Top 10 ways to procrastinate

Hello there. I’m back by popular demand! To my shame, it’s been almost a month since I last blogged. Does that mean that I live a very boring life with nothing worth commenting on? Or does it mean that I live an incredibly rich, exciting existence in which I have far more interesting calls on my time than to blog? Either way, as it’s now exam time I will start doing a bit more blogging…anything to avoid revision…

…which leads me nicely on to the topic for today: the top 10 methods of procrastination. And here they are: (in no particular order)

1. Youtube. Youtube was made for procrastination. I have wasted so much time recently watching things on youtube, from Scooby Doo to John Piper to adverts that never made it to air. Here’s a really funny video I came across recently which will hopefully brighten up your day in the midst of your revision.
2. Food. Snacks prevent absolutely any revision from being done. Apple pies are now my best friend.
3. Going to the toilet. Is it just me or do other people use the toilet when they’re bored too? Having said that, it is possible that the increase in toilet activity is linked with the extra food.
4. Trying to solve the Rubik’s cube.
5. Attempting to lick your own elbow. Before you tell me, I know it’s impossible, but don’t try and tell me you haven’t given this a go in the middle of the library on a boring revision-filled afternoon.
6. Sleep. I had a nap this afternoon! That would not happen at any other time of year.
7. Revision timetabling. Standard.
8. Practicing your autograph. I don’t do this so much as I used to but it’s good to have it as a fall-back.
9. Testing just how far your chair can lean back before it falls over. Surprisingly far!
10. Writing a blog post entitled “Top 10 ways to procrastinate”  (You all saw that coming a mile off didn’t you?)

The main problem with procrastination is that we feel guilty for not working.We feel as though we should be an eager beaver working all through the day and the night, which really reminded me of a couple of verses from Ecclesiastes. “What does man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labours under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.” [Ecclesiastes 2:22-23] Revision may so often seem like toil and stress (which is why we procrastinate) but this is just because, as humans, we’ve got our priorities all wrong. Revision in itself is not a bad thing. Work in itself is actually a good thing – it was there in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Work is not a punishment. Work is a gift. Toil is a punishment. If we didn’t work “all our days” and then “even at night” perhaps we would see revision in a new and better way. It wouldn’t be toil – it would be work. By the same token, youtube, sleep and even the Rubik’s Cube are not inherently evil – we just need to make sure that they remain firmly within their place. With a bit of artistic liscence, I have quoted a part of Ecclesiastes that just follows these verses, and which I think would make our lives much better and more joyful if we (myself included) understood them and put them into practice:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to revise and a time to blog, a time to learn and a time to lie down, a time to work and a time for facebook, a time to labour and a time to sleep…”

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~ by nathyoung on May 19, 2010.