so. i have three papers to write. one about american history x due thursday, and another about when harry met sally due friday. both must be at least 7 pages and a minimum of 2500 words. then the final, due on monday, on fight club, should be around 10-11 pages and no less than 4500 words. so, by next monday morning at 8 a.m. i need to have completed around 9500 words on social psychology in modern american cinema. (thanks bunches shane).
okay. so today is monday... i should be starting on these papers, at least the first one for sure... and that was my sincere plan.
i've been here for four hours. guess what i did? if you said began my papers, you're kinda stupid and really really wrong ;)
i did, however, re-organize my closet. i moved all my dresses/skirts/and dress pants to the left side, seperated my "going out" outfits from my "knock-around" ones, moved all my pants (chronologically from most recently worn) to the bottom rung, and organized my shirts into warm and cold weather sections (further subdivided by store).
now. don't be fooled. i realize this all sounds highly efficient and productive. its not. it's "structured procrastination"-- the sign of a true, commited procrastinator. i've discovered that procrastinating (at least in my case) does not mean doing nothing at all. procrastinating means doing marginally useful things, like re-organizing my closet or cleaning my refrigerator or making a diagram of how i will systematize my cds when i get around to it. all these things, on their own, are fairly useful, sometimes even needed. my problem is i only do these things as a way of putting off doing something more important.
unfortunately, this isn't my first experience with structured procrastination. last sept i decided to apply early for a summer position that required a fairly long essay and a very specific application to be compled by nov 13th. for all you non-procrastinators, let me explain a thing about deadlines-- they don't really start to press until a week or two (or month, in some cases) after they pass. thankfully, with this very real application deadline hanging over my head, i was able to accomplish an enormous number of things as a way of not working on it. bothered by guilt, some time in mid-december, i wrote a letter to the employer explaining myself and expressing my very real intentions to complete the application as soon as possible... but still was only motivated to work on it in the midst of my exam week as a way of getting out of studying.
its all good though. i trust that some time this week, something very important will come up that requires some action on my behalf, and then maybe i'll get around to working on my papers... if not, well, at least my cds and dvds will be organized :) |
