500 Words — Day Forty-Six: Procrastination

So, I have been stuck the last thirty minutes or so searching for the inspiration to get up and write this one. I just guess the motivation isn’t there and I have kind have exhausted all of the things I wanted to talk about for the last week. Unfortunately, I have really only been focused on a couple of things for the past week so there isn’t a whole variety of topics that I really feel prepared or ready to talk about. I also feel like I have exhausted prior topics surrounding my approach to work and how I get things done. Today, just seems to be one of those days when it comes to writing.

Sleep has been one of the big priorities I have moving forward now that I’m getting settled into my new position and new place. Knowing that is the priority, I’m aware that the earlier I get to bed, the earlier I can get to sleep. I know this and I have thought about this over the course of the past two hours. However, I started to write this post about 45 minutes prior to my target bedtime. Beyond making dinner and cleaning the dishes, I have had around three hours to finish this one remaining task. But rather than just get it out of the way, I found myself procrastinating and not getting it done. Although, to be fair to myself, like I have said, there isn’t a lot to write about. Maybe it is unfair to call it procrastination, but the post that you are reading does demonstrate that I am capable of writing when the time and forced creativity eventually come.

This example is an excellent demonstration of Parkinson’s law. The idea that the work fills up the space of time allocated to it. I gave myself three hours to write and I have completed the task nearly three hours later. But the actual task took around 25 minutes to write and then 5 minutes to quickly proofread before shipping the post off and calling it a night. Those are all estimates based on prior work as I am still writing this post.

So, why didn’t I just get the stuff over with? I guess my brain was just looking for the easy way out rather than really spend the time thinking and generating novel ideas that may turn out to be useful content. Given that as human beings, we only have a limited amount of will power to spent each day and I have been putting in the work the past few days, it’s easy to relax before you cross the finish line rather than push harder through the pain or discomfort. While I have been attempting to venture outside the comfort zone, on tasks that I can mentally categorize as being not important or urgent, I guess I feel like I can just wait and do something more stimulating or appealing. Perhaps, I need better mental pacing or perhaps I need to exercise a little more discipline in the evenings. Anyways, I just crossed the finish line, for whatever that is worth, and I wish all you a good night.