{Of all lies, art is the least untrue - Flaubert}



Wednesday, September 22, 2004

The art of Procrastination

Believe it or not, Procrastination is an art. Although being a very fast learner, I took relatively lesser time to master it, you may take some time...:))
Previously I used to worry about things to be done, I still worry about them... also I used to feel guilty about the things that I have not done, the guilt is still there... let me make this clear that this art is not going to help on those fronts...A master of procrastination will not care about worry and guilt, he will simply procrastinate to care about them, till they die their natural death...
Let us take a simple example to explain it. 3 guys working on a project in final semester. Guy A at his room, starts off my making his mind to work. But before starting he wants to relax(he is knowing that it will go for long, its already 10:30 pm) with his favorite music( to listen) and favorite magazine(to see). In this relaxing mode Guy B entered the room with urgency to work on the project, seeing Guy A in a relaxing mode, first he vent off his anger on him by giving the bad shape of the project work... Now the atmosphere is tense and they are both hungry (its 11:15 at night, they need to go and fetch something before the shops closes)... they both start off to eat something and discuss their project over tea as they both have a big idea of what needs to be done, make very stringent dead lines and make promises in mind to deliver... its 12:30 now and the third Guy (Guy C) is still not there. They both start to discuss why they have taken such a stupid guy with them, who has no sense of himself, doesn't work and never motivates... good and coherent discussion goes on... now its 1:15 at night and they both make their mind to start the work seriously... Guy C enters the room, and shows his dissatisfaction over life in general. and all three discuss this common topic about life.. its now 2:30 am, time for Guy A to sleep and since they need to work together its all deferred till tomorrow.
There are some of the finer points to the story. first is procrastination comes by induction. And ppl in group try to procrastinate more easily and coherently. secondly, there is an inherent urge to procrastinate and fortunately ( or unfortunately), as you start to learn this art there is an initial thrust and as you progress things become easier and easier (some of us will not even figure out the process which made us the master in this area) and thirdly the worry and guilt part are becoming lesser and lesser with time ( i.e. till the third guy arrives and because there is always a tomorrow)...
Now a question for those all who read this, Who of the three Guys is the best procrastinator ( please give your reasons to it and you can make reasonable assumptions)...

2 comments:

anurag said...

I was talking to one of my friends about this story and he gave an interesting view to it.
According to him, Guy A is a beginner in the field of procrastination. He is worried and tries to relax and need thrust to procrastinate. He is always thinking about work. Guy B is a classic cribber, he ridicules both Guy A and C for not working and making the project what it is. He is active in both talking about work and procrastinating. He is a learner and like learners he is experimenting well kicking here and there. I think he is the most interesting character in the story. Guy C is a seasoned procrastinator with a little respect to work. Guilt and worry part are not there. He is a master but like masters he is laid back and not experimenting much.

The Inquisitor said...

OMG this was a shocker

I am working on a project with 3 more guys......

I just realised I am guy B!!!