Procrastination and Distraction: Public Enemies

I find that it doesn’t take much to distract myself from my work once I get into it. Usually math, and I’m sure you know why by now (new? Read this!) Because of my aversion to the subject, I’ll jump at any opportunity that presents itself to detach myself from its complicated tangles of radicals and fractions and call these escapes “breaks.” If I’m awake enough and in a “get-shit-done” kind of mood, then I’ll tempt myself with mini-rewards.





If I finish this section, then I can check a few websites and my email for any new notices.

While I try to abide by this rule, time always seems to slip away from me and leave me completely unsatisfied and regretting how I succumbed to its dark temptation in the first place. Time is a cheap hooker. I hate time. Dammit.

And the treats time temps me with are vast and truly delightful at first. Read a few blog posts from other writers for ten minutes. Watch a bit of television. Take a tiny-not-so-short-actually-a-half-hour nap.

Then there’s food.

Chips, ice cream, cookies, eggs in a basket, popcorn, yogurt, cheese, pickles . . . . And when I’m done eating all that, I reluctantly throw myself back at the task and half-heartedly complete the next section.

And this is only one class. A half-hour assignment will stretch to encompass over an hour, maybe two. Then I spend the next hour feeling guilty and trying to suffocate my already-struggling conscience until the day is at its end and I pass out halfway through the chapter.

I am a procrastinating, messy, easily-distracted individual who loves to finish assignments weeks ahead of time, suffers from a “balance”-esque OCD, and hates anything that happens around me while I’m trying to accomplish a task.

Try and understand. Let me know how you do.