later...

later, always later. Everything we do, we always wait for later, at least for me that’s how it is. I can never seem to get things done on time, it’s always put off until the last minute, I'm always trying to figure out how to get more time to get things done because I am always waiting till the last minute. Now, most of us who procrastinate do not think about it that much, or if you’re like me you always say to yourself "Gosh, why do I always put things off?!" but still do nothing about it. Now, the more I'm thinking about it the more I am wondering why? why am I so inconsistent and always putting things off? Looking for an answer I simply typed in my Google search query: “procrastination”, scrolled through the answering results and voila! There’s my answer. I found an essay published in 1995 by John Perry. His essay addresses the essence of my own procrastination problem, and yes I consider it a problem. I procrastinate severely, much to my own detriment. For example, this past week I kept telling myself blog! blog! blog! and then I would say back to myself later! later! later! It seems that no matter what I can never get things done. I wish that through it all I was perfect. I really wish that I didn’t have to worry about messing up, but of course, don’t we all.

My favorite part of this essay??

“You have to get in the habit of forcing yourself to analyze, at the time you accept a task, to consider the costs and befits of doing a less than perfect job. You need to ask the questions: how useful would a perfect job be here? How much more useful than a merely adequate job? Or even a half-assed job? And you need to ask the questions: what is the probability that I will really do anything like a remotely perfect job on this? And you need to ask: what difference will it make to me, whether I do or not?”

This is exactly me- I don’t think I could sum it up better. When I get a task I ask myself these questions and plan accordingly… If I could give any advice to my fellow procrastinators it would be, never put something off until the last day, do it the second to last day. This has been my way of never fully procrastinating.