care
X getting physical exercise
X losing weight
X making medical or dental appointments
X personal hygiene (I'm good now. As un undergrad though...ick)
X shopping for new clothes
X getting a haircut (well...)
reading for personal interest
pursuing hobbies (like t.v. and internet?)
X taking vacations
etc.
Social Relationships
X calling friends
X asking someone for a date
X personal correspondence
X inviting people to your home
X visiting relatives
X calling or writing relatives
X planning recreational activities with other people
X expressing appreciation
X giving gifts or sending cards
X giving parties
X being on time for social events
X asking for help or support
X confronting someone about a problem
X telling someone you're angry or upset
Finances:
X filing by April 15
paying quarterly taxes (huh? not checked cause I don't know what this means.)
X organizing receipts and tax records
X finding an accountant
X budgeting money
X making investments
X calling the bank about a problem
X paying credit card bills
X paying parking tickets
X paying back institutional loans
X paying back personal loans
X collecting debts owed to you
X paying insurance premiums
X balancing checkbook.
Remember that episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry becomes warm-hearted and asks George to open-up to him? So George gives in and shares all his deepest darkest secrets. Everything he's capable of. Remember the look on Jerry's face when the scene cuts to the "after" shot? I'm George in that one.
When speaking in my absence a friend once said about me "I don't know how Michael manages to know what he does about books and TV and still get as much sleep as he does." Before it got back to me so that I might think of it as a complement he clarified his intent. "It's not that he knows so much about books. It's just that he sleeps so much and constantly watches TV."
2 comments:
Maybe it is because I'm really tired, but this post gave me a much needed laugh, so thank you Michael.
At first I thought you had every single line marked with an X! I too am a horrid procrastinator, which is why I've barely started a huge presentation for my Linguistics class that I give on Thursday, in my second language! Ahhhhh!
i procrastinate too. as i read the lists i mentally checked many of them. it's a little scary. i always knew i was a procrastinator, i just didn't realize how much. i guess some of these things i don't necessarily procratinate on, it just takes a great deal of self-talk to get me to do them. and that self-talking time may appear to be procrastinating, but only becomes procrastinating when i put off telling myself to just take a deep breathe and start writing...or pick up the phone...or put on my shoes and go outside to walk.
and why are the lists of all the things we have to do in life so long? no wonder we put things off.
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