Procrastination be damned!

My name is Tara and I am a bonafide, dyed-in-the-wool procrastinator. In fact, I'm probably procrastinating right now, although off the top of my head I can't think of anything else I should be doing. Which may be the problem.

I was just scanning my email when I came across this very interesting (and timely) article about procrastinators. It's certainly not the first time I've read something about procrastination, but it IS the first time I've read anything about procrastination potentially being a psychological disorder. And hey, why not?

See, in this article two experts talk about how procrastination is really just symptomatic of a chronic misjudgment of time, inability to make decisions, and failure to take responsibility for one's life. I can't really argue with any of that (although I think it's a stretch to call it a disorder in and of itself). Although I'm rarely late for things, I do have a tendency to misjudge how much time I have to complete a task or how much time it will actually take me to do that task. I'm one of those dreadful people who keeps all of her clocks ten minutes ahead of time so that I feel like I'm running late just so there's enough pressure for me to light a fire under my own ass. Anyone who knows me also knows I'm TERRIBLE at making decisions - I mean positively paralytic when it comes to deciding on Special K or Fruity Pebbles (because I always WANT Fruity Pebbles but I know they're worse for me than Special K, so there's always this internal battle going on in the cereal aisle).

I'm definitely a chronic procrastinator. So what's a girl to do?

Well, when that girl is getting ready to start working for herself (i.e., depending entirely on her own ability to drum up jobs and meet actual deadlines), that girl panics.

She thinks, "OMG, self, what the hell were you thinking?"

And then she goes into self-preservation mode and starts blogging instead of addressing the actual problem.

I will say that I've been much more proactive than I typically am when I decided that working for myself was the way to go - I've gotten linked up with a bunch of freelance organizations, I've already gotten a few side jobs to help pay the bills, and I've EVEN saved a little cash as a failure-cushion. But I have a feeling there's still much ground to travel before I REALLY and truly except the fact that I'm screwed if I don't get a little dose of self-discipline.

I'm pretty sure procrastination is showing up in other areas of my life, too. In fact, I'm positive of it. You know that six-figure student loan debt I've wracked up? Well, I have found many ways over the year to defer payment to my debtors (legitimately, of course), but really all that means is that I'll be paying off my education well into my 70s.

And I managed to put off serving jury duty for ten years and in three different counties until I just didn't have any good excuses anymore and you know where I ended up? Camden. I guess that's what happens when you put things off unnecessarily.

So that brings me to question what else I'm putting off. What else am I not acknowledging because I don't have the strength-of-character to deal with it? Good question. I think I'll think about it tomorrow.

t.