Procrastination and Super Human Abilities

I have a very important project I am working on at the moment, and I am excited about it, so why do I feel the need to stop working and clean my house. First of all, I am not a cleaner. I can’t stand it to be honest. So why then, am I doing everything but this project I am so excited about? Why am I procrastinating??

I read Structured Procrastination by John Perry, a Stanford Philosophy Professor, to try and understand myself a bit better. Apparently I have committed myself “to tasks with inflated importance and unreal deadlines, while making [myself] feel that they are important and urgent”. I am not satisfied with this theory however. My tasks are important and the deadlines are real!! I have emails to prove it.

However, his article was thought provoking and did instill in me the idea that as long as I am procrastinating by doing other tasks that must eventually be done anyway, I am not a lazy slob of a human being.

Tell that to my still un-showered body as it is now 3:30 pm on a Thursday!

So, by putting structured procrastination method to use I found something very interesting:

While Cloroxing the kitchen counters, I found myself thinking about my very exciting logo project and actually developing visual ideas. I was not simply mindlessly cleaning, as I thought, but I was doing two necessary things at one time- cleaning AND brainstorming. One mindless task and one fully mindful task.

Imagine my husband’s surprise when I filled him in on my super human powers. I can actually do two necessary tasks as one time!

My only problem is now I have no excuse for floor that needs to be mopped nor my own dirty self. I suppose I should keep some things to myself…