Amateurcrastinator? No, I get paid for it!

Good day! I'm at work this morning, toiling away (obviously!) at my desk. Actually, I'm procrastinating. I have a fair bit of work I need to do today, yet here I sit, creating a new post for the ol' blog. Hmm.

I used to occasionally say, "I was going to procrastinate, but I'll do it later," thinking I was quite clever and funny. I'm pretty sure that I was the only person who ever found that phrase even mildly entertaining, though. Oh, well.

I've always been kind of a procrastinator. Back in my school days, I pretty consistently waited 'til the last possible minute to work on projects or papers, complete an assignment, or study for an upcoming exam (if, that is, I studied at all). It seemed like there were always better (or at least more enjoyable) ways to spend my time, so I would put off those other things until I could put them off no longer.

I still do that. If I have a particular project that requires my attention, I'll often let it sit until the last minute. Unlike during college, however, it's not usually so I can go play frisbee or Betrayal at Krondor or do some good hangin' out instead of working on the task in question. Now it's more likely that I'll try to take care of smaller projects as they come up, until I absolutely have to work on the bigger thing.

This system seems to work for me, for the most part. When it comes time to get things done, I'm almost always able to buckle down, focus, and accomplish the task at hand. I think I work fairly efficiently under pressure.

For the non-procrastinators I deal with, though, that seems difficult to understand. Many of the people I work with now and have worked with over the years are the types who like to get things done and out of the way well in advance of deadlines. They're organized and prepared for each and every project or event, usually before a deadline hits. I, on the other hand, am pretty comfortable being mostly prepared in advance, ready to wing it if necessary. I don't usually get too flustered, as long as the major details are taken care of.

Those non-procrastinators, though, just don't like that. They think I'm disorganized or ill-prepared, and assume, therefore, that my project won't get done or my event will fall apart. I'm normally pretty confident, though, that things will come together. I try to calm their fears by exuding optimism that everything will be fine, but that seems to only go so far.

Some people probably think that I do just enough to get by. I don't think that's the case. I just function a little bit differently than other folks. I prefer to work under a little more pressure, I guess, and I like to sort of fly by the seat of my pants (where'd that phrase come from, anyway?) and roll with the punches. I don't need to have a detailed game plan. I understand that some people might read that as just getting by, but I take a little umbrage at that. I take pride in the things that I do, I want to do them well, and for the most part I think that I do.

At the same time, I don't want to use that as an excuse for procrastinating. It would be easy to always say, "I work better under a deadline," and go about my blogging or whatever. I know that it's something I need to work on, despite what I see as my strengths working under pressure. I'd probably have a little less stress in my life if I took care of things before the last minute, and it would probably make my boss a little happier. So I'll work on it.

Well, having said that, I should probably get to work on that project I've been putting off. Or I could write a few emails... Ah, we'll see how it goes.

Matt