Procrastination
Procrastination
I remember an Epcot Center ride from my childhood where Figment, the dragon (pictured above) would sing "Imagination." At home, my mother would replace the word “imagination” with “procrastination.” It was both entertaining and infuriating when she would break into her rendition. With one bar of music she called me out for my bad habit. It made me feel guilty and acknowledge my soon-to-be dire situation. I understand now that it was equally frustrating for her to witness my homework languishing in my bag. I mention all this in way of admitting the scourge that plagues me, and the majority of students I know...as well as admitting my neglect of this blog. By addressing the perils of procrastination, I hope to begin the new year in a spirit of productivity.
One of the first signs of procrastination is calculating how many days, hours, and minutes until the assignment is due. I call this zero hour. This behavior is not to be misconstrued with planning and time management. Time management includes scheduling and setting aside time for each task and regular life needs. Time management balances. Procrastination avoids. It is very easy to delude yourself that calculating how long it will take to write a paper is the same as planning (Counting the number of pages until the end of a chapter is also a bad sign). When the “time required” to complete something begins to shrink, it’s time to check yourself before it gets out of control.
Next, beware of completing other tasks—other homework, house cleaning, re-organizing bookshelves. These things are either easier or can be done faster, thus, amassing a list of check marks that aid a false feeling of productivity. This is still avoidance! When the assignment is the only thing left unchecked, it should be clear that procrastination has taken control.
Anytime procrastination is recognized, get in front of a computer and attack the project. It may not get finished, but there is a chance some portion will get done (or started). Once there, sitting in front of an assignment—blinking cursor on an empty or partial page—and it is agony to type even when the sentences are clear in my mind, I like to ask myself out loud, "Why don't I want to do this?! What is keeping me from moving forward?" Sometimes it helps to yell it. Whatever the answer might be, just admitting this helps. I am not always able to figure out why, but it allows me a moment's reflection. At the very least, I am able to say--also out loud--“Too bad. I still have to do this." It may not be the most glamorous mode of motivating, but it’s the truth.
Time is a struggle and nearly always works against us. Procrastination is its insidious friend. In my experience, it helps to leave the task after the second or third yell of "I don't want to do this!" Then, repeat the previous two steps within a designated time frame. This only works if the designated appointment is kept, of course. As zero hour approaches this gets easier out of sheer fear and need. If procrastination carries me this far, a sleepless night ensues.
I have learned that even a few hours is preferable to nothing. Perhaps this is my age, but I think I would have benefited equally from this rule in my trends and twenties as well. Clearly, this is no way to succeed. I did get better at legitimate time management, but it requires "constant vigilance" as Harry Potter's Professor Moody said. The occasional free-time treat is necessary and restorative. Procrastination costs a lot and is worth nothing.
No one but my family gets my joke when I start singing my mom's old song. I still sing it to myself in between yelling at the computer so I can laugh at myself for a moment. Laughing does help me feel better about the job in front of me. The guilt is still there too, though I think Figment is gone. It’s certainly been years since I’ve seen him. His song will always be with me to help keep me both imaginative and on time.
I'll discuss time management in my next post in hopes of keeping the new year on track. I have added an Extras page for sample papers and links to outside resources. Go to the bottom navigator of the Home page and give it a try. Click the picture of Figment to hear the actual song, A Little Spark, from the Epcot ride.
May nerd-dom abound and may your deadlines be far away!
Katrina Pavlovich
Quote-of-the-day
"When will then be now?" --Dark Helmet in Spaceballs
Overview: The 13 Clocks
A story full of singular persons and things, The 13 Clocks, is as the introduction by Neil Gaiman suggests, quite “probably the best book in the world” (7). These one of a kind persons include something called a Golux who somehow is the main character without having anything to do with the story line himself. In both acknowledgment and jest, Thurber provides himself and his tale a Greek-like device that is able to compel the story forward while leaping all the nasty hurdles of logistics. The Golux claims, “‘I am the Golux,’ said the Golux, proudly, ‘the only Golux in the world, and not a mere Device,’” (32) yet he also “must always be on hand when people are in peril” (32), which is the exact purpose of a Deus ex machina: the miraculous extrication of a hero at the last moment of certain failure and death. Time is the weapon used, both, by and against the villain of The 13 Clocks. The Golux must extricate them from a lack of time.
The evil in question is not war or wrathful gods, but a (literally) cold and terrible Duke, whose wish is for all to suffer at his hands—which are incidentally also always cold. Even the hands of time, rather the hands of the clocks on his walls, are frozen by his cold heart. The day these clocks stopped working, the Duke “decided he had murdered time, slain it with his sword, and wiped his bloody blade upon its beard and left it lying there, bleeding hours and minutes, its springs uncoiled and sprawling, its pendulum disintegrating” (20). By requiring a task to be accomplished at and not before a specific time, a time that these dead clocks will never tick to, the Duke believes his task impossible…but for the Golux, there is no such thing.
Thurber’s extra long sentences and near bombast prolong the trial to heighten suspense while extending our knowledge and enjoyment of the characters. His structure reflects the paradoxically simplistic tick of a clock’s second hand with the profundity of its importance. It is a true joy to read this magically crafted fairy tale.
Click the cover picture link to find a well priced version for yourself. I leave you with my favorite quote from the very middle of the story:
“‘I can do a score of things that can’t be done,’ the Golux said. ‘I can find a thing I cannot see and see a thing I cannot find. The first is time, the second is a spot before my eyes. I can feel a thing I cannot touch and touch a thing I cannot feel. The first is sad and sorry, the second is your heart. What would you do without me?’” (65).