13 January 2006

Procrastination! What a wonderful word. Just say it. Roll it around on your tongue! The very speaking of the word is indicative of what it is: delaying the doing of action out of free will/lack of will to do it.

I procrastinate. A lot. Especially these past couple of days. Case in point: I have to summarise and translate some research I did about shadow puppet theatre. Have I done that? Have I BALLS! Also, I'm supposed to proof-read, edit, and prep about twenty pages' worth of script for my new part-time job (I'm now dubbing an Arabic series into English, playing the main character in the first two hours).

But I don't do it. I take breaks every ten minutes, and can't be asked to go back and do anything. It's like being back at school. Funny thing is, I used to complain that when I'd start working, it would be different, because then I'd be getting paid for my work. Well, true enough about the pay, not so much about the motivation.

For some reason, nobody I've spoken to today has been capable of doing any work. I've got two friends trying to study for their university finals. I say trying because they, also, can't be asked to do any useful work. They were also procrastinating, wasting time online.

So why do we do it? Do we feel that we have enough time to do things later? But I know I'll probably be absolutely fucked for time in the next few days (What else can I expect working five jobs?!?!?)

Is the cause a lack of willpower? What is willpower, anyway? What's the physiological explanation behind it? Is it only the weak-willed who procrastinate? Is it mere boredom, or some sort of escape mechanism that humans develop, a form of escapism that distracts us from the rigours and unpleasantness of life?

Good questions all. But I feel as though this whole tirade of philosophical introspection exists for a single purpose: Stopping me doing all the things I need to do. I hope these words will help someone consider why they're procrastinating next time they do it. If not, well....at least they've got me thinking a bit. Suddenly, work doesn't seem so frightening.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The worst enabler of procrastination is the availability of interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) blogs to read.

My 10 min. pauses from work usually lead to reading 3-4 blog posts, even if they are not particularly interesting.

Thanks for helping my procrastination with a post of the more 'interesting' sort!

Fedaykin said...

LOL! Hey, my pleasure, Eric! Glad to know I've done my bit for the decline of human civilisation :D

Hope your problems of procrastination disappear into the wind, and thanks for checking out the post...first ethnomusicologist that's ever read my blog, I'll tell you that...