Procrastinate

procrastinate (v) proh-kras-tuh-neyt
to defer action; delay

From Latin prōcrāstināre, “to put off until tomorrow”.

So, if I don’t do it tomorrow either, does that mean that I’m not really procrastinating?

See, there are times when I just don’t feel like sitting down and writing. Everyone has been there. You’re just not in the mood, or maybe the idea isn’t fully formed quite yet and you don’t want to force it. Sometimes you’d like nothing better than to park in front of the computer for a few hours and slam out a couple thousand words, but you know your tax returns aren’t done yet and the IRS isn’t going to wait forever. Maybe the season finale of The Walking Dead is on and I want to watch it live. (Oh, cool, Fringe is back next week too.)

I’ve taken procrastination to a whole new level…I’ve gone “pro” in the crastination department, as it were. When my heart just isn’t in it, I find myself writing a sentence or two, sometimes a whole paragraph, and then getting up to go do…something. Checking email is the obvious choice, but that’s too easy. I’m talking about checking on the temperature (yep, it’s still warm outside!) or looking up the theater schedule or paging through my Amazon wish list to see if anything has gotten cheaper. (Blast, last season’s Doctor Who blu-ray is STILL $64...)

Strangely, one of the things I most often do when procrastinating from something else is clean stuff. There’s never any shortage of that needing to be done, of course, but sometimes something that I’ve ignored and tolerated for months will suddenly find itself getting cleaned up and put away when I’m in the midst of a completely different project.

Weird.

If you were hoping I’d conclude by passing along something useful I’ve learned about tackling the whole procrastination thing, I’m sorry, but I’m about to disappoint you. It just happens sometimes. Could I work a little harder at it? Sure, no doubts there.

But it’s summer! (Close enough, at least…) It’s the weekend and it’s nice outside! Why would I want to sit in front of a computer all day? I do that at work enough already.

Plus, you know, The Walking Dead is on in a bit.

Jason R.