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PROCRASTINATION* VS. PRE-CRASTINATION
*The Yiddish word for "the procrastinator" is "der opleyger."
**Quote by Janet Dailey
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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They say only two things are certain: death and taxes. Let's add a
third: PROCRASTINATION. Basically, we have two choices:
do it now or do it "shpeter" (later).
Q. Do you agree with Rita Mae Brown, "If it weren't for the last minute, nothing ("gornit"/"gornisht") would get done"?
I have to confess ("moyde zayn zikh") that when faced with a bill or difficult task, I prefer to tackle them "teykef" (immediately), rather than putting them off. I guess you would call me a "pre-crastinator."
Scott Adams (Dilbert blog) was asked if he ever had problems with procrastinating. His answer was, "No, I am whatever is the opposite of a procrastinator." Some Dilbert readers came up with good words to describe someone who does NOT procrastinate:
CONCRASTINATOR
PRE-CRASTINATOR
ANTICRASTINATOR
JUSTDOITOR
A GO-GETTER
Adams writes about "The Leaning Tower of Paper": "Is there a phone call you need to return, but you can't find the phone number among all the scraps of paper on your desk, so you've decided to make the call later? Are you supposed to fill out forms this week to renew an insurance policy, submit a health care claim, or to take care of some equally important matter but don't know where you put the papers you need, so you miss the deadline? Are you mailing a wedding present because you can't remember if the groom's last name is Perkle or Pickle and you can't find the invitation in the seven layers of memorabilia and dry cleaner's receipts on your bulletin board?
Having too much paper, or papers that are disorganized, is one of the major causes of procrastination.
Ever since my college days at NYU (when tuition was $25 a credit), I felt the need to jump on a project, assignment, or term paper. I never played Scrabble or attempted to complete the New York Times crossword puzzle until AFTER doing my homework. (So, call me a "wonk!") Even today, as an adult ("dervaksener"), I feel compelled to answer e-mails the minute they come in.
Psychologists from Penn State recently conducted a series of experiments.
Researchers placed two buckets at various locations along a corridor.
(Note: The Yiddish word for "bucket" is "emer.") They asked students to
walk along and pick up a bucket on the way. Participant had a tendency to
pick the bucket that was nearest to them - even though it meant carrying
the bucket for a longer distance.
Students were asked "far vos" (why), they wanted to get the task done sooner. Their reply: By picking up the bucket, they could check that task off their mental to-do list more quickly than if they picked up the far bucket. "Their mental load was so strong that they were willing to expend quite a bit of extra physical effort to do so."
The study was meant to explore decision-making when it comes to physical effort. The study claimed this goes "(a) kegn" (against) the commonly held belief that people have a tendency to put off tasks until later.
Yes, despite everyday distractions, when faced with difficult asks, people prefer to tackle them immediately, rather than finding ways to put them off. Dr. David Rosenbaum, a professor at Penn State, stated that hurrying to complete a task is more common/usual ("geveyntlekh") than first thought, even if it takes more effort to do so.
Dr. Rosenbaum's conclusion: "Most of us feel stressed about all the things
we need to do--we have to-do lists, not just on slips of paper we carry
with us or on our iPhones, but also in our heads."
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MARJORIE GOTTLIEB WOLFE loves this procrastination quote:
"You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the
right mood. What mood is that? Last-minute panic." (Bill Watterson)
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