I really should be grading. I have dozens of papers to get through, numbers to enter and calculate, and exams to write for Monday.
But what am I doing (other than blogging?): cooking. I’ve already tidied the apartment and done most of the dishes and taken out the recycling and browsed the papers. I’m making another pot pie before my remaining celery gets all rubbery, and I’ve decided to try to make rugelach. Messy.
I know that getting this grading done (even for just one of the classes) will be a huge weight off my shoulders, but ugh, sitting down with it makes all my hackles rise. So I’ll just prep this dough…I’ll just slice all the veggies…I’ll just clean the catbox.
When cleaning the catbox becomes attractive, you know you’re in Deep Procrastination Territory.
I don’t know anyone who isn’t a procrastinator, at least about some thing or other. My students always admit it sheepishly, as if they must be the only ones who put things off until the last minute. I don’t excuse them, because I know–and I want them to know–that procrastination results in poorer quality work. But I also can’t really judge them for it.
The good thing about my procrastination is that at least I do get things done. I usually don’t procrastinate by watching crappy TV. I can fall down the internet-hole, but that’s less likely than busying myself with other useful (or arguably useful) things. Grading is the thing I hate the most, and writing is the next biggest task I’m likely to avoid (although I have days where I can dive right in, too), so at midterm and semester’s end, my apartment is sparkling and my fridge is full of treats.
So, obviously, today’s FFT is about what you procrastinate on, and what you do instead what what you should be doing. Or are you that mythical creature that never puts off things? (If so, I will be sending you a SASE for your newsletter.) Spill it, foot-draggers! You know you’re just avoiding work, anyway.
I just finished grading the HW but now I have to write the final. I’m listening to a bunch of podcasts on iTunes about John Lennon.
Also there’s another blog that is an echo chamber. I don’t comment but I think just reading it is bad for me. It never builds up to anything. So yeah, the internet is full of rabbit holes.
uh… can I have some rugelach?
Can I get back to you on that?
j/k
Sometimes I think back (sorta)fondly on the days when my employer firewalled all social media and outside e-mail accounts. Because I fall down the internet hole pretty easily, especially with commenting, which allows me to carry on a conversation with non-work people during my work day.
I’m hopeless at procrastinating – if there’s something to be done I can’t relax until it’s out of the way. I am the laziest person in the world (other than my big sister) but my laziness likes to get things done and out of the way immediately for more uninterrupted and un-anxious loafing time.
That said, I’m at work now… :whistles innocently:
I don’t usually fall into an internet hole for hours and hours but I will sit down to do an assignment only to have it become ten minutes of writing, forty minutes of internet (often That Other Blog).
The best procrastination advice I ever heard was to just think about whether the mental anguish of not doing the thing would actually be more painful than just doing the thing, and act accordingly. I hate mental anguish, this has served me well. That said, this advice was from an Wall Street banker who went into the office on Boxing Day when I was specially staying at his house for Christmas in New York, so make of that what you will.
LOL! I am in the midst of writing 2 papers – 30 pages due Monday, 25 pages due Tuesday, and I have jumped into the Internet hole. Part of my problem is that a lot of my sources are online now, so I can’t just avoid the browser.
Also Freecell – I have a really good win percentage and I can keep trying to beat the game so WHY WOULDN’T I?? When I need to get away from the computer, I tend to do housework. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming…I have even been known to tackle FILING.
I do have one advantage right now. Being poor, I’m crocheting scarves for my nephews and nieces. I get to take a break from papers and crochet a few rows, shut my brain off, reset. Since we’re going to see two of them (gulp) next week, I need to get moving on those…so now I’m adding to my stress level.
Wow. I have a better idea of what I procrastinate with than what I’m working on…EEK.
Oh, this was perfect timing. I have seminar papers due next week, and I’ve spent the morning down the internet hole. But you’ve pulled me out! On to the shower and the coffee shop (where they don’t have internet, so I actually get something done.)
I like to read this article on Wikihow about procrastination when I’m procrastinating. It makes me feel so meta and virtuous all at once!
I can fall down the Internet hole for hours. Or the Etsy hole, depending on my finances. At any rate, I am awesome at trivia and have a funky wardrobe, as a result.
SkipToMyLou’s advice is pretty solid – I’ll have to make a note of that. I am often wracked with guilt over my Internet habits at work but can’t seem to stop.
Augh!! I am being punished by the html gods for my abuse of work time!! Please fix!
Fixed, Hilary! (It gave me something to do while waiting for my stuff to come out of the oven…)
Read. That’s pretty much all I do if I can get away with it. I’m actually supposed to do some research on the internet, write articles and look after my children today. Instead I am reading Joseph O’Connor’s Ghost Light. I thoroughly recommend it btw. Sometimes I combine reading with having a long hot bath, I find that adds to the pleasure of procrastination.
Well, right now, I should be finishing my huge take-home exam so I can start on my huge paper. And now I’m commenting on this thread.
Wow. I have two essays to finish before Monday – I’m applying to an MFA program. I could have finished a few days ago. But for right now I’m just hopping to all my favorite blogs/sites, refreshing the shit outta them. Then, I’ll finish Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (I reread the entire series once a year).
It doesn’t help that I woke up with the traces of a cold, so I’ll be doing Vitamin C bombs, which knock me out cold.
SOMEBODY GET OVER HERE AND SHAKE ME!!
I am all about the TV hole and the interwebs hole.
As for what I’m procrastinating on, lately it’s been work on the home front. I know I need to do a lot of decluttering and cleaning but when I get home at the end of the workday or have free time on the weekend all I want to do is veg. I need to decorate, too, but I think decluttering and cleaning come first. So, none of it is really happening.
@BeckySharper – I have wondered what I would do at work to procrastinate if the internet was mostly blocked. Office organizing, perhaps?
@JR: I spent a lot more time in my co-workers’ offices, gossipping. Also, making cups of tea.
I really, really, really would like to write out one of the 972 novel plots that are currently crammed into the back of my head. It’s just that I’m, you know, busy. And I hate writing. Also, World of Warcraft just released a new expansion so I’ve had to re-order my priorities. Perhaps I’ll get around to it someday after I’ve died.
It’s weird, but I didn’t become a procrastinator ’til I was in college. As I think it is with most people (?) it’s usually due to having some unresolved issues about the task at hand and what it means, rather than not liking the task itself. Point in case, I actually LIKE searching for jobs on the internet and writing up the perfect cover letter, however, it’s very difficult right now because I’m not sure that I want to continue my career in the direction it’s been going. Usually once I figure out the deeper issue, I can plow ahead, but not always…
Procrastination tools: the internet, books, magazines, and when it’s really bad – exercise!
ugh! thesis writing is what i should be doing. i also have other things i do to put off writing. cleaning, cooking and re-organizing my desk. yup, so bad and i really need to finish this up so i can unload that off my shoulders.
I’m coming up on 4 yrs of photos (mostly my kids) in the camera and on cards in the camera case that need to be uploaded, sorted, and printed. Then stuffed in a very loose order into a photo album. I’m not a huge picture taker, maybe 2 a month, a few more at special events. I did really well on keeping up every few months until we moved cross country almost 4 yrs ago. I’ve had it on my “to do” list every week for 2 yrs. I can’t bring myself to start.
So I guess EVERYTHING I’ve been doing for 2 yrs in procrastinating over this task. Somehow I eventually get to everything else, but I’d rather browse the internet, read books, or watch TV than upload photos.
Dusting and washing the windows. I think I did the windows once. Dusting? Er…
We moved into this house in 1990.
Ahahahahahah grading. I have one class worth’s of problem sets (~45 sets) and six essays to grade and then I’m done TAing this hellish, hellish class. As for what I do — anything. Internet. TV. Snuggling my kitties. Snuggling my manpanion. Reorganizing my gcal. Actually anything. I hate grading sooooo much.
I just finished my take home exam. I’ve had it since Monday. I started it around 3PM today. In between, I wasted a truly ridiculous amount of time on the internet and an even more ridiculous amount of time on bad TV, sought out, purchased, and read “The Hunger Games,” washed three bulging sinkloads of dishes, made a praying mantis costume out of posterboard (long story), and volunteered to spend 5 hours cleaning dog kennels, 7 hours grooming horses, and 2 hours helping a freshman bio student study for her exam.
And I submitted a supplemental application for vet school about 15 minutes before it was due. Yes, that was also this week.
I too admit to procrastinating – it’s not that I don’t love what I do, especially when it comes to researching/writing, it’s just that I have difficulty getting inspired, then I begin to doubt – then that becomes that spiral of self-doubt and feeling like I’m not good enough and not inspired enough..
even with a created Foucault-inspired quote that usually helps whip me into shape, I still procrastate.. (for anybody who has studied Foucault, it is “I am Foucault’s disciplinary power”)..
I’ve found one way to stop the internet being a distraction, is to install and set up the access/no access to certain websites in “leech block” (for firefox users).. it works kinda..
and SkipToMyLou, I’m going to use your sound and sage advice.. it’s started to work already. ~skips off to do researchy and writey goodness~
Laundry. Housework. UGH. I hate household chores.
Also anything that requires me to go outside, since I live in the grim and frostbitten north and getting suited up to go out in the cold is quite a production.
Hell. Everything. I leave absolutely everything to the very last second.
For the record, I am now continuing to procrastinate, this time by reading the comments. I feel so meta.
Honestly, the only way I can accomplish anything is by disconnecting my computer from the internet or going somewhere without a wireless connection. Internet hole, you such me in so deep!
I’m not too bad at procrastination. I just need a structure to work within, and I’m good. So, for example, I factor in 2 to 2.5 hours each morning just for waking up, reading the papers/blogs/email, showering, etc. It means getting up earlier than I otherwise would but it’s definitely worth it for me. Once I’ve done that, I trot off to the library and am pretty good at not checking back. Once an hour or so I’ll give myself a short (5 min or so) break to daydream, check Harpyness, or whatever. As long as I stick to that schedule, I’m good. If I don’t – peril.
When I procrastinate, it’s usually a)housework (hence getting to the library) b) the internet (esp. catching up on emails) c) reading the Guardian. And Harpyness.