Procrastination

Yup. I have trouble getting shit done. Hell, I'm pretty sure making this thread is a result of procrastination. I know I'm not the only one. How bad do you guys procrastinate? What do you usually do about it?

I'll tell you all about it later.

I like to procrastinate by telling other people who are procrastinating to get their shit done. So get your shit done.

Seriously though, when I'm procrastinating, I tend to find other projects I need to work on to give me an excuse. Like, back in college, if I had a big assignment I needed to complete, I'd procrastinate by cleaning and organizing. That way, I could convince myself I was still being productive. Another big thing I do is do something to get pumped up for getting something done. Like, I'll load up a quick game of TF2 and kick some ass, or go for a walk - something to get the blood flowing and give me a chance to clear my mind for the task I'm putting off.

I procrastinated earlier tonight by watching a movie instead of working on my finals. I'm very bad at this. Bad at working, I mean. I'm a fuckin' expert at procrastinating. Not very proud of it though.

I'm guilty of often procrastination as well. I blame the Parkinson's law ("work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"). Since I find it hard to get something done in a time span it should normally require, I tend to leave "just enough" time for the task. Obviously, problems arise when unexpected things happen (printer / Internet malfunction etc.), not to mention stress due to miscalculation of how much time something requires.

Hm, let's see:

*Never finished Koliko's Adventure or came even close to something playable (mostly just a few areas with fancy screenshot material)
*Never bothered to make my fork of Aleph One with refined mouse controls
*Never made much progress on my Chocolate Doom fork with Jaguar Doom behavior
*Probably a load of other things I can't remember at the moment

Fuck me.

My procrastination level is way beyond healthy amount. Perhaps if it is about reason I fuck things up?

Just a sudden surge of thought, is this my reason why I haven't found job yet?

I've found dividing your free time into units of, say, hours helps. E.g. If I have a day off with not much to do I will set myself an hour for chores in the morning and afternoon, an hour each for breakfast, lunch and tea when I can also watch TV if Iike and decide what I want to do with the remaining units of the day.

I procrastinate all the time, to avoid both studying / real life duties, and the Doom mapping. My ways to do so are (un)fortunately playing Doom wads, reading DW threads and working on side crappy Doom modding projects on my own, that will probably never be finished to see light of the day. There's still hope that they will, once. I very well realize that I'm a horrible person for being like this, though.

purist said:

I've found dividing your free time into units of, say, hours helps. E.g. If I have a day off with not much to do I will set myself an hour for chores in the morning and afternoon, an hour each for breakfast, lunch and tea when I can also watch TV if Iike and decide what I want to do with the remaining units of the day.

This is really good advice for a lot of people. Personally, I can't manage sticking to a schedule no matter how loose, but I try to get up and walk a couple minutes every half hour for health reasons, and it has similar results, as there's nothing to do but think when you walk (and eventually think about what to do next).

Christ, I'm a dab hand at procrastination! I'm usually busy doing nothing all morning and then I'm rushing about hard to get shit done in the afternoon. I know it's not good, and I really need to sort it out.

Procrastinating right now... My problem is that I don't really enjoy my job, housework or even half the Doom projects I take on, so doing literally anything else is more appealing. I've never put off doing anything that didn't "need" doing, so that's the problem, IMO - too much shit in life that "needs" to be done. No wonder we all just prefer to waste time.

When it came to college, I used to put stuff off till almost the last minute. But I made sure to hand everything in on time. The same applies less to work; depends if the task is tedious.

When It comes to my Doom projects, I tend to work intensely in intervals. Then I take a few days rest from it. There are some days when I am completely adsorbed into what I'm doing, that I forget to eat, and I lose track of time.

I procrastinate the most in the morning, just like I am doing right now. Instead of getting ready for my day, like I should be doing; I'm posting on this thread.

purist said:

I've found dividing your free time into units of, say, hours helps. E.g. If I have a day off with not much to do I will set myself an hour for chores in the morning and afternoon, an hour each for breakfast, lunch and tea when I can also watch TV if Iike and decide what I want to do with the remaining units of the day.

I made this post while I was sat on the toilet, that's how time efficient I am becoming!

I have actually accepted recently that a major period of procastination of my time is first thing in the morning when I read DW, FB and football news because I do not apply my system of units until I'm up and ready for breakfast. Delaying breakfast is therefore procastination. Funnily enough I decided to cut this out from this morning so I was mildly amused when I read the procastination thread while double tasking on the shitter!

I procrastinate and work at the same time. It's terrible, but it seemed to work. I mean like, studying lecture slides or whatever while browsing the internet or talking to people. It's kind of like relaxing and working at the same time. Again, it's terrible. But honestly I pulled some high grades with it. Maybe it helps ease into full study mode. Also I have a final in 20 minutes. Hell, I even learned how to play the fucking piano before I studied my exams. If that isn't procrastination I don't know what is.

I found studying is like mapping. You have to first get the skeleton done. And then the details. But you never know when it's good enough and second guess yourself. Or maybe you do the skeleton and the details at the same time, and move slowly but thorough.

(Me in 2014:) I don't really procrastinate that much, unless something fails and I'm therefore "forced" to do so.

(Me in 2018:) Yeah, sure, past me.

I think just posting in this thread proves how much I procrastinate.

I would post a reply but

I'm one of the world's worst for putting off for tomorrow what I could easily do the day after tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that, of the day after....

purist said:

I've found dividing your free time into units of, say, hours helps. E.g. If I have a day off with not much to do I will set myself an hour for chores in the morning and afternoon, an hour each for breakfast, lunch and tea when I can also watch TV if Iike and decide what I want to do with the remaining units of the day.

I consider this a solid piece of advice. Thanks for sharing.

Some people here have posted that they "procrastinate" by pausing to go out and such stuff. That's really a moderate amount of pause, which is human. You really aren't expected to work non-stop, lest you be called a machine and told "slow it down, man, you need to relax". I'm not implying that's bad, I'm implying it's not expected, but if you are a machine, then that's actually good.

Adderall is usually a nice remedy for those diagnosed with Procrastination indeed.

I'd like to procrastinate but I never seem to get around to it.

I procrastinate as it were a matter of life and death. And I would be killed in the worst thinkable way if I didnt do it.

Seriously, when it comes to school work...the past two years I've been writing all my assignments and stuff the last NIGHT before deadline. No sleep, just 12++ hours of work. WTF?

I mean, its gotten so bad I even make up lies to my teacher why I didnt get to do stuff in time and whatnot (I always deliver though, maybe just a little over deadline sometimes). And I have alot of time (relative)...I just use it to....procrastinate.

purist said:

I've found dividing your free time into units of, say, hours helps. E.g. If I have a day off with not much to do I will set myself an hour for chores in the morning and afternoon, an hour each for breakfast, lunch and tea when I can also watch TV if Iike and decide what I want to do with the remaining units of the day.

Well, I considered that once. Unfortunately it feels very depressive to schedule your day like that, because everything will feel rationed into predictable time slots, instead of spontaneous. Maybe I have a more mature view now, but I still would rather just enjoy my time off without thinking too hard about it.

I procrastinate less if the work I have to do is exciting, so now that I do programming both for a living and hobby, I'm a bit more productive, though I still get 'tired' and start to waste time when off. In general I procrastinate when I hit a more difficult problem that is no fun to solve. It's mostly out of cowardice.

I've vowed to make it through an entire gggmork post for a long time, but have usually created reasons not to...

That is closer to being on a diet and sticking to its restrictions on sanity. Not that I am opposed to a little de-sane-itizing.