procrastination

I found an interesting article here about procrastination. I probably procrastinate some of the time. But I honestly think it's not very often. I'm one of those people who, if faced with something difficult to do, will always get it done first so that I don't feel like it is looming over my shoulder the rest of the day. A difficult phone call, I do it first thing in the morning. If I have a certain number of chapters to edit, I do them first, and then fit the rest of the things in my day around them.

I do sometimes struggle with things that are more difficult to quantize. If I am trying to figure out how to do something, for example, I might put that off because I don't know where to begin. Sometimes I put off making decisions if they don't feel urgent. I haven't bought myself a new computer, for example, although my current computer has shown signs of problems for almost a year, because I felt uncertain how to choose between the nebulous possibilities and I just didn't feel the need to decide. I postpone things until I feel like I have a clear picture of what EXACTLY I am trying to accomplish.

Frankly, I think I don't really understand procrastinating. This is probably because I get a good deal of pleasure in accomplishing tasks and I dislike the sensation of having things left undone on a list. After reading the article above about people who procastinate, I have this question left--who is the future you? If you haven't read the article, let me summarize briefly. The problem with procrastinators is that they have a tendency to want the future version of themselves to accomplish any given task and are content to let the present you do what is easiest. So people will always make goals to read long German novels, for example, but for today, they will read a short romance. It's only if they are forced with a deadline to get something done that they respond and do it.

But there is no future you. There is only present me. If I want to get something done, why would I believe future me wants to do it any more than present me does? This just makes no sense to me. Either I want it done or I don't want it done. I suppose if there is something you don't actually care about, it would be hard to make yourself do that. But if you care about it, if you want to be a writer and have a book published, then you have to write the book. Even if you don't care that much about the PTA fundraiser, you want it to be finished? So do it now and let future you celebrate.

Hmm. Interesting reality there. Future me never celebrates. Because future me is a lot like present me and is always thinking about the future me even more in the future and how to prevent stress on that future me. Yes, people who know me are nodding their heads in frustration. Any time something good happens to me, I don't even take a moment to accept it. It's always on to the next thing. So maybe I need to learn to procrastinate.