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This post was inspired by the CE’s couch thread but what is to follow is absolutely true.

My problem is that I at times suffer from morbid procrastination.

Let me give you an example:

I had to hand in my final paper and of course pass a number of exams. I had started on the paper a year before and worked solid on it for about six months so that I had done about twothirds of the paper. It was looking to be a great paper and my supervisor was very happy. Then came a period where I worked on other papers and prepared for my exams. All went well and all I had to do was to finish the paper in three months which should not be difficult since I could now give it my full attention.

Of course I had to celebrate that my exams had gone so well - so a month went by.

If I had started then I could still have produced an outstanding paper. All the reading was done - I knew the subject - all I had to do was type it. But another month went by while I did nothing except to wonder whether I should add another chapter or two.

1 month was left and I was starting to worry. I knew that I had to do something but whenever I sat down to work I just starred at the screen for awhile and then either played computer (solitaire - all other games had been removed so not to tempt me) or went to eat.

Two weeks left and I was panicking and I had hardly done any work - still it wasn’t until 9 days before I had to hand in that I started to really work. By then it was of course too late to do more than damage limitation. I still got a very good mark for the paper which only makes me wonder how good it could have been.

So why this bizarre behaviour? I had picked the topic and find it truly an interesting one. I also really wanted to do well.

I assume I'm not the only one that procrastinates although I take it too extremes. Why do we procrastinate? And how do you stop procrastinating? I think it is all very strange so please - I hope some of you can enlighten me.

(feel free to take the piss as well )

Originally posted by Tom
I assume I'm not the only one that procrastinates although I take it too extremes. Why do we procrastinate? And how do you stop procrastinating? I think it is all very strange so please - I hope some of you can enlighten me.

I am a grand master of procrastination. Witness this year, for about 4 months i have been meaning to get some college courses set up for this september, did i do it? Did i ever, maybe i am just afraid of actually commiting to bettering myself, perhaps i think it will cause problems with my lifestyle so i subconciously avoided doing it...either way it isn't done and i will probably have to wait till next september to actually start back on the education trail.

So what are the actual ramifications of your procastination, has it caused any problems?

Oh my, this is a topic for me, just wait 'til I come home and have time to post more. I was always the most horrible procrastinatior, on the verge of pathology, but then I learned to turn it around to my advantage.

Tell you more later, must rush now.

Originally posted by C Elegans
Oh my, this is a topic for me, just wait 'til I come home and have time to post more. I was always the most horrible procrastinatior, on the verge of pathology, but then I learned to turn it around to my advantage.

Tell you more later, must rush now.

there is a touch of cruelty in you CE .

She's just procrastinating.

Re: Re: Procrastination

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

So what are the actual ramifications of your procastination, has it caused any problems?

(Well basically I would have been ruler of the Universe were it not for my procrastination. )

Luckely nothing much exept ALOT of unnecessary stress.

Re: Re: Re: Procrastination

Originally posted by Tom
(Well basically I would have been ruler of the Universe were it not for my procrastination. )

I'd say the same thing but surely there can't be two rulers of the Universe?

Luckely nothing much exept ALOT of unnecessary stress.

Are you sure the stress didn't help create a better paper or do you work better without stress?

Re: Re: Re: Re: Procrastination

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
Are you sure the stress didn't help create a better paper or do you work better without stress?

This is a very valid point!

I am a grand master of procrastination.

All well and good, but Sleepy...I am the Grand Master of Procrastination.

As a matter of fact, right now, there is a piece of English coursework which you may remember me asking you about several months (years?) ago. The thing where I asked you what books I should read... it is still not done. I have had about two months of free time to do it, including a week long half term holiday. I could have done it this evening, but am not... it's not even that I need to wait for the last day before the deadline. The deadline was a month ago... I don't know why I can't seem to do it... But the way it is, I think that even if there is a minute chance of me not finishing it, I will not do any of it at all. I have to sit down and do it all in one mamoth session, or I just won't do any at all....

Certainly stress is a key factor. I work much better under stress (indeed it's the only condition I will work under at all, and I often go to silly lengths of hassle to acheive it). I think it's not a bad thing - and the example I can site is the coursework I did on Hitchc0ck's films (Vertigo, Psycho and N by NW IIRC). I did the whole thing (about 6000 words) in four frantic hours on the night of the deadline and in the end only missed three marks out of a hundred and four (score! )

For the same reason I never revise for tests before the last day, but still do very well, and look like making good my education.

I say @Tom: Don't worry about it man...or worry when it really matters, at least.

I was really planning on replying about this, but maybe I'll do it later.

I'm a horrible procrastinator. In fact, I'm such a bad one, that people have dubbed me the "Procrastinating slacker". I usually do no school work until the day off, and even there I usually don't do it until an hour or so before bed. In fact, I remember many times I've spent time on SYM instead of doing work. although, I have rather good luck (or just great writing skills, or the ability to BS my way out of anything) as I often acheive high 90's by doing 15-20 minutes worth of work.

The deadline was a month ago...

pah, lightweight

i'm a serial procrastinator, and i blame it on primary school. for the first 4 or 5 years it wasn't hard at all, and didn't make me work to get results, as well as not having homework. throughout secondary school i got away with doing next to no homework (but had to put even more work into creating excuses ) and still got the grades. and it annoys the hell out of teachers.

Is there perhaps someone here who does not procrastinate?

@Dottie: well, since only one person in this thread has under 1000 posts, i think procrastination is quite prevalent

I've got just the same problem, and it's killing me. I'm even beginning to think I'm selfdestructive.

Originally posted by Dottie
Is there perhaps someone here who does not procrastinate?

Who else beside me

*Three* time People magazines Non-Procrastinator of the Year.
'89, '96 and '98.

@Weasel: In wich direction are you pulling my leg?

Originally posted by Dottie
@Weasel: In wich direction are you pulling my leg?

I think the term is every which way but loose

@Sleep: lol, you're probably right I just assumed he would have some kind of plan...

The confessions of a former procrastinator

I don't procrastinate. I will tell the story of how I changed from being a horrible procrastinator, to an extremely efficient person.

WARNING! Unsuitable reading for underage persons, this advice could seriously spoil your future career.

In my teens, I used to procrastinate whatever I was going to do. I didn't matter whether it was an exam or meeting my friends at a club - I procrastinated well over the last minute also regarding things I wanted to do. I was always late, my friends often had to wait for me for and hour or more. I was late for school every day, even for exams. When I got a flat of my own, I was 18, and then the procrastination extended to simple things such as paying bills, posting important letters (applying for students loans, papers for employment, whatever). I was still late for everything as well. I travelled a lot during this time of my life, and I was always 30 seconds from missing my flights or train departures. I was always the passenger they shouted out for in the speakers at airports, "Will passenger ms Doe, ms Doe please check in at gate number 37 for flight BA346 to Kuala Lumpur". I can't count all the times it happened, worst time was in Spain when my plane had already taxed out and Iberia were kind enough to drive me out on a luggage lift.

All this happened due to the bad combination of procrastination and "last minute" thinking. Sometimes the latter is just a consequence of the former. Procrastination resultes in last-minute acting when you can't find any other motivation to do a thing, except for outer force. The lack of inner drive, makes outer force necessary. Sometimes the two are really two different things, as was mostly the case for me.

For me, procrastination set in when I were about to do something boring, something I did not have an inner drive to do. Nobody has an inner drive for paper work. Few people have an inner drive for reading for an exam - it's the situation that makes it boring, even though the subject is interesting.
Last-minute thinking however was a bit different, at least to me. It was based on the erranous idea that "I have plenty of time" and the fact that I had a bad sense of time and planning. My behaviour got constantely reinforced, since it never resulted in any real problems. My friends were kind and waited. My school work and work was never a problem since at that level, it was far too easy for me anyway and the stress made me so efficient so I produced good stuff very fast. At the time, there was simply no outer limits that forced me to change, on the contrary my last-minute strategy always worked.

When I was a bit over 20, I decided I wanted to go to university. I didn't have the necessary 3-4 years of 2ndary highschool/college, since I had dropped out of primary school at 15, gone to art school 1 year and then started to live like a bum. In Sweden, you can read those 3-4 years in evening school, but that takes at least the same time, and I wasn't patient enough for that. Besides, that would have tied me up during the semesters and made my travelling impossible. So I decided to go up as a "privatist", which means you do a series of exams in each subject, and get the necessary grades. In my case, that meant written and oral exams in about 25 subjects. During this period, I went around for weeks and had antecipatory anxiety before every singe exam and every single deadline for written assignments, altogether perhaps 100 different occations. The only result of this, apart from unhealthy stress, was that I learned I could make it, with highest degree on all exams, although I only read the night before, or wrote a 5000 word assignment in 1.5 day without sleep. Very bad. It just meant more reinforcement for my behaviour, although I didn't realise that at the time, I just pondered why I was unable to change.

To be continued, the success story of how I changed...