I’ve been meaning to write this article on the art of procrastination….
Believe me. I have procrastination down to a fine art form. It’s a dark art and I’ve been practicing it for quite some time. I’ve been thinking about some of the mental mythology I’ve created over the years to support my ‘mañana’ habit.
First Time, Every Time
When I was in college and grad school, I would write a paper once. Literally. That would be it, a draft. I would turn it in just like that. I was satisfied because I almost always got an A on these papers. I used to brag about this, took pride in it.
The only master I served was getting it done, getting the grade, and getting on. I didn’t take a lot of pride in my work. I just wanted that grade. As long as I got that, excellence was only a myth. I convinced myself I didn’t care about it.
Here’s what it didn’t serve well. The hangover from those earlier times is that if I don’t think I can get something right the first time, I just put it off. Better, the philosophy goes, to not do something so no one thinks you’re an idiot than to go ahead and do it and prove that you are. Mark Twain or someone like that said it first.
Now when I write something, especially something big, I want it to be a hit. My goal is to be good at what I am doing while simultaneously getting better.
Solution: I’ve learned that, while deadlines are a good thing, excellence is better. Taking the time to read and reread, do and redo, write and rewrite has become well worth the effort.
Keep Mediocrity at Bay
Let me tell you about Jim. Jim was a friend and colleague long ago. There came a time when he got very sick and spent quite some time with doctor’s looking at him and scratching their heads. it was obvious he was sick, but House they were not. I was worried about him. He wasn’t worried about himself. I asked him why he was so nonchalant about this. Here’s what he told me.
“First, I’m confident in the docs. They know what they are doing. But mostly, it’s because I am just an ordinary guy. I’m no different than anyone else. If I have whatever I have, then other people have had it too. And they’ll figure it out.”
He was right. They did. Last time I saw him, he was in still in the pink.
On the other hand, I was terrified of being ordinary. If I was going to do something, it had to be ….. perfect. So, knowing deep down that whatever I did would be far from perfect, the easiest thing was to do nothing.
Solution: If you want to be great; if you want to be authentic, mediocrity is part of the deal. Mediocrity is a stepping stone, a stage we all go through.
As old as I am (62), there are still times I look back and realize how dumb I was even 6 months ago. Natalie Goldberg once said. about writing, that about 10 percent of what we write is excellent. Some of the rest may be publishable, but not our best work. In order to get to that 10 % of excellence, we have to write or do the 100%.
It’s all part of the same cloth.
Drats! Foiled again!
If You Want Something Done Right…
You know the rest. Chances are you’ve said it. To rephrase an old idiom, this way of thinking is at the root of ‘everyone is an island.’
It’s also at the root of frustration. If I have to do everything myself and am unwilling to ask for help, every stuck point is a stopping point. How many times do I get stuck until I decide not to even try anything new?
For years, my philosophy was that if I couldn’t do it myself, it couldn’t be done. The good news about that is that it made me a terrible team member and forced me to make my own way. The bad news, because as you know with me is was a dark art, it really limited the projects I could work on.
Ask for help? Hell, no.
Collaborate? Peripherally, maybe.
It killed me last year when I got sick and had to let go of doing some of my classes – and turn them over to someone else.
Solution: It also taught me, I can’t do everything on my own. None of us can.
Right Way or the Highway
The procrastination wizard’s perfectionistic wet dream.
It’s a beautiful thing.
If I decide I can’t do something right the first time, then there’s no sense in trying it at all.
Right?
This is a millstone on the neck of anyone who doesn’t realize that the mediocre is only a step on the way to the excellent.
So, let’s quit our whining. Mistakes will be made. Build the mistake in.
It is okay to be wrong. You have permission.
Better to try and fail than never to have tried at all.
Losers Need Not Apply
But everybody said, “Watch out, man, that’s Tiger Man McCool. He’s had a whole lot of fights and he’s always come out the winner. Yeah He’s a winner.” ~ Shel Silverstein, The Winner
One form of fear of failure is the fear of losing. More than that, it says that anything but absolute first place is ‘nothing but’ a loser’s game.
If the rule is that you can’t stand to lose, what’s the end game? The fact is no one wins all the time.
Solution: There is a line from and old Charles Bronson movie – Hard Times – that goes something like this. “The next best thing to playin’ and winnin’ is playin’ and losin’”
The idea is to get – and stay – in the game.
I’m Waiting for the Right Inspiration
Long time ago, I ran a rehab program in the calaboose in Hennepin County. I officed across from a woman who wrote manuals for the county and wrote outside of work for herself. I told her once that I aspired to be a writer.
She said, “Writer’s don’t aspire. Writer’s write.’
It put me in my place, although I think that was not her intent.
Well, here I am.
Solution: Waiting for inspiration is not the way to conquer any project. John Sandford, writer of the Prey books said it well recently in an interview on NPR. The interview asked him about his writing process. Sandford said that writing didn’t come easy for him. It was work and he worked at it. He sat down at a certain time and quit at a certain time.
It was his job.
I’ve finally come to realize that this is the way it is for any creative endeavor.
Doing always trumps thinking about doing.
I’ll bet you’ve got some dark art tactics that keep you stuck as well. And some solutions.
So, what are they?
photo credit: James Jordan
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