For me, it was hard not to procrastinate because I continually did very well on projects I left til the last minute. Not that I thought it was because I procrastinated that I did well - just that perhaps if it actually affected my performance I would have never done it.

It sucks though, and every time (and I mean EVERY time I had a project/paper/assignment/whatever) I did it, I hated myself for it - having to pull all nighters and feeling the stress response creeping in/physically and mentally feeling like crap. Each time I said "I'm never doing this again!" But that never happened. :/

quote:

Originally posted by Miss Pie For me, it was hard not to procrastinate because I continually did very well on projects I left til the last minute. Not that I thought it was because I procrastinated that I did well - just that perhaps if it actually affected my performance I would have never done it. It sucks though, and every time (and I mean EVERY time I had a project/paper/assignment/whatever) I did it, I hated myself for it - having to pull all nighters and feeling the stress response creeping in/physically and mentally feeling like crap. Each time I said "I'm never doing this again!" But that never happened. :/

You know that is the procrastinators prime excuse? (I don't do things until the last minute because I perform better when I do etc).

Unfortunately, that just means you're shit at planning. I have a friend studying a PHD in risk economics at Rand, and he's the worst procrastinator I have ever met, and will often file papers a minute before the deadline. He decided to properly research it using the resources there and found to his annoyance that this belief is utter bullshit; If you plan ahead, set reasonable deadlines and finish work ahead of time, you consistently achieve better results on complex tasks. He later found, that on many of those tasks where he performed better when he had left it late, he could have done better had he time to review and digest what was submitted but had no time left to do so.

His basic conclusions were that procrastinators are terrible at planning and follow through, and even though they know they should be working they purposefully don't, but instead use a combination of panic/adrenaline to motivate them to them to finish a given task, falsely believing that this stressful, motivational focus somehow brings out the best in them, but in actuality, planning, foresight, timely execution and review consistently ranks higher in terms of performance overall on a broad number of academic and real work applications.

Did you read what I wrote? I said quite clearly that I do not attribute better performance to putting things off...only that it doesn't affect my performance negatively.

I like the answer that procrastination is the result of one's (false) perfectionism. That doesn't mean a person thinks they do their best when they don't do things until the last minute, quite the opposite - they procrastinate because they actually don't want to do their best job, they are afraid of being perfect. This way they can endlessly repeat how "they could be so good at that given thing, only if..." and also excuse any imperfections.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining that clearly, but I read these ideas a few months ago in some book that was supposed to cure your procrastination and I found it interesting. I can't remember what it was called, I'll try to find it.

e: Actually it looks like perfectionism is linked to procrastination even in its Wikipedia article, so this isn't anything special.

Last edited by GoSpeedGo! on Mar-14-2012 at 21:15

Often people set up a dichotomy for themselves between doing something exactly right the first time around, or doing nothing at all. They have to do all of a project at once, or else put it off until later. They have to get the essay just right the first time around. Or they make unrealistic goals for themselves that are easy to get discouraged about, like studying for a straight six hour stretch or something. They set a task for themselves that looks so imposing that they end up putting it off until a looming deadline makes it imperative.

One of my professors did exactly the opposite of this, working in a bunch of little bits of half an hour or an hour at a time. Even had a name for the strategy, calling it "nibbling." Seemed to work quite well for him.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN

You didn't do too well at reading comprehension, did you?



I procrastinate all the time. Wish I didn't, but apparently I don't wish that badly, since I find it so easy to keep putting stuff off. Like right now, writing this post instead of doing the three papers due tomorrow morning

___________________
Quarantine Classics Brunello di Montalcino (In Transit) Edition [Progressive Classics] (August 2020)
Quarantine Classics - Puligny-Montrachet Edition [Progressive Classics] (April 2020)
What Is Progressive Anyways? [Progressive House Classics] (November 2019)

quote:

Originally posted by Vector A One of my professors did exactly the opposite of this, working in a bunch of little bits of half an hour or an hour at a time. Even had a name for the strategy, calling it "nibbling." Seemed to work quite well for him.

Yeah, this is definitely the way.

It just reminded me how procrastination is connected to ADHD. It's like the addiction to instant gratification - doing something that requires a lot of work is postponed in favour of quick rush of positive emotions. I think this is why social media like Facebook are so successful, because it caters to this constant need of people to be appreciated. This may actually become more addictive than effects of "real" peer acceptance, because you can literally read on your screen that "THESE PEOPLE LIKE YOU" and there can be no doubt of that. Who cares that it happens online, it still does its job and it requires little effort.

This may be OT, but I think it's related. Also, 80% people under 30 seem to show at least mild symptoms of ADHD/suffer from procrastination, which - if we accept this as a kind of a disease - means a fucking epidemic.


BTW I have to read about 50 pages of text for tomorrow's class and here I'm discussing procrastination on an internet forum. Talk about irony.

quote:

Originally posted by Miss Pie Did you read what I wrote? I said quite clearly that I do not attribute better performance to putting things off...only that it doesn't affect my performance negatively.

Sorry if it came across like I'm having a crack - I'm not - I did read what you wrote, and I do get what you're saying, just that I think its more of a case of you "think" you did well on certain projects when leaving it to the last minute, when in fact you could have done so much better had you not. In that respect it does negatively affect your performance because even subconsciously (and I suppose consciously according to your post) you think there is no tangible benefit to planning or better time management, so performance wise, you're not going to achieve your full potential.

Given all the circumstances, she did indeed achieve her full potential.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On Given all the circumstances, she did indeed achieve her full potential.

Pics or it didn't happen (yet).

When people talk about personal potential (especially other people's potential, of course) they're really just spitting up an estimation that approximates what one ought to have done. Well the fact of the matter is that Miss Pie is a chronic procrastinator as well as a frequent masturbator - she had no hope of doing any better than she, in fact, did. The results speak for themselves.

___________________
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.