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The cycle of procrastination
By: Kevin Xu
Everyone loves procrastinating right? While productivity pays off in the long run, laziness always pays off now so why bother doing anything? We could go days at a time playing games and surfing the web before we tackle that paper that could probably be done in minutes. The major enemy? Lack of motivation
Ever find yourself fighting to find that lost motivation? You know at one time you were just so psyched to be productive but then what happened? Maybe something came up or you found something else to do? Or maybe just too much time passed. This is what’s been happening to me in what I call the “cycle of procrastination”
- LETS DO THIS- You start to do something but it doesn’t get done
- Procrastination- Food, the internet, sleep, food, or TV, you all know what happens when you lose your focus
- The “I hate myself” period- When you realize you just wasted hours you could’ve used to get your work done. Usually occurs after looking at a clock or waking up from what was supposed to be a ‘10 minute nap’
- LETS DO THIS (with new motivation)- Now you really got to get your work done due to renewed motivation or the deadline happens to be in a couple of hours.
- *Interruption*- This is the stage thats gets to me the most. Right after you found your motivation again and start on your work you get interrupted. You might have a legit sentence or paragraph typed up and a slew of new ideas to write about but then something interrupts your productivity. And I don’t mean like a bathroom break or someone asks you a question, I mean a natural occurrence of the day such as dinner or conference call. Or the worst of all, a new day. You know that if you just had another hour or two to work you could get EVERYTHING done but that just doesn’t happen.
- The Cycle Again- And after your interruption it starts all over again as that motivation is gone and you feel like procrastinating.
Quick Example: I wake up at 10:00am and want to do work. I procrastinate until 12:50pm and realize I need to do work. 1:00pm comes along and I need to go out with my family for lunch. Come back at 2:30pm and want to do work again. Procrastinate/nap until 5:30pm. Start work with the most motivation ever but dinner strikes at 6:00pm. Finish at 7:00pm and game/TV until 9:30pm. Decide I REALLY need to do work and get maybe one paper done. Then something called ’sleep’ takes over and I make a promise to myself to get everything done tomorrow as I have a whole free day tomorrow. Repeat…
Sad isn’t it? You can always try some Lifehacks or Zenhabits to get your motivation back. Godspeed!
~Kevin Xu
*Photo Courtesy of nav.it.singh
June 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Good analysis. In a sense, procrastinating is like playing a sport. Sometimes the opportunity comes, but if you don’t execute right there and then — the opportunity is lost. What often follows is you find yourself in a new situation, but this time a disadvantageous one.
I’m NOT advocating being all or nothing. You can *always* refocus your mind and reconvene ascending the latter.
My point is only, that if you really want to conquer procrastination, you must increase your levels of awareness. When the opportunity is there, do what Nike tells you to do, “Just do it.”
June 19th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I agree, carpe diem! (seize the moment, or in this case, the opportunity!)
June 27th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I’m surprised you finished this entry.
Unless it was used as procrastination for something else, which was probably the case.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
That is exactly right Christian, haha
June 29th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I like Christian’s comment (:
July 1st, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Funny enough, I decided to procrastinate by reading your blog. Keep it up