Five advantages of procrastination
This text is a translation of James Altacher 's article on procrastination (or shirking work), that is, what many of us do regularly. The author expresses his point of view - procrastination is not an exclusively negative phenomenon and may have advantages.
James Altucher - entrepreneur, investor, managing director of Formula Capital, founder of Stockpickr.com. Famous blogger. Owner of a personal article in Wikipedia.
* * *
My wife was again displeased with me: “You spent the whole weekend responding to comments on TechCrunch,” she told me, “And this is exactly the weekend when there are no children at home! And you either sit in your headphones, play chess or respond to comments on TechCrunch. ” She turned away and left. Dissatisfied with me. It was too late to rectify the situation, because the weekend was over.
But I had big plans for this weekend! My article was supposed to be published on Saturday by 6 am TechCrunch time. In the next couple of weeks, I want to publish two Kindle Singles (short essays). One of them is called: “How to become the president of the United States in 10 simple steps,” and the other is “How not to fall for the tricks of fraudsters.” Plus, I'm going to start three new business projects, one of which is indirectly related to pornography.
So what am I doing? Why do I so much procrastinate?
')
I scored a search query on Google: "How to stop doing procrastination?". The search engine issued in the results a thousand links to blogs on this topic. Many of the authors advised to cut their veins every time something goes wrong. Or take special pills. For example, Ritalin.
I procrastinate every day. For example, the task is “to answer the email of such and such a person.” Easier you can imagine. I can just unsubscribe "Hello" and that will be enough. But I do not do this. I open my browser and play Scrabble or chess. I look at my blog statistics. I look at my news feed on Twitter. On the news feed on Facebook. I read the comments on my blog. Do I answer them? Then - e-mail (until her hands reach the last turn. E-mail is outdated in 2008!). Then I repeat all these actions. Then I remember that I wanted to listen to that rap song from 1992. How was she called? Oh yeah, MC 900 Foot Jesus - “The City Sleeps”. I listen to this song. Then I listen to her again. Then I repeat “this cycle” again (thanks to Naval with Angelist for being able to briefly describe this process).
Well, now let's do business.
FIVE HUGE ADVANTAGES OF PROCRASTINATION
(wait a minute, someone tweeted me. Now I’ll be back. Well, if that’s the case, I’ll listen to that song MC 900 Foot Jesus again).
Okay, I'm back. I was distracted only once. Someone marked my post on Facebook and I wanted to put my “like”. Look at this post: "The day when Stockpickr is almost burned out is a story of friendship . "
So what am I talking about? Oh yes!
FIVE HUGE ADVANTAGES OF PROCRASTINATION
A) Do what you like. I guess when you colorize, you do what you like. Even if it's Twitter. I love Twitter. I love tweet. Retweet. Write private messages. I also like to play chess online. I play about 200 games a day, with the clock - 1 minute for each side. It's pointless. But do I get constant stimulation? Am I good? Not!? Okay, play again. Yes!? Okay, play again to make sure of that. And then another and another. This is a mental disorder (note to yourself: make an appointment with a psychotherapist).
(A minute, the guy whose post I liked, wrote me a “thank you”. Although I should thank him: he liked one of my posts and placed it on his Facebook wall. Oops! “The City Sleeps” finished playing. You need to find this damn “replay” button on YouTube.
C) Listen. Your procrastination tells you something. Maybe the idea you're working on is bad. Once I started working on a project that I hoped to develop into a separate company. But at the same time I was doing everything, except for the actual work on the project. Procrastination tells you: “This is bad! And this is good! ”And forces your body and mind to work on what you like. Listen to her. Ask yourself - why am I actually procrastinating? Maybe I don’t call back that client because I don’t like him?
Yes it is. If someone DOESN'T LIKE you, then most likely you will not want to conduct common affairs with them. People like to repeat this dirty lie: “Nothing personal, only business”. No way! That is why we paint so often. Because business, like everything you do, is a very personal matter. You are not a robot! You want to enjoy what you are doing and you want to communicate with people who raise your spirits and inspire new things. You colorize when your mind and body tell you that you don’t like something.
C) Delegate the work. Your procrastination says you don't like to do something. Give this job to someone. Howard Hughes has been prokastinating all the time. He personally invented the equipment for drilling oil wells, which is used to date. Hughes has developed technologies in the film industry that are still used. He broke aviation records and became the owner of the first transcontinental airline. He was Steve Jobs of the 1930s.
Do you think he did all the routine work? For example, was he engaged in accounting, being the largest supplier of electronic equipment for the US Army during World War II? Of course not! He delegated work. Often, your procrastination indicates you a job that should be delegated to someone else (i.e., things you don’t want to do during procrastination).
D) Stop. Why I was engaged in procrastination and did not go to the meeting? Or why am I 10 minutes late? Why I did not confirm participation in the telecast on time and I was replaced? It happened to me a few months ago. I was invited to participate in the John Stossel show. I love this show! Why didn't I call them back to confirm my participation? It all ended with the fact that this show was without me.
This happened because, first of all, I did not want to drive around the city at night (I live 80 miles to the north) to appear on the show for 3 minutes, and then go 80 miles back. This is such a waste of time. In total, about 200 wasted minutes, just to get those 3 minutes on the screen. I'd rather read something or write, send messages, play chess, put on my Superman costume and go save lives , or do other things.
E) Brainstorming. Here is a question for you. When you feel you want to do procrastination. When you do not want to write a program code or business plan. Or do not want to go to a meeting. Think for a second - how many useful things you could do now, instead of doing the boring task that you have to do. Maybe the idea itself was originally wrong? Maybe your business is built wrong? Stand up and move to another room to begin the process.
Does it happen that you have a bad idea? In fact, 99% of your ideas are bad. Once I decided to build a dating service based on Twitter. It was a BAD IDEA. People on dating sites prefer anonymity. On the basis of Twitter, this is not done. I continued to engage in procrastination and raise money on this service. Finally, having received the invested money back, I closed this service instead of spending two years of my life knowing that in the end the matter would end in complete failure.
I always keep a notebook at hand. There are always things to think about - ideas for articles, business ideas, investments, video blogs, books, and just ideas! Often, when I feel prone to procrastination, I begin to make lists of my ideas.
And that's what I realized after many thousands of hours spent on procrastination before, after and in time for work, communication with friends and family.
Do not do what you do not want to do. Procrastination is wonderful because it tells you what to do. It also tells you when a bad idea occurred to you, or when you need to delegate current work to someone.
And not only this. Procrastination can tell you what other people want. For example, between writing this paragraph and the previous one, I went to the website of Cosmopolitan magazine (I understand that you did not expect this from me). I looked through several articles. I felt ashamed of myself and I switched to The Economist magazine.
Every day I use procrastination to make my life better. I do what I want. I select tasks for delegation. I brainstorm my ideas and find in my subconscious hints about what my future will be like.
- Addition: note, I was engaged in procrastination, while I was writing this article. Initially, it was called "TEN ADVANTAGES ...". But five benefits will be enough to improve your life.
Addition 2: In the last paragraphs I mentioned the idea of ​​a video blog. I am going to create PBS with a nudity, Cosmopolitan magazine and The Economist. I promise it will be funny!
Supplement 3: Among the thousands of likes and comments that this article will receive, there will most likely be such: “What the hell is this article doing on TechCrunch !? Where are the good old days? ”
Original article: Five Great Things About Procrastination , James Altucher, 2012-04-07.
PS The author of the translation was also involved in procrastination during work, so some of the nuances and jokes of the author were not included in the Russian text.
James Altucher - entrepreneur, investor, managing director of Formula Capital, founder of Stockpickr.com. Famous blogger. Owner of a personal article in Wikipedia.
* * *
My wife was again displeased with me: “You spent the whole weekend responding to comments on TechCrunch,” she told me, “And this is exactly the weekend when there are no children at home! And you either sit in your headphones, play chess or respond to comments on TechCrunch. ” She turned away and left. Dissatisfied with me. It was too late to rectify the situation, because the weekend was over.
But I had big plans for this weekend! My article was supposed to be published on Saturday by 6 am TechCrunch time. In the next couple of weeks, I want to publish two Kindle Singles (short essays). One of them is called: “How to become the president of the United States in 10 simple steps,” and the other is “How not to fall for the tricks of fraudsters.” Plus, I'm going to start three new business projects, one of which is indirectly related to pornography.
So what am I doing? Why do I so much procrastinate?
')
I scored a search query on Google: "How to stop doing procrastination?". The search engine issued in the results a thousand links to blogs on this topic. Many of the authors advised to cut their veins every time something goes wrong. Or take special pills. For example, Ritalin.
I procrastinate every day. For example, the task is “to answer the email of such and such a person.” Easier you can imagine. I can just unsubscribe "Hello" and that will be enough. But I do not do this. I open my browser and play Scrabble or chess. I look at my blog statistics. I look at my news feed on Twitter. On the news feed on Facebook. I read the comments on my blog. Do I answer them? Then - e-mail (until her hands reach the last turn. E-mail is outdated in 2008!). Then I repeat all these actions. Then I remember that I wanted to listen to that rap song from 1992. How was she called? Oh yeah, MC 900 Foot Jesus - “The City Sleeps”. I listen to this song. Then I listen to her again. Then I repeat “this cycle” again (thanks to Naval with Angelist for being able to briefly describe this process).
Well, now let's do business.
FIVE HUGE ADVANTAGES OF PROCRASTINATION
(wait a minute, someone tweeted me. Now I’ll be back. Well, if that’s the case, I’ll listen to that song MC 900 Foot Jesus again).
Okay, I'm back. I was distracted only once. Someone marked my post on Facebook and I wanted to put my “like”. Look at this post: "The day when Stockpickr is almost burned out is a story of friendship . "
So what am I talking about? Oh yes!
FIVE HUGE ADVANTAGES OF PROCRASTINATION
A) Do what you like. I guess when you colorize, you do what you like. Even if it's Twitter. I love Twitter. I love tweet. Retweet. Write private messages. I also like to play chess online. I play about 200 games a day, with the clock - 1 minute for each side. It's pointless. But do I get constant stimulation? Am I good? Not!? Okay, play again. Yes!? Okay, play again to make sure of that. And then another and another. This is a mental disorder (note to yourself: make an appointment with a psychotherapist).
(A minute, the guy whose post I liked, wrote me a “thank you”. Although I should thank him: he liked one of my posts and placed it on his Facebook wall. Oops! “The City Sleeps” finished playing. You need to find this damn “replay” button on YouTube.
C) Listen. Your procrastination tells you something. Maybe the idea you're working on is bad. Once I started working on a project that I hoped to develop into a separate company. But at the same time I was doing everything, except for the actual work on the project. Procrastination tells you: “This is bad! And this is good! ”And forces your body and mind to work on what you like. Listen to her. Ask yourself - why am I actually procrastinating? Maybe I don’t call back that client because I don’t like him?
Yes it is. If someone DOESN'T LIKE you, then most likely you will not want to conduct common affairs with them. People like to repeat this dirty lie: “Nothing personal, only business”. No way! That is why we paint so often. Because business, like everything you do, is a very personal matter. You are not a robot! You want to enjoy what you are doing and you want to communicate with people who raise your spirits and inspire new things. You colorize when your mind and body tell you that you don’t like something.
C) Delegate the work. Your procrastination says you don't like to do something. Give this job to someone. Howard Hughes has been prokastinating all the time. He personally invented the equipment for drilling oil wells, which is used to date. Hughes has developed technologies in the film industry that are still used. He broke aviation records and became the owner of the first transcontinental airline. He was Steve Jobs of the 1930s.
Do you think he did all the routine work? For example, was he engaged in accounting, being the largest supplier of electronic equipment for the US Army during World War II? Of course not! He delegated work. Often, your procrastination indicates you a job that should be delegated to someone else (i.e., things you don’t want to do during procrastination).
D) Stop. Why I was engaged in procrastination and did not go to the meeting? Or why am I 10 minutes late? Why I did not confirm participation in the telecast on time and I was replaced? It happened to me a few months ago. I was invited to participate in the John Stossel show. I love this show! Why didn't I call them back to confirm my participation? It all ended with the fact that this show was without me.
This happened because, first of all, I did not want to drive around the city at night (I live 80 miles to the north) to appear on the show for 3 minutes, and then go 80 miles back. This is such a waste of time. In total, about 200 wasted minutes, just to get those 3 minutes on the screen. I'd rather read something or write, send messages, play chess, put on my Superman costume and go save lives , or do other things.
E) Brainstorming. Here is a question for you. When you feel you want to do procrastination. When you do not want to write a program code or business plan. Or do not want to go to a meeting. Think for a second - how many useful things you could do now, instead of doing the boring task that you have to do. Maybe the idea itself was originally wrong? Maybe your business is built wrong? Stand up and move to another room to begin the process.
Does it happen that you have a bad idea? In fact, 99% of your ideas are bad. Once I decided to build a dating service based on Twitter. It was a BAD IDEA. People on dating sites prefer anonymity. On the basis of Twitter, this is not done. I continued to engage in procrastination and raise money on this service. Finally, having received the invested money back, I closed this service instead of spending two years of my life knowing that in the end the matter would end in complete failure.
I always keep a notebook at hand. There are always things to think about - ideas for articles, business ideas, investments, video blogs, books, and just ideas! Often, when I feel prone to procrastination, I begin to make lists of my ideas.
And that's what I realized after many thousands of hours spent on procrastination before, after and in time for work, communication with friends and family.
Do not do what you do not want to do. Procrastination is wonderful because it tells you what to do. It also tells you when a bad idea occurred to you, or when you need to delegate current work to someone.
And not only this. Procrastination can tell you what other people want. For example, between writing this paragraph and the previous one, I went to the website of Cosmopolitan magazine (I understand that you did not expect this from me). I looked through several articles. I felt ashamed of myself and I switched to The Economist magazine.
Every day I use procrastination to make my life better. I do what I want. I select tasks for delegation. I brainstorm my ideas and find in my subconscious hints about what my future will be like.
- Addition: note, I was engaged in procrastination, while I was writing this article. Initially, it was called "TEN ADVANTAGES ...". But five benefits will be enough to improve your life.
Addition 2: In the last paragraphs I mentioned the idea of ​​a video blog. I am going to create PBS with a nudity, Cosmopolitan magazine and The Economist. I promise it will be funny!
Supplement 3: Among the thousands of likes and comments that this article will receive, there will most likely be such: “What the hell is this article doing on TechCrunch !? Where are the good old days? ”
Original article: Five Great Things About Procrastination , James Altucher, 2012-04-07.
PS The author of the translation was also involved in procrastination during work, so some of the nuances and jokes of the author were not included in the Russian text.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/144532/
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