“It seems to me that Hughes wanted to be a writer more than he wanted to write; the difference isn’t always obvious, even to the person doing the wanting, and t

“It seems to me that Hughes wanted to be a writer more than he wanted to write; the difference isn’t always obvious, even to the person doing the wanting, and talent, which you feel ought to be a clue, may be a red herring.” Wow, that sounds like me and research! “Some see procrastination as a rational preference: the procrastinator has chosen immediate over deferred gratification, pleasure over work. But generally the failure to work goes along with a failure of appetites: a lot of the time I’m chained to my desk as a ghost is chained to the spot they haunt. It doesn’t even have the glamour of writer’s block.” So much this—instead of working hard during the day then doing something fun in the evening, one procrastinates all day doing half-fun things (like reading low-brow internet news sources, ahem), then spends the evening wallowing in self-flagellating guilt, and angst, since the deadline slowly comes ever closer! How to break the cycle? The next time i write a paper, my time management will be better, i promise! The next review will be in on time, really! Who is being deluded? The habit must change. That sounds like the self-flagellation phase, cue the coda!