The Baboon Congress

Putting Off Procrastination

82 Comments

It’s Spring vacation time, and so I have sprung. Just in time to escape Minnesota’s oppressive May-in-March loveliness for something hotter and more humid. In my absence, a Congress of Baboons has stepped forward to fill in. Thanks, gang!

Today’s guest posts comes from Aaron.

Hey Baboons,

I know it has been a long while since I was last here, but yes I am still alive and well. I hold no grudges against anyone here I assure you, it was nothing anyone said.

The Case of Aaron v. Clock

I am working on how not to procrastinate, and this blog entry is a good example. I am writing this early on Tuesday morning, before I get distracted with the hustle and bustle of the day. I am a serial procrastinator. I was the one who would wait until the last minute to do a big project in school (a history day project on Elvis comes to mind, it was fun, it just took a while to get there). Writing letters to relatives is another thing I put off, just because I HATE writing letters, I rather just send an email and be done with it, but recently I put a kind note to my grandma in the good old US mail, and you know what? It felt great to finally send it out.

Maybe that is why I haven’t been on here, I was procrastinating on being a brilliant creative person (I kid, this is not my big ego talking, heck I don’t have that big of a ego, although some of you would beg to differ). I think my method of not procrastinating is thinking about what the end product would do for the greater good, and also when people depend on me to actually follow through on something by a certain date or time (Dale needed this by Friday the 16th, and I didn’t want to find out what the Wrath of Connelly is like). So it’s good to be back here, and hopefully I won’t procrastinate on my Baboon duties (much).

What are some ways you fight the urge to procrastinate?

82 thoughts on “Putting Off Procrastination”

  1. Morning all! Wonderful to hear from you again, Aaron!

    I am not much of a procrastinator. Luckily I have a really great sense of “get it done and out of the way”. When I do put something off, it’s usually because I’ve just found something else that I can’t stay away from. This past Saturday, I had grandiose plans for getting caught up with work and maybe even getting ahead. Then I made the unfortunate mistake of sitting down at the jigsaw puzzle in the living room while I was waiting for the coffee to finish. Eight hours and two Harry Potter movies later……………

    Like

    Reply

  2. WordPress issues… I’ve found that if you go to WordPress.com and log in, then come back to the Trail, it seems to be working. Anybody know how to contact WordPress to complain????

    Like

    Reply

    1. I haven’t checked the BBC blog yet, but dollars to donuts it is a “security enhancement” (or some other “improvement”) that was included in an update to WordPress, but not called out as a settings change for the blog when the update was made… Will try to take a look at the BBC blog this week and see what i can find out.

      Like

      Reply

    2. Does it make a difference what Browser you use when logging in? I’m on Google Chrome and have had no WP issues so far.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Nope – seems to be tied to your email address as near as I can tell. I have run into this on Firefox, Chrome and Safari (haven’t tried Internet Explorer…mostly b/c I don’t like IE).

        Like

        Reply

        2. I have to use IE8 at work for at least some applications…it’s not a bad browser, I just prefer Chrome and Firefox for usability.

          Like

  3. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    I am not asuper procrastinator either. When I was pretty young I procrastinated several times, felt the pain of panic and uncertainty, and I decided I wanted to feel more in charge, so I knockeff of the “putting things off while waiting for perfection” thing. I just could not tolerate the angst. However, sometimes, when I have several projects going I get this little rebellious thing going and refuse to work on them and start a 3rd or 4th project, so I have this stuff all over waiting to be finished.

    Like

    Reply

  4. As a person who made a living writing articles with deadlines for several decades, you’d think I couldn’t afford to be a procrastinator. But I was. I made an art of managing the terrors of procrastination. I would let a deadline slide closer and closer, like a charmer working with a deadly cobra, and then when it seemed almost too late to meet the deadline I would use the fear generated that way to get me through the task of writing.

    I did that month after month, year after year, for about thirty years. I used the terror of missed deadlines to write several hundred magazine articles and a bunch of books, always putting them off until the very last moment. The only time I missed a deadline was when my dad was dying and my erstwife was leaving me, and then I missed a book deadline. But the system worked remarkably well.

    Until last year. Last year I blew an assignment by using that old system . . . totally blew it. I let down an editor and shamed myself. Now I can see that I need to resign myself to the fact that I’m not young enough and flexible enough to ever again fool around with deadlines again. People who play with snakes need good reflexes and more nerve than I have now. And now I am trying to change my whole lifestyle, resisting the impulse to procrastinate since I can’t count on being able to suddenly come to life and do what needs to be done after putting it off.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I am a procrastinator of your ilk, Steve, but I haven’t hit bottom and reformed yet. I will consider your wisdom in this matter, though, and try to change my ways, maybe, tomorrow, if I get a chance to think about it-more likely next week, maybe. I expect parts of ND will be blowing past MN today, given the high wind warning we have been blessed with, so wave to the sky if any of you get a chance. Some of my garden soil will probably be landing somewhere in the Cities. Nice to hear from you, Aaron! I wonder why we all need wrath and deadlines to get things done? Doesn’t the Wrath of Connolly sound like something from an Irish epic?

      Like

      Reply

      1. “Wrath of Connolly” does sound like an Irish epic – with many privations and hunger and cold, probably a fierce dark haired male a little too fond of his whiskey, a fair lass trapped by said male…

        Like

        Reply

        1. Don’t forget the centuries-long feud with the McLaughlins-whose current chief “Black-hearted Billy” Mclaughlin, has stolen all the herds and robbed the Connelly treasury.

          Like

        1. doesnt dale kind of remnd you of henry fonda in grapes of wrath now that its brought up.

          Then I’ll be all around in the dark – I’ll be ever’where—wherever you look. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever they’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there… I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’—I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready. An’ when our folk eat the stuff they raise an’ live in the houses they build—why, I’ll be there.

          Like

        2. What a nice compliment to Dale, tim. A modest demeanor, but tough in the ways that matter, resilient and steady and quick to laugh. 🙂

          Like

      3. I don’t think ND is hanging out in MN long enough for much more than a quick wave, Renee. High winds here are only allowing ND enough time to pull up to the curb and open up the door just long enough for MN to jump on board as they road trip east.

        Like

        Reply

    2. Steve, I am also reaching the point in my life where I have to be more aware of what needs to be done and get it done without waiting too long. Many things that should have been done years ago have piled up. These are things that I can still be put off. However, there are so many of these things that need to be done some day that I can no long hope to get all of them done if I don’t start taking care of them.

      Like

      Reply

    3. Been there, done that…having your back up against the wall is sometimes the only thing that lights the fuse on certain tasks for me. Not a good system, as you saw/noted yourself, but I’ve ended up in that position waaaay too many times myself!

      Like

      Reply

  5. hey aaron, good to see your name again. hope all is well. i have a friend who was gven an assignement in school in speech class to do their presentation on a particulatr date and when the time came he begged for a postponement and then another and after the third one the teacher was getting near explosive and so for the forth the presentation came to be and the topic was procrastination. the teacher melted and an a was given. it is the only time i have ever seen procrastination serve as a positive tool in the toolbox. i tend to be amazed at how much less the task involves in real life than it does in my imagined workplace where the drudgery and detail orientated misery are oppressive and monumental in scale. i hate procrastination and i will deal with the havoc it wreaks on my existance in the very near future. really i will. enjoy a 65 degree march baboons. dubbleuteeef never mind. i dont know how to explain to you how the weather based language and conversation based culture deals with positive elements in the daily mantra from above. its not right we know its not right but we are helpless to do anything but wait for reality to reappear. this is not san diego, this is not orlando. my son went to pheonix for a week of sunny bliss and we were 25 degrees warmer here than he was there. go figure. i am going to look into whats going on here. a little later.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I would actually not mind a couple of weeks with 65 degree temps. We had almost no “winter” here this year (such as it is) and the days are already fairly muggy and steamy. I should be used to it by now, but a little break from it would be OK with me!

      Like

      Reply

  6. Good to hear from you, Aaron – and the photo is perfect. I still procrastinate on way too many things. Neither Husband nor I can seem to make long range travel decisions, and wait almost till the time is upon us to firm things up. Luckily, we like car trips, where you don’t have to make advance reservations. (As with Steve, however, a deadline like an actual date like a wedding will spur us to quicker action.) I also leave packing for a trip till the night before, although I do at least start thinking about it, maybe do laundry ahead of time.

    Like

    Reply

  7. Good morning to all. It’s good to hear from you Aaron. I hope you will not procrastinate too long with regard to future participation this blog. You are missed when you are not here.

    I am always waiting too long to get things done. Here is something I will take care right now. At the Blevin’s Book Club, yesterday, it was suggested that I should post information about an Orange Mighty Trio Concert coming up this Saturday. Here it is:

    The Orange Mighty Trio with Project Trio at Studio Z in St Paul’s Lower Town (275 E. 4th St.) at 7 PM on March 24th

    Tickets available at the door or online at studiozstpaul.com. $15 or $10 for students. There are only 100 seats so buying tickets in advance is recommended.

    As some of you know, the Orange Mighty Trio includes my son-in-law, Zack Klein, and plays orginal instrumental music with all kinds influences featuring Zack on violin, Nick Gaudette on bass, and Mike Vasich on piano. Project Trio is similar in many ways to OMT and is a nationally touring band feature out standing players on bass, flute, and cello.

    Like

    Reply

    1. I recommend seeing this group! They were at Rock Bend last September and were a fabulous treat for us to see and hear at the North Grove Stage. Go and see them if you possibly can!

      Like

      Reply

      1. Krista, thanks for your comments about the trio. Their music has been played on The Morning Show and radio heartland and they have done shows at the Cedar.

        Like

        Reply

  8. I don’t have a problem with procrastination as long as I have a commitment to someone else. It is when I commit to myself that my rebellious procrastinator attitude is unleashed. I don’t have to do that! or I don’t want to do that! or I can do that tomorrow!

    I do the mandated adult things—pay bills and taxes on time, return or renew library books. But for personal time—I will not hold to a schedule and seem to want to wander and float most of the time. I think I am comfortable accepting that as my nature BUT then I have doubts and a bit of guilt that pop up to suggest that I am a lazy, slacker to dawdle while there are so many problems/causes that I should/could be working on.

    Like

    Reply

      1. “There’s always tomorrow!” reminds me of a line from the book I wrote about my parents:
        “The river set a rhythm for the town, a sleepy rhythm that suggested any task put off today could probably be done tomorrow . . . or just as easily put off again until a more fitting time might arrive, if it ever did.”

        Like

        Reply

      2. BIR exercise, groceries—“I can have a toasted cheese.” “Isn’t there a can of salmon…?” hahaha And sometimes, as a last resort, I have to “make” rules, I can’t get dressed until I dust. Good luck getting me to follow my own rules!! Today I had a grand plan. Took a little walk but now I’m being drawn to the backyard to read instead of whatever….

        Like

        Reply

    1. well, first off, i forgot my password and kind of gave up after awhile. 🙂
      but hi there, VS – and All. Girls are great (i’m just busy nesting 🙂 today i got all the outside openings fitted with vented doors (to close in everyone at night when the coyotes are looking for tasty little morsels dancing around), dairy clipped Dream, Kona and Lassi and found out someone had lost some parts when they borrowed my clipper, put a pork roast in the slow-cooker for pulling tomorrow and about 80 pounds of jambalaya in the dutch oven so we have meals to fall back on in the next 10 days. tomorrow, hooves on the Boys and Girls not imminently due, dose everyone with vit. E, get a whole bunch of feed from Wright feedmill and place everything in the kidding kit for Kona’s event. i’ll let you know as we progress – no time for procrastination! hi Aaron!

      Like

      Reply

  11. Welcome back Aaron. You pre-date my joining this motley crew.

    I envy you non-procrastinators. My bugaboos are phone calls. For some reason, I don’t like to make them.
    Current put-offs are a question for a doctor (not urgent, obviously) and one for making an appointment with a lawyer.
    What am I so afraid will happen when I get one of these folks on the horn?

    I think it has to do with my difficulty making quick decisions. (I’m an uber-P on the Meyers-Briggs.)
    In the middle of a phone call, I may have to decide what my next question might be, how to answer a question from the other side, when something on my calendar will work or not, whether or not I have all the information I need.

    On my newer Mac computer, I have Stickees (Post-It notes ™ for the computer desktop). I list there the things-I-have-to-do and sometimes remove them. Items can stay on there for a very long time.

    Solutions: I try to remember that it’s better to go through the agony of getting whatever-it-is done than to keep looking at it and feeling uncomfortable for having left it undone. Obviously, I need a better solution.

    Tricks for encouraging procrastination: reading the paper, checking FB and looking for recent Baboon posts. I also over-commit to volunteer jobs that can’t be postponed.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Confessing to Baboons seems to work well. I made both of the aforementioned phone calls and lived to tell the tale.
      Now if I can just get back to working on my quilt. That’s supposed to be “fun” and “relaxing” but because I’m making it up as I go along, it’s stressful.
      “Todoplegia” it is.

      Like

      Reply

    2. Lisa, I’m with you on making phone calls. For some reason, I just don’t want to do it. I used to enjoy talking on the phone but I just don’t anymore. There are a few people with whom conversations tend to get long. I especially procrastinate on these.

      Like

      Reply

      2. The thing about the phone is that only when you make calls is it on your timetable. The best thing that’s happened at our house recently is that we ended up with caller id as a byproduct of our cable. I love being able to see how is calling so I get to make the decision about whether I pick up or not!

        Like

        Reply

        1. I can be brutal with caller ID. Forget it, you Private Caller, Cell Phone MN and Out of Area people. If you’re not who I think you are, leave me a message. Of course, I’ll put off calling you back…
          The phone set I have has Talking Caller ID so I also get to enjoy the way it brutalizes the pronunciation of my callers. My favorite is Verizon WIreless. It is pronounced Verizon WEERLS..

          Like

    3. Your use of the word motley has me procrastinating packing the car to go to Bismarck, and instead looking up a quote from Twelfth Night. “”Misprision in the highest degree!–Lady, cucullus non facit monachum–That’s as much as to say, I wear not motley in my brain. Good Madonna, give me leave to prove you a fool.”

      Like

      Reply

  12. I found that having a child cured me of an awful lot of procrastination. You can’t just put off most of what needs to be done for your kid(s), so you get an involuntary momentum going after a while. Then you fall into your bed exhausted by 10 every night, both impressed with your own machine-like efficiency and dismayed that you are already at the point in your life where going to bed at 10 is physically necessary.

    Like

    Reply

    1. And they give you a good barometer of what IS important. The dusting and closet cleaning really don’t matter when you compare them to changing diapers, taking your child to the park or fingerpainting with soap suds on the kitchen table.(you get double-duty with that one – a delighted kid and a clean table)

      Like

      Reply

      1. Lisa – couldn’t agree more! And I’ve used that fingerpainting/cleaning the table trick myself in the past, both with my own daughter and in my classroom when I used to teach. Win-win! 🙂

        Like

        Reply

        2. Hi Barbara – I taught 3rd for a few years, and also did 2 years in a couple of 5th grade gifted classes. I must admit, I got so fed up with the bureaucracy of the Dept. of Education here in Florida that I left. It made me feel guilty to leave teaching at the time, but I got over it. 🙂

          Like

        3. Exactly. In the early 70s, Postman’s Teaching as a Subversive Activity helped, but not enough.

          Like

  13. A 7pm house opening time with a stage set still being worked on at 6:30, yah – that’s a good motivator. (I promise I have only once put a set piece out that was still wet with paint when there was danger of an actor getting near the wet paint…and was mostly sure it would be dry by the time any costume piece got near it.) Like Steve, I find specific deadlines helpful for some work – but stuff around the house, oy. I have a stack of projects at home waiting for a specific deadline (washing the windows, cleaning out a couple closets, repainting the bathroom…). Techniques for not procrastinating? Best one for home projects is convincing a friend to come help, or at least keep me company while I work (especially good for sorting out things from storage, closets, etc.).

    Good to hear from you Aaron!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Wet paint on a set for opening?? Why, I never! … ok, maybe once or twice. People, people… it just happens sometimes; situations beyond our control and then, poof, opening night, wet paint.
      I once decided to add fabric to the top walls of an interior house set at about noon of opening day. The girl helping me said ‘You’re doing this now?’ I looked at my watch and said ‘house doesn’t open for 7 hours; we got lots of time.’ I think I was done by 4:00 or so.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Of the two times I cut it really close with wet paint one was an outdoor stage where I knew the sun would dry the paint in about 20 minutes and there was a full hour before the actors would be on the stage (or near it) and the second time all of the wettest paint was at the top of the walls (box set), and the actors would have had to jump really high to get near it. Now, dressing the set up to the last five minutes before the house opened, that’s something else entirely…

        Like

        Reply

  14. I am procrastinating right now by reading this! Today’s tasks include: raking at my mother in laws’s house which we are trying to keep house beautiful because we’re trying to sell it, so I had better finish that before it rains, getting some studying done for my Monday night class, doing a painting I promised to someone for a fund raiser, cleaning my messy house, going to the Y. . . . it’s so easy to feel like I’m putting things off when there just aren’t enough hours. Maybe it’s not the same thing.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Maybe that’s more of a prioritizing issue, Keelin. If found that too many items on a “To Do” list can trigger a so far unnamed form of paralysis. I trust witty Babooners can come up with a fitting name for this disorder… something along the order of “Todoplegia”.

      Like

      Reply

      3. Having a name for one’s condition always helps! Paralysis is right though. When this kind of thing happens, I kind of dig my heels in and curl up with a book and thumb my nose at responsibility. Wait. . .I have to finish a book by Wednesday for my book club. Ackk! Think I’ll go take a bike ride!

        Like

        Reply

  15. I’ve never been much of a procrastinator… never liked the stress that came with it. Recently, however, I find myself more prone to it… not so much out of laziness, but more as a way of sorting through things that matter and those that don’t. I find myself putting off those items that really seem like time/energy zaps or add little to my life… and I’ll continue putting them off until the deadline is long gone and I can cross it off the list. I suppose just saying “No” upfront would be easier, but this gives me the same end result. BUT, this technique only works on my own personal stuff… If I’ve told someone I’ll do something, I’ll always keep my word.

    Like

    Reply

  16. My job is one of minute details and sudden deadlines. I work with many long funding strings and the new and confounding SWIFT system (remember the tortured acronym rule). Some of the people I work with are naturally very detail-oriented and very obsessive about deadlines. I’ve learned to survive in this system. What really gets me is when one of these obsessive types e-mails me and asks for the information or report that isn’t due for another week. They have “everyone else’s” and they’re just waiting for mine to complete their little job in their little empire somewhere far, far away from me and my own little deadlines.

    So, I like to get things done in advance at work. I even like to plan for future work and set myself and the ten men up for the next seasonal stage in our cyclical jobs. I like to have the well-meaning but incredibly annoying people off my back as soon as possible, so I work in advance as much as I’m able and try to stay ahead.

    It’s a different story at home. I’ll start lots of different projects and then decide it’s too much to worry about and go for a hike instead. I can relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed with too much and then just shutting down. It works to go for a hike or bike ride or do yoga or something and then return and it’s like all the priorities just fell into place.

    Like

    Reply

  17. Afternoon,

    Busy day here so procrastinated writing till now.
    Nobody has yet mentioned this yet:
    “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
    Douglas Adams

    Yep, that’s me… shall we talk about my book-keeping skills? 2011 is done; I meet the accountant next week. Haven’t started 2012 yet. It’s OK, though. I have a shoebox.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Ben – I know you can’t “like” a comment on WordPress, but just imagine that I’ve given yours a little thumbs-up for the Adams quote. It’s one I use on a regular basis! 🙂

      Like

      Reply

  19. I don’t think I procrastinated much in my younger days. The fear of things like bad grades motivated me to get on it – plus I hated pulling all-nighters.

    Now, however, I procrastinate all the time. What I don’t get, though, is not only do I procrastinate on things I hate doing – such as bookkeeping or dealing with household papers – but I also never get around to doing things I like to do and would like to do (or at least I think I would like to do them). One example: writing.

    Like

    Reply

      1. I’m not very productive when I procrastinate. Cookie baking – sometimes. Floor mopping? Not even sure I own a mop…

        Like

        Reply

  21. OT: Krista, I’m hearing that severe weather moved through your way (Waterville/Elysian) this evening. Just checking to see if you fared okay.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Clyde of Mankato Cancel reply