“Fall”ing and the
Art of Procrastination
With the arrival of autumnal
bliss comes the transformation
of life and time when branches
soaked in summer greens
gently bow to cooling tides
The waning signs of Summer
and the advent of change
when vibrant reds, oranges,
and yellows
bask and shimmer
in the mellowing sunlight
Now swathed in chilly gusts
Fall’s brittle branches shiver
willing their delicate leaves
to the gale
and a long tireless swirl
ends in a weary rock-a-bye
gathering at last
in a luminous mantle upon
the earth
Nature exhales a quieting “hush”
turning Fall’s radiance into rust
preparing for Winter’s peace
-Lara Andreykovich
I open today’s Town Talk with a poem I wrote the other day while gazing into nature, procrastinating. For me, writing poetry is a creative strategy that helps me cope with procrastination. Instead of feeling defeated after surrendering my “must-do’s” to time’s unforgiving pace, I engage in (and complete) an enjoyable task. Ultimately, the act of completing something mollifies negative self-talk and actually motivates me to begin an intimidating task.
During childhood, I procrastinated, mostly on homework, studying for tests, and telling my parents things I thought they wouldn’t want to hear. Thinking back, I was afraid of failing. To avoid the possibility of a harrowing outcome, I would overwhelm myself to the point of no return, get stuck and not start the task. Allowing your fear of the possibility of negative outcomes to prevent you from beginning a task is a debilitating affliction that often turns a possibility into a probability. Unfortunately, procrastinating is a debilitating habit that may extend throughout adulthood, and it is shared among many.
So what do you do when procrastination starts to swallow you up? Try to invent creative ways to get things done. Even if the creative undertaking is not exactly the one needing completed, you can still utilize it to spark motivation into the thing you must do. I refer to this coping method as the art of procrastination.
For my own sake and for the sake of many others who fall behind on life procrastinating, feeling stuck and even worse off afterwards, I asked local colleagues, friends, and students…
Which thing do you procrastinate about the most, and which strategy(ies), if any, help you to overcome your procrastinating? I arranged the responses according to task – strategy:
responding to texts – just do it/ cleaning the house – stay self-motivated/ exercising – put stickie notes everywhere I go in the house with an exercise written on each, so I have to do it or feel too guilty/ anything medically related – haven’t broken the cycle yet/ something I’m not looking forward to I put at the end of my list, but in general – make lists through Google Keys and reward myself when I finish a task/ paperwork and kid stuff – I keep searching for strategies and feel defeated…if anything, I cook to help myself feel better/ grocery shopping – meal planning on Sunday (instead of random times during the week)/ starting any project – just do it/ putting laundry away – I put scented dryer sheets in the drawers and sachets in the closets…then I look forward to smelling pretty smells/ waking up…school…work – Monster energy drink and setting lots of alarms with details about tasks and how to accomplish them/ doing dishes – wait until they overflow/ doing laundry – I do it when I realize I need clothes/ Everything! – I take medicine/ I don’t procrastinate – I just manage my time well.
Here’s what I learned. First of all, I learned that a common strategy amongst respondents is “Just do it!” And while such advice sounds good, this is easier said than done, as most of my interviewees would attest to having tried the strategy and failed miserably. Also, some management strategies are very general (e.g., manage time well), yet how to achieve the said task is not explained. Then some respondents shared their ongoing struggles searching for strategies to overcome their postponements. On a positive note, though, a handful of respondents disclosed creative methods which have helped them tackle procrastination.
Considering responses and personal experiences, I feel it is possible to mitigate procrastination through creative thinking. I also posit that people need to further reflect on the details of their strategies in order to help others cope. And since many of us have not found a way (creative or not) to tame procrastination, perhaps we should approach the affliction in a new and critical way. In lieu of asking ourselves “how” we can manage our procrastination, we might ask “why” we procrastinate about certain things in the first place. Perhaps after we locate the reasons behind our procrastinations, we can begin to critically examine the root of our fears for understanding. Ultimately, procrastination need not be a harbinger of failure.
While Googling for information to support my argument, I clicked on the top site, procrastinus.com. Click! Aptly nestled within the Procrastination and Science section appeared a subsection titled “The Art of Procrastination”, where you can find examples of famous artists’ writings on the topic. Scrolling, I located Roger Waters of Pink Floyd’s lyrics to Time, a song that seems to convey the essence of procrastination while highlighting the creative process as a management strategy for it:
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
There is a lot more to Time, but do not procrastinate, people! Just do it and take a worthwhile listen before the moment passes, and it is too late!
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