Stopwatch originally uploaded by William Warby
Last week’s poll asked whether you used artificial or real sweeteners. With the proliferation of everything diet and my own preference of diet soda over regular (when I have it), I was really surprised to see just how few people used fake sweeteners (13 fake/either, 28 real). Fascinating.
This week’s poll comes as I type away at 6:54 AM trying to make the 7 AM deadline. I am a born procrastinator. If I am doing anything in advance it’s because it’s necessary, not because I prefer to work that way. In fact, last quarter for school I was busy typing my final paper while The Wife was laboring with The Koala because it was due the next night at 5 PM. Many hours, overnight in the hospital, and many pages later I not only had a beautiful daughter but an A paper and a few hour nap ;)
I have always been a procrastinator. Not always by choice, sometimes because I simply forgot about a project due but most of the time because I simply work a lot better under pressure. In fact, this quarter just started and I have several homework assignments due today. Did I have time to do them all this week? Sure. Did I feel like doing them? No. Do I feel like doing them now? No. However, now I have to do them and they will get done. I think after 30+ years of doing this it’s become what I am comfortable doing. It doesn’t even bother me anymore. It’s just how I work.
What about you? Do you procrastinate until the last possible minute or are you a planner and get everything done in advance? Do you work better under pressure or are you simply not interested in doing anything until you have to? Whatever it is you have to say about this one go ahead and vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.
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October 14th, 2012 at 7:40 am
I was up for the Procrastinator of the Year award, but I put off submitting the paperwork.
However, I do hear that they have postponed the awards once again being that no one submitted anything. Maybe I should get around to doing that paperwork. :D
Seriously though, I procrastinate. It’s how I get things done. If I’m not under pressure to do something, why would I do it when I could be doing something I like to do…
October 14th, 2012 at 7:56 am
I’ll answer sometime next Saturday…
October 14th, 2012 at 8:30 am
I was expecting a poll to answer, but I guess you’re delaying it until next week. Typical.
October 14th, 2012 at 8:51 am
Now you’re just making excuses to fuel your procrastination. ;-)
October 14th, 2012 at 9:37 am
I’m definitely a procrastinator when it comes to things like schoolwork or my own projects, though I’m pushing myself to change that when doing my sewing projects for other people, and it’s kind of working. Now at work, I plan everything out and get everything done ahead of time and have a bizarre level of efficiency. Soooo, I think I’m kind of both, but I’ll get back to you on that. ;)
October 14th, 2012 at 11:18 am
Super procrastinator. Still haven’t completely unpacked since I moved in July because I’ve had no reason to have to. In Grad School, nothing got done until the night before. I wrote my entire capstone paper in the 48 hours before it was due.
October 14th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
I want to know who the planner here is (per the votes). They could teach a class, maybe…..
October 14th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
I hate procrastination. Usually I’m not a procrastinator, I like to get stuff done as soon as I know someone expects something of me. But every once in a while, I find myself not wanting to do something and I find myself in that mode, procrastinating. And frankly I hate it. Feeds my angst in a very negative way.
October 14th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
Procrastinator. Although I don’t usually wait until 48 hours before something is due to start something. That’s just too nerve wracking. Not to mention that burned me twice in college. Once, I completely failed a test in Undergrad because I put off studying and then had to study my ass off for the rest of the semester to get a B in the class. Then, in my senior year of undergrad, I put off typing my final experiment for Aquatic ecology and didn’t sleep for about 36 hours. Not. Fun. Anyway, in grad school, I procrastinated quite a bit, unless I was paired with this one dude I had a few classes with. He had two young kids and a stressful job, so he kind of kept me on schedule (I can’t let my habits screw someone else over).
October 15th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Planner. That isn’t to say I never procrastinate, because I do once in a while, but generally speaking I like to get things crossed off the checklist and out of my mental space. I don’t just plan, I also think of backup plans and contingencies as well.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
Now that I’ve thought more about it, I’m both. Like Tim above, I always keep lists and like to check them off. So I do a lot of planning; that said, I typically wait until the last bit before I perform the task and thus am able to check it off.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
I was going to post something a few days ago, but you know.. I just put it off.
My last massive procrastination was in 1985 when I took complete advantage of a high school English teacher and a research paper class. Over time I have become less and less of a procrastinator. Mostly because I find it much more profitable, both in income (happy customers), and quality of life (happy wife) to be a fire preventer, rather than a firefighter. i.e. this past Sunday I was replacing the heater blower fan in my car. It made a couple squeaks on a cold Thursday, and I really would rather not be replacing it in the middle of January when it is -25F below.
So while I can excel under pressure (acting as a firefighter) I find that if I have to be doing that, someone else didn’t do their job.
I also have found that If I don’t work on it today, there is no guarantee that I will have time to work on it tomorrow. Always something else popping up.
October 21st, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] week’s poll asked if you were a procrastinator or a planner. The overwhelming majority of people responded they were a procrastinator with only a small handful [...]
October 23rd, 2012 at 11:02 am
Planner, when it comes to things I initiate myself. Procrastinator, when it comes to work or school deadlines imposed by others. I used to use the “I work better under pressure” line too, but I think that’s bullshit. It’s more that I don’t work except under pressure. The web’s been a great enabler; I’m procrastinating right now!
It’s part of a larger pattern of resistance, I think. Sometimes it’s bitten me in the butt and I’ve bitterly cursed myself, but most times I seem to have adapted and know just exactly how long I can put something off before it just has to be started and done. Then when it’s done, I mourn how much better I might have done whatever it is if only I’d had more time. Trifling lesson learned, until the next time, when more often than not, I do it all over again.