Slate has a feature today on procrastination: Just Don't Do It. I like what Emily Yoffe's twelve-year-old daughter tells her mom about procrastination:
"Mom, you sit down to go to work, then you go to the bathroom, then you walk Sasha, then you say you're checking one last e-mail. You take a lot of breaks, Mom. You say you don't get any work done after I get home from school, but I'm 12, and I don't bother you anymore. Then you'll have so much work, you work 15 hours a day and you don't even come down to dinner. You've got to balance it out."Kid's smart.
In my battle with procrastination, I've found two strategies especially helpful: working with breaks and reminding myself of how grateful my future self will be when x (whatever x might equal) is done.
Good suggestion. I'm going to try it with my writing and will report the results.
ReplyDeleteHowever, procrastination can be creative, too.
Yes: Structured Procrastination.
ReplyDeleteI like "loafing" (Walt Whitman), but when it comes to grading papers, procrastination just makes the inevitable work seem more and more impossible.