4 ms·
Thanks for linking to the document. I can’t argue with the evidence regarding genetics, and I agree that real procrastination likely indicates troubles with goa
by goblin89 12y ago
Thanks for linking to the document. I can’t argue with the evidence regarding genetics, and I agree that real procrastination likely indicates troubles with goal management, but I strongly disagree that what these questions indicate is in fact tendency to procrastinate (by Wikipedia’s definition[0] and my own understanding of the word).
My main objection is that what appears as procrastination to an outsider may not necessarily be procrastination per individual’s plan.
Moreover, I think the common attitude to this is unfortunate, because avoiding externally perceived procrastination may actually go against individual’s own interests. Such conflict could be enough to induce actual procrastination in those sensitive to public pressure but not willing to fully cave in[1].
Meanwhile, the majority of questions in the document judge the procrastination by this “external” standard.
[0] “Procrastination is the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, or doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, and thus putting off impending tasks to a later time…”
[1] “I want to go freelancing (fire my client, etc.) but when I lurk and read up on this topic (polish my resume, etc.) I feel like I’m procrastinating, so I’m writing Hacker News comments instead” is roughly how I imagine this.