|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Advice on procrastination?
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
Given my need to crunch out another few thousand words by the end of the weekend, could any Shipmates suggest good ways of procrastinating?
Housework, of course, is a traditional one, although in recent years trawling the Ship (including Limbo ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif) ) has slightly overtaken it.
Yesterday and today, for the first time in my nearly-40 years, I've been driven by a need to make my own vegetable stock for all those soups I don't cook.
But new ideas are always welcome - please share your favourites.
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
|
Posted
I'll think of some tomorrow.
AG
--------------------
"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Niminypiminy
Shipmate
# 15489
|
Posted
I'll post some helpful ideas as soon as I get around to it, but I've some ironing to do first, and then when I've disinfected the dustbin and de-flea-ed the cat, I'll be right there.
--------------------
Lives of the Saints: songs by The Unequal Struggle
http://www.theunequalstruggle.com/
Posts: 776 | From: Edge of the Fens | Registered: Feb 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
By the look of our kitchen at this time of year jam making and pickling are possibilities. You may regard them as unsuitable as there is a tangible product.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Barefoot Friar
Ship's Shoeless Brother
# 13100
|
Posted
You, shipmate, need to learn the fine art of piddling.
[ 13. September 2012, 11:28: Message edited by: Barefoot Friar ]
--------------------
Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. -- Desmond Tutu
Posts: 1621 | From: Warrior Mountains | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
You must have a computer in order to post - are there no games? Is there no collection of cute animals/ lolcats/ geek comics? Has FB closed its - whatever it's got to close?
Don't you realise you need to know NOW all about the ruling dynasty of Wallachia? Have checked your email? In the last 30 seconds?
Isn't now the perfect time to fire up the iPlayer and watch that programme on gibbons?
[ 13. September 2012, 13:31: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
By the look of our kitchen at this time of year jam making and pickling are possibilities. You may regard them as unsuitable as there is a tangible product.
Tangible products are ideal, because it doesn't count as 'wasting time' in the way playing solitaire & going on FB do! The best procrastination involves doing something that is an entirely sensible use of time, but not a top priority right now. When I have deadlines.
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
You must have a computer in order to post - are there no games? Is there no collection of cute animals/ lolcats/ geek comics? Has FB closed its - whatever it's got to close?
Don't you realise you need to know NOW all about the ruling dynasty of Wallachia? Have checked your email? In the last 30 seconds?
Isn't now the perfect time to fire up the iPlayer and watch that programme on gibbons?
Sadly I don't have an iPlayer, although Wallachia sounds interesting...
But I did take some library books back and find a sudden and urgent need to buy a watering can, so all is not lost ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
[ 13. September 2012, 14:46: Message edited by: Haydee ]
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
|
Posted
Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off 'til the day after.
(source unknown)
--------------------
If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
Make chutney of many types and flavours.
This is what I did many years ago when university exams loomed ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
There seems to be a food theme here and a need for a constructive pretext.
What can one do with all that jam and chutney? Once the pots and pans are cleared away (it's not a good idea to procrastinate over that) one can bake!
Baking is wonderful! Scones and rolls are our favourites, and children can 'help' with jam tarts. Follow the recipes to the letter, but accept that there is no such thing as a standard oven so adjust times and temperatures accordingly.
Depending on your chutney and ambition you could try to make pork pies!
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Drawers. Cupboards. They always need sorting. With any luck you'll find a box of photographs and that'll be the morning taken care of.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
|
Posted
Find a website that needs updating - that's a real time sink (I've just logged out of the one I moderate having started a clean up, because I really must complete some job applications - and then I came here!)
--------------------
Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
|
Posted
Think of the things that will need doing desperately in a few months time. Then almost complete them, so that you are still left with procrastination opportunities later.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Haydee:
Given my need to crunch out another few thousand words by the end of the weekend, could any Shipmates suggest good ways of procrastinating?
Housework, of course, is a traditional one, although in recent years trawling the Ship (including Limbo ) has slightly overtaken it.
Oooh, Limbo, hadn't thought of that...
What about defragmenting your hard drive, or running an anti-virus scan (which will surely slow down your computer making work impossible)? Is all your software up to date? Perhaps you need to clean up your hard drive, surely time spent looking for redundant files will be beneficial... somehow...
The best is going for a walk, because then you can convince yourself that it's doing you good (giving you physical exercise and, apparently, getting your brain working better). Then, when you sit down to do that work which you really will do, you'll be in a better frame of mind. Honest. Really.
I was greatly blessed by an article suggesting that procrasitnation can be good for sermon writing. Surely something similar applies here?
I've a horrible feeling I'm getting too good at procrastination... ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
--------------------
A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Felafool
Shipmate
# 270
|
Posted
ISTM that you are already pretty good at procrastination. Starting a thread on a bulletin board is a great idea.
Then there's a cup of coffee, check emails, clean up your PC - a good defragmentation takes a while. I could pop out for a haircut, get some lunch, look at a few journals, have a cup of tea, tidy the desk, check the bulletin boards, respond, make a list.....continued ad infinitum.
--------------------
I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty - I ordered a cheeseburger.
Posts: 265 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
|
Posted
My favorite procrastination is alphabetizing the spice rack. It will save so much time later on.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Felafool:
Then there's a cup of coffee, check emails, clean up your PC - a good defragmentation takes a while. I could pop out for a haircut, get some lunch, look at a few journals, have a cup of tea, tidy the desk, check the bulletin boards, respond, make a list.....continued ad infinitum.
I think this will be my life when I retire!
![[Eek!]](eek.gif) ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Drawers. Cupboards. They always need sorting. With any luck you'll find a box of photographs and that'll be the morning taken care of.
This is NOT procrastination, this is hard slog! See the
decluttering thread.
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
|
Posted
But Boogie - decluttering is so much easier to do when you've got an exam to revise for, or a report to write, or jobs applications for a job you're not really that interested in to complete
--------------------
Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Felafool:
ISTM that you are already pretty good at procrastination. Starting a thread on a bulletin board is a great idea.
I do my best - that was a modest flush by the way - but am only a beginner compared to other posters...
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
|
Posted
Then again, the Entire Internet is perhaps the biggest aid to procrastination there is...
--------------------
A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
|
Posted
Sewing is a great way to procrastinate. So is the SoF, as has been noted already. Making soda bread - ten minutes o prepare, half an hour to bake, and freeze when cool. Swift returns are always a good idea.
Actually, I find it very helpful to do something other than the thing I had decided was urgent. Often, the "unnecessary" activity serves to unblock energy which is then directed towards the original thing which I was avoiding. Something like this happens every year when I have to do my tax. I'm patiently waiting for it to happen now. But no rush...
--------------------
But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
|
Posted
My husband has mastered this sure-fire technique:
Identify one small home repair task and insist you can't focus on your writing (or other delayed goal) until this is completed. (real-life example: drippy faucet).
From that simple task, extrapolate a series of "while we're there..." tasks. Knowledge of "slippery slope" argumentation is particularly useful here.
real-life example:
...while we're repairing faucet, might as well replace it.
...if we're going to replace the faucet, might as well replace the sink
... replacing the sink requires replacing the entire vanity
...if we're going to replace the sink, we'll need a matching tub
...if we're going to replace the sink & tub, we should pull up the old linoleum and replace it with tile...
6 months and $10K later you've got a beautifully remodeled bathroom and no dissertation. When spouse complains you can cry "what? you're objecting to this beautiful remodel? Know how much it would have cost to have a professional do it? I've saved us thousands!"
--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
North East Quine
Curious beastie
# 13049
|
Posted
I came on to post the xkcd but Eutychus beat me to it. I haven't found either end yet, nor the top or bottom.
Posts: 6414 | From: North East Scotland | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
|
Posted
Here's a version you can scroll using your arrow keys.
There are maps out there now, and debate raging about whether using them destroys the spirit of the piece.
There is also speculation it could be his last comic ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
--------------------
Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
|
Posted
Change your guitar strings. Don't have a guitar? Go shopping for one...or more. 12-strings are good--it takes twice as long to change the strings.
Clean out the fridge. Make pickles from all the vegetables that are about to go bad. It would be wasteful to just throw them out.
--------------------
When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
|
Posted
Ironic, posting in S o F and especially in Heaven, to ask how to procrastinate. Isn't that what it's all about?
--------------------
Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
I have failed, FAILED ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif) - despite all the wonderful advice, and my own good intentions, I not only submitted my weekend's work in time but also met today's deadline.
Fortunately I now move into the revision period, with even greater opportunities for procrastination ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif) .
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
|
Posted
quote:
Eutychus: Fully explore this cartoon.
I tried to, but I got lost somewhere in the bottomless pit
quote:
Eutychus: xkcd rocks.
Absolutely!
quote:
Haydee: I have failed, FAILED - despite all the wonderful advice, and my own good intentions, I not only submitted my weekend's work in time but also met today's deadline.
Shame on you! As a punishment, you should spend at least a week relaxing.
--------------------
I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
LeRoc - given it's school holidays next week I'm not sure that it will be 'relaxing' - I won't get much done, admittedly... but children are the ultimate form of procrastination ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
I am in a terrible state of procrastinating, but I don't know what from.
I've retired. No deadlines.
I have a Ferrero Rocher plastic box containing a lot of paper slips inscribed with tasks to do to make my home more mine, but I don't feel up to any of them.
But I feel there is something I must do.
I have cleaned a carpet tile in the bathroom (this task uses up all the oomph on one tile as I have found that doing it close up by hand is the only way to get a good result. None of that dry foam applicator stuff. Oh no. Nor my spot cleaning Vax machine. Useless.)
I have fixed up the collapsing bean row in the garden which the wind had pulled away from the fence.
I have picked the last of the blackberries (nine) and pruned the stems back to relieve the drag on the fence (see above).
I have used the blackberrying stick to beat the outside of the plastic compost bin in case the rat hasn't moved on yet after previous disturbance and flooding.
I have had an afternoon nap.
I have done the first read of the paper.
I have collected paint swatches from the builders merchants to match the wallpaper in the small spare room which is going to have built in storage which I am painting so that it doesn't look too small. (Walking trip.)
I have washed up the stuff which I cannot put into the dishwasher.
I have done a bit of surfing.
I have read a difficult part of a book I bought at Downe House about the origin of life. (The book is of essays by various scientists about a Dead Horse subject. Most of it is much easier.)
I have a pile of hand mending, two cardigans to be knitted, a bag on a knitting loom and a pile of sewing machine mending.
I have a pile of incomplete crosswords dating back a long way.
I have a pile of incompletely read newspapers.
I have fiction books I bought at Oxfam and intend to take back again when read.
I have some beads I bought at Oxfam to remodel and either keep myself, give as gifts, or donate to Oxfam again.
I have a couple of things to finish sanding and paint with white gloss waiting in the garage.
I'm not exactly short of things to do.
But I don't feel like it.
I feel like a second afternoon nap.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
And I've looked out a suitable recipe for my sister's birthday cake, which won't be needed until the end of November.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Organ Builder
Shipmate
# 12478
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Haydee:
...although in recent years trawling the Ship (including Limbo ) has slightly overtaken it.
You're just a neophyte unless you've entered the waters of Oblivion.
--------------------
How desperately difficult it is to be honest with oneself. It is much easier to be honest with other people.--E.F. Benson
Posts: 3337 | From: ...somewhere in between 40 and death... | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Zacchaeus
Shipmate
# 14454
|
Posted
I've been meaning to post on this thread for some time, but somehow just never got around to it....
Posts: 1905 | From: the back of beyond | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
|
Posted
Have you suffered from piles for long Penny S?
--------------------
Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Haydee
Shipmate
# 14734
|
Posted
Well, yesterday I looked for a dance class for my older daughter and ended up buying a dressmaker's mannequin on gumtree. So I reckon I'm on track...
Posts: 433 | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
Have you suffered from piles for long Penny S?
Ha hah, not!
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
I am a mere beginner...
