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Good and Bad Procrastination

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the massive-shuffle-of-geeks-sending-this-to-their-mothers dept.

dtolton writes "Paul Graham has written an interesting article on Procrastination. He presents three different types of procrastination and one type of procrastination is even good! He also suggests that some types of "getting things done" are actually weak forms of procrastination. The only downside to this article is now you'll have to look at your procrastination with an analytical eye too!" Perhaps next year's Christmas shopping can benefit from the writeup?

18 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Has to be said... by Kickboy12 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Procrastination is like masturbation; you're only fucking yourself.

    --
    google.slashdot
    1. Re:Has to be said... by Ruff_ilb · · Score: 5, Funny

      And yet, they both feel so good.

      --
      http://www.TheGamerNation.com/Forums
    2. Re:Has to be said... by hackstraw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah, but it still feels good.

      I've become more of a procrastinator over the years. For one, I see less of things being important, because they never are. Health issues are something I'm pretty aggressive about, but I put off stuff all the time. I didn't buy a computer beyond a P1 until recently because they were not good enough. I regret my haste, because then Apple came out with the 4 core PowerMac which should be more adequate than the cheaper iMac G5 that I opted for.

      Also, if I put stuff off (since nothing is that important in the first place) I've found that many problems fix themselves or just go away, or something more "important" comes up.

      Another thing to take into account is basic psychology. No organism really does anything before the time of reinforcement. People don't go to the bus stop much before the bus arrives. Most people don't do all of their Christmas shopping much before Chistmas. Most people don't file their taxes before April 15th. There are other variables though. I file my taxes right after Jan 1st when I get all of my documents together. I can always use the money, and I'd rather have the cash than the government keep it interest free until April. If I wasn't getting anything back, I'd wait until April 15th like most people.

      So everybody, go ahead and fuck yourself. Its OK.

    3. Re:Has to be said... by Ucklak · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm right with you on the taxes. I file early and pay on April 15th. Is disappointing to see how many people that have the perception that 'you get money when you file for taxes' for the regular wage slaves.
      It took me a while to 'get it' too but I see the light and I've been a crusader for my friends by constantly asking them how much tax they paid come the first quarter of the year.
      It started off with "I didn't have to pay, I got money back" type of comment and even then, they still didn't get it. People care more about the cash they get BACK that could have always been theirs, even if it was theirs in the first place.
      People just don't like to save and like to run up credit cards.

      People who say "I got money back", I then ask them if I can borrow a thousand dollars for 6 months and show the comparison between interest free vs a money market savings account.
      They also don't understand why I choose to pay taxes vs withholding.

      The only debt I have is a mortgage - tax deductible interest, and all my cars are paid off and they're less than 5 years old.

      --
      if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
    4. Re:Has to be said... by coolmadsi · · Score: 4, Funny

      Isn't that Procrastibation?

    5. Re:Has to be said... by hackstraw · · Score: 5, Informative

      Is disappointing to see how many people that have the perception that 'you get money when you file for taxes' for the regular wage slaves.

      The more accurate perception is that:

      You cannot manage your money well, the government has a plan that always works in their favor. See, they will take about 30% of your pay for "free" every month without you having to think about it. If fact, they will take a little extra, just to make sure you pay "enough" by the end of the year. They will hold it for free for you until the end of the year. The will then continue holding it until you ask for it back, for free!

      Unfortunately, I have had the government blindly take my money every time I get paid since I was 15 years old, that I was conditioned not to think much about it until recently. People often say that their housing is the most expensive thing they pay for, then their car. The are wrong and off by one. Taxes are #1, house typically #2, car typically #3. Aside from gas and regular maintenance, I spend more on food and beverages (mostly alcoholic, and taxed out the wazoo) than I spend on car payments. I currently pay $20 a month interest on my car, and it will be paid off in a while. I've never paid more than $2,500 for a car before, but I wanted a better one so I splurged with a $7k car after the police took my last one. Oh, well.

      I'm curious. How do you estimate your taxes, and what do you do with your money until they ask for it? I'm not that experienced with financial stuff because I'm apathetic towards it, but I'm very interested in putting more $$$ in my pocket and not the government's. By my rough estimates, I would only make about $200 to $300 at a 3% interest (I'm basing this on a 30% tax of about $50k income) if I didn't do any withholdings. I don't make much money, but to me I would actually prefer to have the government manage my debt to them and get a little extra back in one chunk at the end of the year for the extra couple of bucks. So I guess I'm in the "I cannot manage my money well department", but if there was more incentive for me to do so, I could be more interested in spending more time with this. But right now, I only deduct student loan interest and mortgage interest because I don't know if any extra investment in effort and time would be more profitable than getting a side job which I'm not interested in doing either.

      I am grateful that I don't have to pay taxes on medications, but I'm ungrateful that I have to spend extra tax over top of the "regular" tax to eat. But I can shit for free.

  2. Looks interesting... by ForumTroll · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll read it later.

    --
    "A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing." - Alan Perlis
  3. procrastinating worked for me... by yagu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I used to work for someone who was impossibly manic about things he wanted to do, which always meant things he asked "us" to do. I considered him visionary, but sometimes it was just too much.

    My methodology was to mentally file away any requests (and there were many), and take no action other than to sketch mentally what the work would entail. The indicator whether or not it was real work I ever need do was if he came back to me in the next few days or so to see what progress I'd made for "task X".

    Fortunately I was able to intuitively cull things that looked important from those that were simply "what ifs", and it was mostly a synergistic relationship -- I always had plenty to do from his bounty of ideas, but was able to be more productive by exercising a "procrastination policy".

    1. Re:procrastinating worked for me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Manics can also be procrastinators. I did RTFA from Digg yesterday and while I found it interesting I thought it showed a misunderstanding of procrasination. One thing it is not is lazyness, often extrememly active people procrastinate. Another thing it is not is disorganisation, or lack of coherent thought as you describe above. Sometimes people with fine strategic minds are also terrible procrastinators. We all know the pop psychology of the 'completer/finisher' too, the ability to go for the kill in the final stages of a venture. Many who have this ability to deliver on target are still victims of procrastination.

      So what is it? Well, notice I use the word 'victim'. You don't choose to procrastinate. Subtle but true, you have to choose not to Procrastination is either a fear of success or failure, actually the outcome is unimportant. Or better still a fear of change and progress. Perhaps with a programming problem you are secretly worrying where the next contract will come from once you finish this one, which you could so easily do if you just let yourself. In relationships it is the fear that it might "actually work", thus robbing one of the circumstances that excuse or explain a neurosis. This subtle and often unwilling holding back can be explained by the fact the mind enjoys struggle, we are most alive during struggle. Myself I've spotted procrastination because I am enjoying a difficult problem so much I don't want to commit to solving it and 'trivialising' my efforts. What is undone is full of potential, yet what is done and dusted is consigned to the ordinary.

      A coder who considers 10 different solutions for weeks on end is not procrastinating, not if, as is usually the case with intelligent circumspect thinkers, they engage the problem with full gusto once they've decided upon the preferred line of attack. Rather, a procrastinator would be someone who, confident in their vision, still finds a reason to hold back. TFA describes nothing more than prioritisation and tasking. Procrastination is a subtle and devilish thing to defeat, often requiring you to look deep behind the facade of your behaviour to discover why you're really doing it.
      The cure, imho, is often to embrace a more carefree attitude.

  4. Take it from me, I know about procrastination by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I meant to get first post

  5. Obligatory by WTBF · · Score: 4, Funny

    In soviet Russia... no

    Imagine a beowulf cluster... no

    In South Korea only old people... no

    Oh well, I will get around to it later.

  6. A better piece on the topic by wahgnube · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a far more eloquent and humorous piece on the topic.

    --
    My photolog
  7. I'll read the dupe on Wednesday by Polarism · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know it'll be there.

    --
    All your base are belong to Google.
  8. Go do the laundry you lazy bum! by Chaffar · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not a lazy bum... I'm a type-C procrastinator you insensitive clod!

  9. Re:Don't bother reading the article... by ottothecow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Usually Paul Graham's social writings are quite good. Try his "why nerds are unpopular" or "What you'll wish you had known"

    --
    Bottles.
  10. Not so fast by lheal · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work.

    As an inveterate procrastinator, I have to say that while I mostly agree with TFA's premise, it suffers from the usual oversimplification it decries.

    Putting off little things can end in crushing defeat. Failing to do basic maintenance on one's body, one's vehicles, or other property, often will result in catastophic surprises, and usually at the last minute.

    For years, I've regularly gotten my oil changed (or done it myself) in my vehicles. This past week I discovered the hard way what happens when you put off getting your coolant flushed. A blown head gasket meant I had to buy a new car. Merry Christmas to you, too.

    Similarly, failure to do the little maintenance things at work (changing backup tapes, daily paperwork, etc.) can result in blowups of a more career-threatening sort. Every job has those details, and you ignore them at your peril.

    How many people have great ideas while brushing their teeth or do their best thinking in the shower? Handled correctly (as habits), the mundane details don't interfere with higher purposes. Handled incorrectly, they put the higher purposes hopelessly out of reach.

    --
    Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
  11. See Also: Another Paul by dr.badass · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Paul Graham's thoughts on procrastination overlap well with Paul Ford's thoughts on distractions, Followup/Distraction, and Are there "good" distractions?.

    Graham:
    I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you.

    Ford:
    The most productive times in my life are the ones where I'm just doing my own thing, focused, and trying to solve some problem that I find interesting-when I'm narrowly distracted.

    Same idea, different angle.

    --
    Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
  12. Steven Covey? by nanopolitan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know who came up with this idea first, but I read it in Covey's
    'First things first'. He suggests classifying tasks into four quadrants formed by (urgent, not urgent) and (important, not important), and asks you to get yourself more and more into the (important, not urgent) quadrant. If this requires you to say 'no' to a whole bunch of other things, why, it's all the better! To me, what Paul Graham says is quite similar "say no to other junk, make time for important stuff -- stuff that will give you the thrill of fulfillment not immediately, not tomorrow, but many days (weeks, months) later."

    Now, if only I can figure out my life's mission ...