Sunday, December 20, 2009

Good Procrastination - Constructive Avoidance

We finally got a bit of snow in Long Island.

Today, I want to get my home made Christmas gift done. It is a tradition in our family to draw names and make a gift. So - top priority today. Get it done.

But what have I done? I have done just about everything but that. Not that what I have been doing does not need doing - like shoveling the snow, putting some weather stripping on the front door, catching up on some emails, working out, finishing a book review and now blogging.

What I call that is constructive avoidance. I avoid what I want to do by doing other things.

At least it is constructive.

I am thinking - is this good procrastination?


5 Comments:

At 6:51 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I have actually noticed and discussed this phenomenon with friends around exams. It seems that during exams when you are supposed to be studying, you get an amazing amount of things accomplished. Of course, none of those things are studying, but they are things you would rather not normally do, such as online banking or paper work. Seems everything is relative, so I suppose the question is how can you leverage this more often?

 
At 11:03 AM, Anonymous Alex Revai said...

Jim, I'm not sure I would call it "good procrastination". I would call it creative excuse-making.:)

My guess would be that it (making the gift) is not a priority (albeit, you don't have too much time till Xmas), or that you prefer cramming (working under pressure).

Enjoy the snow and have a wonderful Holiday!

 
At 1:24 PM, Anonymous Jim S - Ottawa said...

Jim- Don't spend too much time analysing this one...it will take away from your productivity (and perhaps creativity) for your "home made gift"...get on it!

Happy Holidays!!

 
At 3:07 PM, Anonymous Chicago Furniture Store Guy said...

I ended up buying printable massage gifts for my wife online for Xmas on the Xmas day. She knew what I was doing but didn't complain when she got the gift. How can you be mad at someone who is giving you a gift of a massage?

 
At 7:55 PM, Anonymous take the blame said...

Hi, Good procrastination is bad procrastination dressed up to the 9s in revealing clothes. Let us take the blame for all procrastinating and you can continue with your work

http://taketheblame.co.uk/?p=402

 

Post a Comment

<< Home