Probably everybody does it every once in a while. Spend time with all kinds of activities instead of doing the one thing that should be done. Like working on termpaper, which is due at the beginning of November. And/or work on other school stuff, which has to be done sooner or later. The funny thing is, once I actually can get myself to work on this termpaper, I actually enjoy doing so. Well, as much as you can “enjoy” working on school stuff :-) If it just weren’t so difficult to actually get started. There are just too many much more entertaining and distracting ways to spend my time before or even during I work on the paper.
Things like…
- reading a long (820 pages) novel – “An Echo in the Bone” within the course of one week
- writing a long blog post about it
- starting to re-read the favourite bits (which actually is the complete Jamie/Claire storyline) of the previous six novels
- frequently checking the shippment tracking of various Outlander-related novels and books I ordered a few days ago
- catching up with my regular TV series
- writing a long Grey’s review
- considering to self-host my blog and doing a lot of research about that
- signing up for my RUHR.2010 volunteer training on the weekend
- thinking about changing the blog theme (at wordpress.com) and even try a new layout just to find out that I would have to re-write the whole CSS
- picking up the irreparable DVR from the store immediately, even though I’m not planning to watch the stuff on the harddrive anytime soon (this might be another way to spend some time, though)
- being annoyed about the broken DVR and the necessity to buy a new one some time soon
- makinp up my mind about with which new DVR I should replace the broken one
- start reading the Lord John series and fighting the impulse to put that novel aside the moment the “Outlandish Companion” was delivered today
And this list doesn’t even include typical ways of procrastination, like cleaning the apartment or sorting out old clothes and all the various tedious household chores. The dreadful weather is wearing me down as well. It really makes me want to curl up in my armchair with a good book to read or nice things to watch on TV. With a broken DVR I can’t watch anything at the moment though. I guess reading wins over TV tonight (again). Anything wins over termpaper *sigh* I’m out for work till late at night tomorrow. But I will start working really hard on the termpaper on Thursday. I hope :-)
The best way I beat procrastination is when I remember to do something I have to do it immediately, I have found that once I have made this a habit I feel compelled to never procrastinate. And in the end, the results are usually better if we just do things as they arise, we never know what is over the horizon that may take more of our unplanned time so it is best to get ahead instead of getting behind.