Radio 1 Anthems Scheduling

[KingTutsWWH]

Do you procrastinate when you have some important task to carry out?

Why do you do it? (if you Wiki 'Procrastination', the psychological reasons for it are interesting).

Most importantly, what are your favourite methods of doing it?

Yes.

Dunno, still haven't worked it out yet.

Compulsive cleaning of the bathroom, even the toilet,

Offering to cook meals for anyone I know who feels a bit peckish,

Talking to pets,

UM,

Suddenly noticing an epic (ie very long Ben Hurr-style) film that I'm desperate to see/haven't seen for ages

etc.

PS. I've even been known to use an iron when I'm really going for it!

[YoppaDo]

Yes, I procrastinate with practically every single piece of homework, revision or essay I need to complete, usually until the day before it's needed (or the day itself )

There's no real way in which I procrastinate, I just do anything except what I'm supposed to be doing, e.g listen to the radio, browse the internet for news I already checked 30 minutes before. Or by telling myself to have just another hour free and never truly getting round to the task.

It's done probably due to a mix of laziness and a short attention span.

[Bumble_85]

All the time.

I have an inability to actually write anything that's worthwhile unless there is a deadline looming.

Cleaning the kitchen, going to the pub, baking cakes, discovering I desperately need to go and buy something useful that isn't really needed for a while.

Oh and I do that thing where I start off reading things on wiki that are related to my essay but gradually click on the links that appear and end up reading about penguins or something unhelpful like that.

[Lucinda]

Food shopping, going to the gym, browsing the internet, talking to my housemates, making music playlists, reading the BBC news online (anything on the BBC site counts as 'work'... honest), checking my email every 3 minutes, reading promotional material that has come through the letter box, watching ducks on campus... I have so many, but my housemate has many many more ways of procrastinating.

Unfortunately I'm currently feeling the consequences of months of putting everything off.

I also end up reading articles on Wikipedia that get further and further from what I was originally researching.

[YoppaDo]

A

Oh and I do that thing where I start off reading things on wiki that are related to my essay but gradually click on the links that appear and end up reading about penguins or something unhelpful like that.

Ha, yes. I was looking up 'Emma' by Jane Austen once for some background notes, and ended up clicking on the film version of the book, and then eventually reading up on Gwyneth Paltrow :hahaha:

[FreakaZoid101]

Oh yes. I rule at procrastination. I usually do homework in the actual lesson itself (I have the most gormless Chemistry teacher) or in the lesson before hand.

Homework at home? You what? I have better things to do.

Like:

Facebook

UM

Chav watching out my window

Going down to the corner shops to see if my fit motorcycling stalker is there, just so I can avoid him

Writing lists about how I procrastinate.

Mad rave dancing to amazing music.

Work? What work? :whistle:

[Grace]

I'm learning to knit and the majority of my coursework is due in tomorrow, if not the day after. Procrastination > GCSEs.

[Serin]

As everyone else, I more or less found something else to occupy my time instead of doing school work until the deadline approached. In fact, one morning I remember finishing my essay on A Doll's House for English Literature A-level on the way to school. Bad boy.

At work I'm not as bad, as my boss actively keeps everyone on their toes so deadlines are usually defeated.

[Lucinda]

I need to know what I want to do for my dissertation in about 23 hours time because I am finally seeing my tutor. I took a very long walk home via the uni lake and along a river also and now I'm contemplating going out, since the sun is out. I'm even considering food shopping - anything to avoid staring at a computer trying to make sense of journal articles.

[Bumble_85]

I finished one essay yesterday and so have taken this as my cue to watch 5 episodes of Scrubs, make bread pudding and do all the washing up again.

Bored enough to do some work now though...

[KingTutsWWH]

Causes of procrastination

Psychological

The psychological causes of procrastination vary greatly, but generally surround issues of anxiety, low sense of self-worth, and a self-defeating mentality. Procrastinators are also thought to have a higher-than-normal level of conscientiousness, more based on the "dreams and wishes" of perfection or achievement in contrast to a realistic appreciation of their obligations and potential.[3]

Author David Allen brings up two major psychological causes of procrastination at work and in life which are related to anxiety, not laziness.[citation needed] The first category comprises things too small to worry about, tasks that are an annoying interruption in the flow of things, and for which there are low-impact workarounds; an example might be organizing a messy room. The second category comprises things too big to control, tasks that a person might fear, or for which the implications might have a great impact on a person's life; an example might be the adult children of a deteriorating elderly parent deciding what living arrangement would be best.

A person might unconsciously overestimate or underestimate the scale of a task if procrastination has become a habit.[citation needed]

From the behavioral psychology point of view, James Mazur has said that procrastination is a particular case of "impulsiveness" as opposed to self control.[citation needed] Mazur states that procrastination occurs because of a temporal discounting of a punisher, as it happens with the temporal discount for a reinforcer. Procrastination, then, as Mazur says, happens when a choice has to be made between a later larger task and a sooner small task; as the absolute value of the task gets discounted by the time, a subject tends to choose the later large task.[citation needed]. Wikipedia

See? We aren't lazy, we're simply anxious perfectionists? Seriously though, this does make some sort of sense to me

[Bumble_85]

That does make some sense. However, I think my procrastination is pure laziness...

[Emma]

Tidying my room; it's always spotless around exam time.

[Lucinda]

I sat down to do some work and then my housemates came along and pointed out that it's a lovely sunny afternoon. We decided to go to the nearby recreation ground and play frisbee. I warned them that the frisbee can go a long way and to stay away from trees, as I usually do.

We were only playing for about 10 minutes when my housemate threw it into the top of a huge bush. We then spent the next half hour getting the frisbee down. The bush was in fact rather prickly and difficult to climb. In the end we got the guy who'd got it stuck up there to go home and fetch the mop from the kitchen, which extends to be quite long, and I climbed up the inside of the bush and poked the frisbee with the mop while my housemate got on the other housemate's shoulders. We eventually got the frisbee down but my hands and arms are quite badly cut up.

It was pretty fun though, I haven't climbed a tree in years and it was a very inventive form of procrastination.

[Riz]

I tend to just do things that (in my mind anyway) are more important than studying, it makes it seem more acceptable...

- Sleeping. If i cant be bothered to study, then i'll sleep, that way i dont have to feel guilty until ive already done it.

- Bebo. I'll keep refreshing the page hoping someone comments me. I'll insist on this theory 4 hours later too.

- Moan. If im not going to do the work, then i might aswell moan about it just so at least it looks like i care that ive not done it.

- Going for a walk. I only ever go for a walk whenever i absolutely have to study.

Eventually, i admit defeat and it never gets done.

[Timsk]

I should be in bed, I have a busy day tomorrow...

[midnight]

I should be writting up my lab report which is due tomorrow or studying for my exam which I have tomorrow but instead I am on UM and Jockwars instead having already tidyed my room, had a long conversation with my flatmate and phoned a guy I work with and spoken to him. Im now considering going to the shop for cheesestrings. Eventually I will need to get round to the lab report though.

[Bumble_85]

I just sorted out all the pictures on my computer. I did do some work first. Sort of. It's very boring looking for books on contemporary fiction though - they just don't exist.

[superchris0110]

I have one word thats good/bad for procrastination... FACEBOOK!!!

[Jono]

Facebook chat is the height of that. It's so tedious.

[Emma]

I love Facebook, I'm getting used to it now.

[Andy B]

I use facebook, here, CM/net and various other websites to procrastinate from doing just about ANYTHING at work!

[Mike]

I'm slightly addicted to facebook.

[Kelly]

I opened my Understanding TV and Film Industries essay half an hour ago. So far I've;

---Checked my LJ

---Updated my LJ

---Cruised Getty for Richard Hammond pictures (yes, I'm on that kick again)

---Checked UM

---Written 20 words

Things are going well, I feel.

[Andy B]

And it's only 1.30am! Going really well then.