Procrastinating
Jan. 6th, 2010 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darishaHave you ever found yourself staring at a blank computer screen during the wee hours of the morning, the night before some major assignment or project is due? Congratulations, you are one of the 20% of the population that experience acute procrastination.
Stemming from the Latin word procrastinus – pro- (forward) and crastinus- (tomorrow) – the term “procrastination” was first used in the 17th Century during a sermon by Reverend Anthoney Walker who reflected on the word’s connection at the time to task avoidance or delay, volition or will, and sin. Today we define procrastination as ‘the deferment or avoidance of an action or task which requires completion by focusing on some other action or task.’
I once asked a school counsellor whether she considered procrastination a mental illness (or at least a symptom of one), and what she noticed most common amongst people suffering from this condition. Her words were: “it’s not a condition; it’s not something that’s wrong with you. It’s a behaviour that people indulge in.”
However, if we were to look at the dictionary definition of a condition:
con⋅di⋅tion
[kuh n-dish-uh n]
- noun
1. a particular mode of being of a person or thing; existing state; situation with respect to circumstances.
2. state of health: He was reported to be in critical condition.
3. fit or requisite state: to be out of condition; to be in no condition to run.
By her definition, procrastination IS a condition - it is a habit we develop in our daily lives; a “particular mode of being”. Anyone who is a chronic procrastinator will agree that it can be a very debilitating state – many people procrastinate even getting out of bed in the morning. Many studies I’ve read describe procrastination as a potential surface symptom of depression.
Now, I’m not saying that ALL procrastinators are depressed. If you think of procrastination as a trait, then we all have a certain amount within us. It's related to conscientiousness - your sense of discipline and duty as it applies to your conscience. For most people, the "procrastinating" we do is not problematic and doesn’t really affect our daily lives. Most of the time, we are simply (and unreasonably) beating ourselves up for being procrastinators when the real problem is that we live in a world that is loaded with deadlines and, more often than not, simply load too much onto our plate.
University, for example, makes procrastinators of many people. Or more accurately, it brings out that trait, even in people who have low levels of it. There are constant deadlines, apprehension about exams and final results, and then there are the projects that each lecturer demands take priority, constantly competing for a student’s time.
The point is, not all deferring of tasks is procrastination. There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could (a) work on nothing, (b) work on something less important, or (c) work on something more important. No one can “cure” procrastination, but we can all aim to achieve type (c). In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with putting off smaller, less important tasks to focus on something much bigger – it’s just a matter of prioritising.
As a writer, I’m constantly thrown up against mental blocks – Facebook, email, even hours of solitaire seem a better alternative to working on a story I can’t wrap my head around. It’s hard work to get myself into the right frame of mind to write, and even harder to keep myself there. My writing needs to be done in long, uninterrupted stretches when the inspiration hits, not dutifully slotted into scheduled little slices of time. Having to constantly turn my attention away to go to work or go to class, pay bills, clean the house, kick my sister out of my room (cause trust me, she’s always in here), really limits my productivity. The cost of interruption is not just the time it takes to do something, but that it breaks up my creative time. It only takes a few distractions or interruptions to completely throw off my flow and make me less inclined to get back on track.
My trick is to take myself away from my computer for a while and head somewhere that inspires me – the park, the library, even the McDonald's down the road. Somewhere open and peaceful that reminds me of the scene setting I’m trying to write (and McDonald's has cheap lattes). I tend to do a lot of my writing at night, and since I don’t drive, getting to these places is often difficult. I’m hoping to save some money towards creating a sort of Zen garden in my backyard – close to home, yet so utterly removed from it that I can feel like I’ve gone somewhere different (and since my sister never goes outside, it’ll be utterly free from disturbance, lol).
So you’re probably wondering if I have some sort of point in writing this... Not really. I’m just putting off working on the next part of the Refraction script, lol >_>;;
As I said – procrastination is ok if you’re working on something equally (if not more) productive, and I figure any sort of writing (in my case) is productive =P (at least, that's what I keep telling myself, lol).
If you’re also one who experiences procrastination on a daily basis, the internet is a great source of information and tips for getting yourself out of your rut into the right frame of mind. Don’t be afraid to commit time to something – just make sure it’s the right sort of something. Hard work on larger projects (even if only in small slices) will always lead to something (and is less likely to make you hate yourself at the end of it), lol.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/are-you-procrastinator
http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
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Dimi's Random Thought For The Day: Have you ever noticed how hard it is to think when you're hungry?
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Stemming from the Latin word procrastinus – pro- (forward) and crastinus- (tomorrow) – the term “procrastination” was first used in the 17th Century during a sermon by Reverend Anthoney Walker who reflected on the word’s connection at the time to task avoidance or delay, volition or will, and sin. Today we define procrastination as ‘the deferment or avoidance of an action or task which requires completion by focusing on some other action or task.’
I once asked a school counsellor whether she considered procrastination a mental illness (or at least a symptom of one), and what she noticed most common amongst people suffering from this condition. Her words were: “it’s not a condition; it’s not something that’s wrong with you. It’s a behaviour that people indulge in.”
However, if we were to look at the dictionary definition of a condition:
con⋅di⋅tion
[kuh n-dish-uh n]
- noun
1. a particular mode of being of a person or thing; existing state; situation with respect to circumstances.
2. state of health: He was reported to be in critical condition.
3. fit or requisite state: to be out of condition; to be in no condition to run.
By her definition, procrastination IS a condition - it is a habit we develop in our daily lives; a “particular mode of being”. Anyone who is a chronic procrastinator will agree that it can be a very debilitating state – many people procrastinate even getting out of bed in the morning. Many studies I’ve read describe procrastination as a potential surface symptom of depression.
Now, I’m not saying that ALL procrastinators are depressed. If you think of procrastination as a trait, then we all have a certain amount within us. It's related to conscientiousness - your sense of discipline and duty as it applies to your conscience. For most people, the "procrastinating" we do is not problematic and doesn’t really affect our daily lives. Most of the time, we are simply (and unreasonably) beating ourselves up for being procrastinators when the real problem is that we live in a world that is loaded with deadlines and, more often than not, simply load too much onto our plate.
University, for example, makes procrastinators of many people. Or more accurately, it brings out that trait, even in people who have low levels of it. There are constant deadlines, apprehension about exams and final results, and then there are the projects that each lecturer demands take priority, constantly competing for a student’s time.
The point is, not all deferring of tasks is procrastination. There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could (a) work on nothing, (b) work on something less important, or (c) work on something more important. No one can “cure” procrastination, but we can all aim to achieve type (c). In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with putting off smaller, less important tasks to focus on something much bigger – it’s just a matter of prioritising.
As a writer, I’m constantly thrown up against mental blocks – Facebook, email, even hours of solitaire seem a better alternative to working on a story I can’t wrap my head around. It’s hard work to get myself into the right frame of mind to write, and even harder to keep myself there. My writing needs to be done in long, uninterrupted stretches when the inspiration hits, not dutifully slotted into scheduled little slices of time. Having to constantly turn my attention away to go to work or go to class, pay bills, clean the house, kick my sister out of my room (cause trust me, she’s always in here), really limits my productivity. The cost of interruption is not just the time it takes to do something, but that it breaks up my creative time. It only takes a few distractions or interruptions to completely throw off my flow and make me less inclined to get back on track.
My trick is to take myself away from my computer for a while and head somewhere that inspires me – the park, the library, even the McDonald's down the road. Somewhere open and peaceful that reminds me of the scene setting I’m trying to write (and McDonald's has cheap lattes). I tend to do a lot of my writing at night, and since I don’t drive, getting to these places is often difficult. I’m hoping to save some money towards creating a sort of Zen garden in my backyard – close to home, yet so utterly removed from it that I can feel like I’ve gone somewhere different (and since my sister never goes outside, it’ll be utterly free from disturbance, lol).
So you’re probably wondering if I have some sort of point in writing this... Not really. I’m just putting off working on the next part of the Refraction script, lol >_>;;
As I said – procrastination is ok if you’re working on something equally (if not more) productive, and I figure any sort of writing (in my case) is productive =P (at least, that's what I keep telling myself, lol).
If you’re also one who experiences procrastination on a daily basis, the internet is a great source of information and tips for getting yourself out of your rut into the right frame of mind. Don’t be afraid to commit time to something – just make sure it’s the right sort of something. Hard work on larger projects (even if only in small slices) will always lead to something (and is less likely to make you hate yourself at the end of it), lol.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/are-you-procrastinator
http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
--
Dimi's Random Thought For The Day: Have you ever noticed how hard it is to think when you're hungry?
--
