- the action of delaying or postponing something."your first tip is to avoid procrastination"
People use this word as if it's a bad thing. Nothing to be gained by procrastinating or waiting until the last minute. If that were true, then think of all the impulse purchase items that would not be necessary at the grocery story check out.
Procrastination has always been my biggest weakness and also my strength. There have been plenty of speeches that I have given that were written minutes before, or not even prepared.
It all began in Junior High School, Mr. Halbeck's speech class. He would have us do our research and prepare speeches on index cards. I never understood the use of them since once I had them written I barely looked at them, preferring to instead just talk about the subject until the timer went off. Sometimes this worked, and others - well - it didn't.
I remember being called on in class to discuss the book "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens. Since it was my favorite musical, I decided I could skip the reading assignment and just talk about the movie instead. (Spoiler alert - there are differences in the movie vs book)
When my name was called to discuss the book, I stood up and gave a 10 minute 'cliff notes' speech on the movie. I moved from the podium and barely looked at my notes - which didn't matter since they were blank.
I received an 'A'
My course in life had been set. From that point forward, preparing for speeches has been difficult for me. I am better-off waiting until the last moment and putting together the information that is needed in a crunch. I know this sounds counter-productive, but it works for me. For some reason I can focus better when I know that a deadline is looming.
Take today for example. I am supposed to be preparing for a presentation on Wednesday. The assignment was due last Friday, but I never received the link to the slide deck I need to use, so I have that as an excuse. So am I sitting here writing an outline for the presentation? Nope, I'm writing a blog about having to prepare a presentation.
But that is part of the process. I have to get everything else out of my mind so I can focus on the task at hand. Last week I had to make massive changes to two websites, so I worked on that instead of the speech.
If they would come up with a way to transfer information directly from your brain to the written page while you sleep I would be golden. You see, I go over my presentation in my head many times before committing it to paper. This includes my blog. If I don't have a beginning sentence or two, then I have a hard time beginning.
OK - back to the story. Procrastination sounds like such an ugly word, but research has shown that there are many people that make it work. Those people are obviously not doctors, or lawyers, or even teachers. I believe they are creatives (not that doctors, lawyers or teachers aren't creative) people who have over-bearing imaginations and look at life from a different perspective.
So, I'm telling you, it is ok to procrastinate, as long as you know your limits and realize that it can cripple you when a small catastrophe gets in the way. Things like grid-lock traffic, sick children or lost keys (I'm always losing my keys). For this reason, I would tell you to set your deadline to be a day or two before it truly is needed. If you wait too long then karma may step in and give you a good lesson in humility to remind yourself that you need to heed the warnings in your head. You know, all those dreams you have about getting to class and having a test you didn't study for, or getting on stage and not knowing your lines.
Well, I guess I should end for today and get back to preparing for Wednesdays presentation. But first I need to put away the dishes and laundry and....
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