Good and Bad Procrastination

Posted on December 26, 2005
Filed Under Something to Think about |

Paul Graham | Good and Bad Procrastination

This is an interesting essay looking at the types of procrastination, good and bad, and identifying when the bad type keeps you from doing real work on big things.

I am very much a type-C procrastinator, so much so that the big hard problem (i.e. thesis) of the day/week/month keeps me from almost everyother little thing, or “errand” (as Graham calls them). I can associate directly with the statement about putting off errands when presented with a big chunk of time and the right mood. (i.e. wedding thank you cards)

I have found that when I try to time slice my attention to the infinite number of tasks (big hard ideas problems and errands) just does not work because the context switch does not allow enough time to focus on the big problems in the proper perspective. Further, the interrupt to switch to the next task while in deep thought or on a roll costs more than any productivity increase from working on more than one task. Humans are not computers, context switches take much longer and the state of your brain is not the same when you switched a task out, than when it is switched back in, unlike your computer.

This is where i become a type-B procrastinator, if i’m not in the mood, or don’t have a large enough time slice, it do big things. Be it catch up on news, email, the market, or make food, go to the bathroom (how many times have i put this off until the point of bursting when on a roll working on a hard problem), type-B things fill the small holes in time - and they are done according to the Generalised Hamming Proposition - What is the best thing you could be working on, and why aren’t you? (where the set of best things depends on mood and time available)

I support Graham’s ideas about to-do lists. For the most part i find them useless to my productivity, in fact, as Graham argues they are a detriment - one more errand to maintain the list and follow the due dates/times on the list. Now, a to-do list is useful to help remind you of those errands you need to do (the big hard problems you never forget about). But it cannot be used as a tool to enforce the completion of the items on the list. You don’t check off the items from the list as you complete them… you check them off sometime after you complete them, when you happen to look at the list.

So, if you are to agree with Graham’s thesis statement:

I think the way to “solve” the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you’ll leave the right things undone.

Then I’ve done most things right, eventhough i piss off many friends by not calling/meeting-up regulary, or get the thank you cards done (80% done, almost there). Hopefully this means the big-hard-problem-idea things are going to get the proper attention when they need it, no matter how lost, confused, or stupid i sometimes feel.

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