Procrastination: The laziness of tomorrow...today!

Procrastination is a marvellous thing...she says as she begins to write her latest blog entry, then stare blankly at some terribly movie on TV, then reconsiders if procrastination is a worthy enough blog entry. But yes it is. I said beginning this that I intend to write about the things students face and my god do we face procrastination head on, then decide facing it head on is too much effort so take a sit down and promise to face it tomorrow.  

Why debate the evolution of species when there are far more important issues on hand?

It is amazing to think we are supposedly the learned folk, scholars who spend their days musing over the wonders of the world and how we can improve it. However personally I think watching Murder She Wrote marathons and discussing in depth best hot chicken roll fillings is a far greater spending of time. Well, perhaps not greater use of time, but more likely. There are many types of procrastinators and I hope to describe a few of them to you...before I get distracted by something shiny.

1)      The ‘Talker’: The talker is your regular library goer except manages to successfully spend a 3:1 ratio of time talking about work needed to be done rather than actually doing the work. The talker is characteristically the type who seems terribly busy at all times, rushing from desk to desk as they explain to their friends how much work needs to be done. I have a friend who is a talker, everybody does. You know who they are. If you have been interrupted reading this by a friend who barely takes a breath to explain to you how they have more work than everybody in the entire college combined then you most definitely have a talker. And my friend who is ‘A talker’, nice to see you’re reading.

Oh well, its 1:00:01...can't go back till 2 now.

2)      The ‘On the hour’: I’m quite a fan of the on the hour principles towards procrastinating. They are quite simple really. Things must only be done on a regular time frame, that is one can only take a break at an exact hour, none of this going at ten past 2 business. However, although you may think this is someone who is organised, controlled and committed to their studies you would be wrong. VERY WRONG. The ‘on the hour’ (o.t.h.) procrastinator is brilliant in that their system allows them to perfectly justify their lack of work. ‘We’ll go back to study at 3’ the o.t.h will say to his friends, ‘Whats this? Ooops! Its 3:02. Oh well, we’ll have to wait till 4 now, thats the rule!’

3)      The ‘Getting Organised’: I think everybody engages in a spot of ‘getting organised’ procrastinating before approaching any task, well everybody except the organised folk that is. The getting organised devote a good day of ‘studying’ towards buying folders, taking a break, making labels, taking a break, discussing how much needs to be organised with fellow ‘getting organised’, take a break, chronologically organising notes into appropriate folders then freaking out when you realise you accidentally missed lectures November-February, and so another two days must be put aside towards tracking down said notes and photocopying them.  Its tough for the getting organised, they feel so proud after their two days of organising that they fail to realize how little actual work they have completed.

4)  The Hangover induced procrastination: Too hungover to study procrastination consists of one convincing oneself  they wouldn't get any work done in their state of pure unexaggerated pain and so it's pointless even trying to accomplish anything that day except pizza ordering and discussion of who mated with whom the previous night. A common phrase to watch out for with this student is 'No. I'm ACTUALLY dying'  It should be noted these students do try and convince others of their promise to start working tomorrow. Unfortunately the irresistible lure of four euro naggins prove too much and this procrastinator will spend weeks on end with the same excuses repeating itself in a vicious cycle of shots and sympathy. Thankfully one with which I've never fallen into (*cough cough)

Oh Dick, what will you do next!?!

5)      The ‘T.V watcher’: “I’m definitely going to start that Philosophy essay......as soon as Diagnosis Murder finishes. What? It’s a ‘to be continued’ episode? Well I have to see what happens to Dick Van Dyke and the gang don’t I! “says the TV watcher. This argument may be valid; after all it’s only two hours. However as you just plan to leave to finally go plagerise the hell out of Socrates and the lads you see that 'Come Dine with Me' is starting and once you start watching that it is your moral obligation as a tv watcher to find out who wins the all important (yet measly amount) £1000 prize, there goes another five hours. The tv watcher has many tools to aid its procrastination. Downloading and diving into entire series of  programs online is one thing, but it is those who manage to avoid weeks of study on end using only the basic channels of RTE 1, RTE 2,TV3 and TnaG are the true masters of this art. Anyone who avoids that project using only Aifric and Fair City as your justification, well you my friend have earned my respect.

Of course there are many many methods of procrastination that can be employed tactically by any student committed enough to the cause, however as a self-proclaimed procrastinator discussing these in further detail would be far too contradictory. I like to think I have mastered a wonderful balance of many of the methods above and so have tailored the month long gap since my last post to compliment this posting. Yeah...bet you didn't see that coming. 

Now, to put you in the mood to absolutely fudge all here's a nice lil song for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FZtN7T5PXM