For Procrastinators: A Cautionary Tale of Your Own Making

Remember Mad Libs?  If you have kids, or have been one more recently than I have, you have probably spent some time with these wacky little fill-in-the-blanks stories, and hopefully some of it in shared hysterics.  Because I need a break today, and a laugh above all else, I am presenting this Procrastinator's Mad Lib (which is kind of redundant, don't you think?).  My own fill-ins appear in list form, at the end.  Enjoy!  (Don't you just hate when they say that?)

Still Procrastinating, After All These Years VERB ADVERB PLURAL NOUN ADJECTIVE NOUN NOUN NOUN EXCLAMATION ADJECTIVE NOUN NOUN NOUN PAST TENSE VERB VERB NOUN VERB ENDING IN ING ADJECTIVE NOUN NUMBER PLURAL NOUN NOUN NOUN NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE PLURAL NOUN ADJECTIVE PLURAL NOUN ADJECTIVE NOUN NOUN NOUN ADJECTIVE ADJECTIVE NOUN NOUN NOUN VERB NOUN PLURAL NOUN DAY OF THE WEEK NOUN DAY OF THE WEEK VERB ENDING IN ING NOUN VERB ENDING IN ING VERB ENDING IN ING NOUN

My fill-ins, left to right

Consider	Stupidly	Fiascos	Tiny	Pride	Sound
River	yikes	Sandy	Cormorant	Train	Sliver
Cooked	Eat	Store	Spilling	Trendy	Sidewalk
42	Swans	Kitchen	Novel	Friendship	Stomp
Clumsy	Results	Fertile	Crowds	Raggedy	Armchair
Steed	Saber	Far-fetched	Silver	Pretense	Drama
Copyright	Clone	Stone	Sheep	Thursday	Can
Friday	Cramming	Shoes	Participating	Cringing	Pansy

I'd love to see your tales.

Famous Procrastinators for $100, Alex

If you've been paying close attention to my posts, you should be able to answer at least some of these.

99 and Counting. . .

On the order of onomatopoeia --you know, those words that sound like the noise being referred to, like "bang" and "wack" and "sizzle"--here is a way to procrastinate with the word procrastination.  (And by the way, clicking on  onomatopoeia  will take you to a nifty site where you can waste lots of time on onomatopoeia games.  Just in case you're on a roll.)

Clearly, any amount of time spent on seeing how many words you can make from the letters in "procrastination" is a waste, and by definition a way of putting off doing something more worthwhile.  I could have been paying my monthly bills this evening, since we actually got paid on time this month.  Instead, I produced the following, using abnormally lax--some would say virtually nonexistent--standards:

action     ant

cant     cantor     carp     cars     cart     cast     coin     corn     corps     crap     crisp     crop              

ion

nation     nit     notion                       

option

pain     paint     part     partition     past     pats     pins     pint     piston     pits     point     poison     poor     port     portion     post     potion     pots     print     prior     proctor           

rain     rant     raps     rasp     ratio     ration     riot     rips     roast     roost                         

saint     saps     satin     scant     scion     scoot     scorpion     scorn     scrap     scrip     sin     soot     sort     Spain     spar     spat     spin     spit     spittoon     sport     spot     sprint     stain     star     start     stint     stir     stop    strap     strip     strop     stoop     strain                           

tact     tans     taps     tarp      tars     tart      tins     tint     tips     toast     tons     torpor     tort     traction     train

Wow!  What an accomplishment.              

                        

I invite others to weigh in on words I missed, thus encouraging the spread of the scourge of the p-word.

Guilt-free Play: My Top 31

The last two days, I have been trying to implement Neil Fiore's advice (in The Now Habit:  A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play), interspersing "play" with short periods of focused work.  I am pretty enthusiastic about this approach, so far.  I'm not sure whether the production of the following list should be considered work or play, but isn't such blending kind of what we're supposed to be after?  Anyway, I had fun thinking about pleasant work-break activities.  I offer my favorites, and encourage my readers to spend some time coming up with their own.  

1. Coffee with my husband
2. Yoga
3. Meditation
4. Reading
5. Sitting outside in the sunshine, dark, early morning, late afternoon, midday
6. Walking my dog
7. Swimming
8. Running
9. Biking
10. Playing my piano
11. Doing crossword puzzles
12. Knitting
13. Gardening
14. Reading to my grandson
15. Reading aloud with my husband
16. Watching movies
17. Listening to music
18. Sitting in front of a fire
19. Calling my sister
20. Shopping at garage sales, consignment shops and Goodwill
21. Playing games with my family
22. Going to the library
23. Cup of tea
24. Relaxing conversation with any of my three kids
25. Writing poetry
26. Listening to radio, especially This American Life, Speaking of Faith
27. Reading blogs (Some of my go-to blogs--Beyond Blue, The Happiness Project, 1000 Awesome Things, Think Simple Now, Unclutterer, FlyLady, Wildmind)
28. Hammock time
29. Singing
30. Dancing
31. Watching comedy reruns

So, now I'm done with my post for this morning.  I should just about have time to squeeze in one of these before heading out to work.  I think I'll take my list with me, just in case.

Procrastinating 101: My Laptop Made Me (Not) Do It!

Remember Piers Steel?  Associate professor of industrial psychology at the University of Calgary who brought us a formula to explain procrastination?  Well, Professor Steel's research warns that procrastination is increasing in our society:

In 1978, only about 5% of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it's 26%. . .

And

in the past quarter century the average self-score for procrastination (using a 1-to-5 scale with 1 being no delaying) has increased by 39%. 

And 

At least 95 percent of people say they procrastinate occasionally.

Several media sources that reported on Steel's research in January of 2007 passed on the admonition that procrastinating would make us "poorer, fatter and unhappier."  Other procrastination experts who commented on the five-year-late release of Steel's mega-study agreed about the seriousness of the problem, and its entrenchment in our culture.  Dr. William Knaus said that his work with procrastinators was more challenging than getting alcoholics to give up booze.  And Dr. Joseph Ferrari of DePaul University in Chicago said

The subject is seen as a joke.  But the social and economic implications are huge. These people need therapy. They need to change the way they act and think.

And here's the kicker. Many of the scientists studying the kind of behavior they associate with such dire personal and societal consequences blame technology for its increase. They point out that we have more and more access to gadgets and toys, including cell phones and computers--and now the alluring iPad--that seduce us away from the odious tasks at hand. Professor Steel refers to one popular cell phone/PDA as "crackberry," and says

That stupid game Minesweeper— that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society.

(As Steel is a self-professed mostly recovered procrastinator, this statement may reflect some personal experience.)   A 2008 article in the Guardian makes the claim that  

Even the beeps notifying the arrival of email are said to be causing a 0.5 per cent drop in gross domestic product in the United States, costing the economy $70bn a year.

Professor Paul Spector of the University of South Florida has categorized three ways we stray from the path of righteous task completion.  The first, which he calls classic procrastination, involves difficulty getting started.  The second, the province of the perfectionist, is one I know all too well--getting bogged down in details and failing to finish what we've started.  Spector's third group of procrastinators he calls "distractible"--and it is here that technology's increasing temptation-value rears its ugly head.


Steel again:

The internet and gadgets. . .give people a constant source of putting things off, and they create motivationally toxic environments.  Imagine trying to diet with a magic floating spoon of ice cream following you around.

The gist of all this, as I see it, is "Procrastinators of the world, unplug!" Go offline. Create a toy-free zone for work. Not the whole solution, but for some of us, probably a necessary step. And a conundrum for this procrastination blogger.

Friday--Time for a Pop Quiz

Never Too Late crossword puzzle game » crossword maker


After three months of this blog, it's time to assess what we've learned thus far about procrastination.  This little test promises to be every bit as valid as those measures we loved so well in grade school.  But it has the merit of providing an alternative to getting started on whatever we're really supposed to be doing today.


If the embed of this puzzle I created at a free online site works the way I think it will, it should offer a fresh puzzle upon completion of the first.  There is a clue set of 25 words and hints which form the basis for the various combinations.  Click here to see the set.


Or try this alternative word search game, if crosswords aren't your cup of tea.  

A PROCRASTINATOR\S ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY word search game » word search


You, too, could earn this cool virtual trophy.  

A PROCRASTINATOR\S ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY word search game » make word search


I apologize in advance for the ultra-simplicity of these gimmicks.  Chalk it up to my novice status in employing these technological toys.  Or refer to Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project maxim, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

Enjoy the weekend.  Monday starts another week, a fresh start on putting things to bed.