Fetch me my axe: another question.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

another question.

How do y'all deal with procrastination tendencies?

30 comments:

Anonymous said...: I nag myself, but as a tactic it doesn't work too well.; June 17, 2007 12:59 PM
nexy said...: i put it off for another time.; June 17, 2007 1:32 PM
Anonymous said...: I usually have to remove all distractions, including shutting off the Internet if possible. (As in, literally turning off the router.) Also, as far as writing papers goes (I'm in college) it helps if I turn on some loud music, which seems to get me more energetic and writing faster. Usually when I procrastinate, it's because I don't have the energy to do whatever it is I should be doing, so being energized helps. Caffeine doesn't energize me, and it interferes with my meds and makes me shaky and cranky, so that's right out. I usually try to drink water too, which seems to make me less sluggish.; June 17, 2007 1:37 PM
beansa said...: I'll tell ya later.; June 17, 2007 1:59 PM
belledame222 said...: hardehar, everyone's a damn comic. yeah, i figured.; June 17, 2007 2:00 PM
Rootietoot said...: If something can be put off until later, I do it right away, then I don't have to think about it anymore. Unless it's something I *really* don't want to do, then I put it off until someone says something, and I say "what? I don't remember that." No one argues because they know I'm on lithium and I have them all convinced it affects my memory.; June 17, 2007 2:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Write it down onthe list. Get some sleep. Get started on the task.; June 17, 2007 2:22 PM
Anonymous said...: When I was in grad school I would do a lot of what I called "prep thinking." It was procrastination with a purpose. I was not writing a paper or studying but instead I would blog, watch tv, etc. while intermittently thinking about whatever I was actually supposed to do. It worked for me :)

I love procrastinating. For me, all of my good stuff usually gets squeezed out near the end of a deadline. :-); June 17, 2007 2:24 PM
Nanette said...: I put it off til tomorrow, figuring I'll deal with it then.

After all, it's only a day away, no?

(When you learn the secret, let me know... a friend of mine once gave me A Round Tuit, but even that didn't work).; June 17, 2007 2:25 PM
Anonymous said...: I think procrastination is often a good thing - particularly (hi Meredith!) with regard to college papers. There is nothing more dispiriting than beginning an essay in a fit of seize-the-dayism only to find the words petering out after 20 minutes of furious brain-effort.

If you want to seize the day, you have to wait for the day.

Quote me on it.; June 17, 2007 3:03 PM
belledame222 said...: yes well.

unfortunately i'm a -month- behind in this correspondance course i'm taking. it's set your own pace, but there -is- a time limit. ironically the later it gets the less able to concentrate on just doing the fucking thing i feel like.; June 17, 2007 3:19 PM
saraeanderson said...: I often deal with it by failing or giving up. But that's probably not what you're looking for.; June 17, 2007 3:41 PM
Anonymous said...: BD - perhaps you should consider a break from blogging and a break from the internet if necessary? I mean I'll miss you like hell and so will many others, I'm sure. But sometimes you have to prioritize your own stuff, you know.; June 17, 2007 5:25 PM
belledame222 said...: o, do I.

yeah.

okay, signing off until i at least finish this assignment.; June 17, 2007 7:26 PM
Anonymous said...: I am boring, but it works for me: I set a timer and work for 45 minutes, then take a 15 minute break, then do it again for however long I've agreed with myself to work.

(Though the worst kind of procrastination is when I can't seem to get myself to set the timer in the first place. But once I set the timer, I am golden.); June 17, 2007 8:39 PM
Octogalore said...: Deadlines and scheduling parts of tasks to be completed on certain days. Boring but it works.; June 17, 2007 9:18 PM
Nanette said...: "I love the sound of deadlines. I love to hear the *whoosh!* they make as they fly right on by."

Said (basically, not a direct quote) by someone or other, I can't remember who.; June 17, 2007 10:00 PM
Alex said...: I'm also the kind of person that works to a deadline, and I just. don't. meet my own. Other people, I will not fail. Myself? Well, then I'm only failing me!

And feeling shitty about it later.

But that doesn't stop meeeee... woohoo.; June 17, 2007 10:36 PM
baby221 said...: I don't, at least not very well. Sometimes having someone else around to nag at me works, but more often than not I just get frustrated with whomever I assigned to the job. :p

So I wait until the last possible moment, use the adrenaline rush of inspiration to finish it, cross my fingers and hope for the best.; June 17, 2007 11:09 PM
J. Goff said...: Normally, I procrastinate by doing other things I want to do, yet need to do, if that makes any sense. I love to do physics problems, and sometimes, especially on some paper I have to write up, I just try to do something I like that I have to do, like physics homework or grading the homework I've been given to grade. I like numbers a whole lot, and a lot of times, after doing that thing for a while, my mind is focussed and ready for the task that I had been dreading.

Sometimes, though, I just sleep or read to procrastinate, which doesn't usually help. I think the real reason I procrastinate is that I want to delay everything to the point where I have no choice but to focus and get my butt in gear. I can get things done in the hour before a deadline that some people can't get done in three weeks of steady effort. I'm really messed up like that.; June 17, 2007 11:09 PM
andi said...: when I find a way around them, I'll share :) Seriously I am sitting here looking at a baby blanket that I am stitching...trying to make myself do it. Same with cooking dinner ( it's now 11:45pm) and figuring out what to wear tomorrow.; June 17, 2007 11:48 PM
beansa said...: For the most important stuff, I seem to have some kind of internal timer that goes off and then I know I've procrastinated long enough and I better get crackin.

The rediculous thing is that I know this, but I still beat myself up for procrastinating.; June 18, 2007 1:13 AM
Alon Levy said...: I've dealt with procrastination by mastering the art of writing a paper in one night, which in the humanities entails knowing how to squeeze the most out of a limited number of references.

In other matters, I either do the thing because I like it or don't do it at all. When I procrastinate writing my book's sequel, it's sometimes out of laziness, but often out of being in a mental state where I can't do anything more thoughtful than comment on a blog, and certainly not read or write or do math.; June 18, 2007 2:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Good luck with your assignment!

I once took a course in university that was similar. You had to take electronic exams for like 17 chapters.

So, I waited until like the last month of school. And I am not a procrastinator at all.

Let me tell you...I learned my lesson and did manage to get an A!; June 18, 2007 5:14 AM
Anonymous said...: I'm a horrible procrastinator, but I find that I can get stuff done if I lock myself up in my flat. There's no internet, I don't really have any other good distractions, so if faced with the choice of watching something like Dr Phil or studying, studying usually wins.; June 18, 2007 5:52 AM
Anonymous said...: If I've got a big chunk of time available to knock stuff out in, I've been known occasionally to post my to-do list on my blog, updating as I cross stuff off the list. Works pretty well.; June 18, 2007 7:10 AM
S* said...: I don't procrastinate. I get itchy if I do.; June 18, 2007 9:29 AM
Otter said...: LOL I read blogs...like now!; June 18, 2007 12:53 PM
ballgame said...: I have a theory that a tendency to procrastinate is strongly correlated with 'coagulated' anger. If you have a way to physically vent this anger (if indeed you have it), you may find your internal resistance to the task at hand will become much less once you've done so.

Just a theory. YMMV.; June 18, 2007 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...: I do a blog post kidding on it is research-related. Which it kinda is sometimes... so it's not really procrastination... so it's fine. :); June 19, 2007 11:34 AM