5 ms·

My biggest waste of time has been procrastination, simply because it's avoidable. The time I spend thinking about doing stuff while staring at a screen is hard

by dazc 9y ago

My biggest waste of time has been procrastination, simply because it's avoidable. The time I spend thinking about doing stuff while staring at a screen is hard to justify in any logical sense. The time spent commuting, standing in-line, sitting in meetings and so on may be felt like wasted time but they are activities which are, pretty much, difficult to avoid.

JamesBarney 9y ago
10 years ago I was laid back, easy to chill, hard to get work done procrastinator. And now I'm a high strung, hard to relax, always super driven work horse. And let me tell you I'd go back to being lazy in a heartbeat. I was much less successful and poorer, but happier, calmer, and more interesting. I highly recommend procrastinating.
- zokier 9y ago
  > I highly recommend procrastinating. That's great if you are actually able to enjoy the time spent procrastinating. But when your procrastinating ends up with me, high strung, hard to relax, hard to get work done procrastinator, then it's not that great.
- sammoorhouse 9y ago
  What happened? Did you get promoted? Start a family? Lose a bad bet with the mafia?
  - akvadrako 9y ago
    I would bet it's just because working is addictive.
    - JamesBarney 9y ago
      Yeah, not exactly the work. But the success work brings.
  - JamesBarney 9y ago
    When I was younger I always did well at everything, winning lots of awards in physics, math, and state level awards in computers. So I was accustomed to doing well without trying. Not trying didn't work as well in college, because I had a 2.3 but that didn't bother me because I considered myself "smart". Assumed that employers would recognized I was "smart" and I'd do really well. Then my wakeup call was getting fired from my internship, realizing I had a shitty GPA, no idea how to code, and no guarantee I would graduate, or that I wouldn't end up homeless after I did. So every time I needed to do something and had that feeling of procrastination I'd reach down inside, imagine how much my life would be a failure if I didn't accomplish these tasks and then push. And it worked. I started getting a lot more done, my grades improved dramatically, and at my next internship I was a star. Then it was 5 years later, I'd done well at every job I had, but I was 25 pounds heavier, had stomach issues, my memory was terrible, I hadn't thought about anything but work in years, and my cortisol levels were abnormally high. I decided that I needed to slow down and I can't. Success is addicting, and now interwoven with my identity. And I've found that it's very hard to slow down. And when I do I start to get depressed when I don't do as well on projects as I'm accustomed to so I usually end up revving back up again promising myself I'll slow down for the next one. Not to say procrastinating is always great, but not procrastinating isn't just a bucket of pros without any cons.
rimher 9y ago
"Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time"
- lemming 9y ago
  Procrastination is seldom time you actively choose to waste, though, and few procrastinators enjoy it.

by dazc 9y ago

JamesBarney 9y ago

10 years ago I was laid back, easy to chill, hard to get work done procrastinator. And now I'm a high strung, hard to relax, always super driven work horse. And let me tell you I'd go back to being lazy in a heartbeat. I was much less successful and poorer, but happier, calmer, and more interesting. I highly recommend procrastinating.

zokier 9y ago
> I highly recommend procrastinating. That's great if you are actually able to enjoy the time spent procrastinating. But when your procrastinating ends up with me, high strung, hard to relax, hard to get work done procrastinator, then it's not that great.
sammoorhouse 9y ago
What happened? Did you get promoted? Start a family? Lose a bad bet with the mafia?
- akvadrako 9y ago
  I would bet it's just because working is addictive.
  - JamesBarney 9y ago
    Yeah, not exactly the work. But the success work brings.
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  When I was younger I always did well at everything, winning lots of awards in physics, math, and state level awards in computers. So I was accustomed to doing well without trying. Not trying didn't work as well in college, because I had a 2.3 but that didn't bother me because I considered myself "smart". Assumed that employers would recognized I was "smart" and I'd do really well. Then my wakeup call was getting fired from my internship, realizing I had a shitty GPA, no idea how to code, and no guarantee I would graduate, or that I wouldn't end up homeless after I did. So every time I needed to do something and had that feeling of procrastination I'd reach down inside, imagine how much my life would be a failure if I didn't accomplish these tasks and then push. And it worked. I started getting a lot more done, my grades improved dramatically, and at my next internship I was a star. Then it was 5 years later, I'd done well at every job I had, but I was 25 pounds heavier, had stomach issues, my memory was terrible, I hadn't thought about anything but work in years, and my cortisol levels were abnormally high. I decided that I needed to slow down and I can't. Success is addicting, and now interwoven with my identity. And I've found that it's very hard to slow down. And when I do I start to get depressed when I don't do as well on projects as I'm accustomed to so I usually end up revving back up again promising myself I'll slow down for the next one. Not to say procrastinating is always great, but not procrastinating isn't just a bucket of pros without any cons.

rimher 9y ago

"Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time"

lemming 9y ago
Procrastination is seldom time you actively choose to waste, though, and few procrastinators enjoy it.