I am the world’s best procrastinator. I’d say the world’s worst, but that would make me bad at it, and I’m not. I’m very, very good at procrastinating.
When I was in graduate school, we mailed our papers in to our professors for our classes. True to form, I procrastinated. Give me a deadline, and I will push it to the Very.Last.Second. And it never failed, every single paper, every single time, I was literally speeding to the post office in downtown Detroit (30 minutes away) because they stayed open until midnight and could postmark my paper on the day of the deadline.
Yes, I admit, it was that bad.
Why do I procrastinate? I’m not unproductive or lazy. I’m very organized. And I don’t procrastinate about certain things. I’m not one of those people who shops on Christmas Eve or forgets to cash checks or pay bills.
I think it’s an authority thing. If I have an actual deadline, there’s a rebel part of me that says, “You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not the boss of me! I’m going to do what *I* want to do!”
So I do. I play on Facebook, watch re-runs of Buffy on Netflix, I’ll even do *other* work rather than the work that has an actual deadline… and then, at the very last minute, I sit down to do what I’m “supposed” to do. Even if what I’m “supposed” to be doing is writing!
Psychologically, I’m sure it comes from having an authoritarian father. If I was sitting on Freud’s couch, he would say, “Jew are steel rebelling against your fadder!” Gee, thanks, Freud. Sometimes a procrastinator is just… a procrastinator! right?
Okay, maybe he’s right. Maybe that rebel in me is rebelling against a non-existent authoritarian figure. (My father has been gone for four years and I haven’t lived in his house or under his “rule” since I was eighteen…) Maybe I’m punishing myself by rebelling against my own self-imposed deadlines. Gee, ya think?
Hm… I wonder if I can use reverse psychology to fix my procrastination issue?
Well, until then… here’s my blog post. A minute before midnight.
Procrastination strikes again!