The Art of Procrastination: A Night in the Life of a Hopeless Procrastinator

I'm an awful procrastinator.  This piece itself is procrastination at its finest for me.  Even though I love writing, I will find any excuse not to sit down and get started.  I know that many other people, especially artists, suffer from the same affliction, so I figured there would be some sympathetic readers out there.  I'm currently working on my fourth novel - one I've put off writing for several years, but recently was inspired to start working on.  Despite the fact that I'm anxious to get it out, I still have trouble figuring out how to stop procrastinating.  Following is an example of a typical day or night of procrastination for me.

've been busy all day, running errands, spending time with family, and doing things around the house. I finally sit down at the computer and open up the document that holds the first two chapters of my novel. It's late and I'm tired, but I can't go to bed until I get at least a bit of work done. I rub my eyes and realize I'm still wearing make-up, and decide that I'd better go remove it before it starts to irritate my already-tired eyes. As I'm washing my face, I look at my hands under the tap and see my fingernails. I had painted them green for St. Patrick's day, but now the polish is chipping and peeling and they look awful.

I pull out the nail polish remover and a cotton ball and get scrubbing. For some reason, nail polish starts chipping just a few hours after I put it on. As I work away, I contemplate what strange oil or chemical in my system causes this to happen. Maybe I should look it up when I get back to the computer? Naw, maybe some other day, I have to get to work. Besides, looking that up will give me a reason to procrastinate some other day.

When I'm done, I head for the kitchen to get a drink, and the radio's on to the country station, as usual. Ooh, there's that song that I love but have no idea what it's called or who sings it. I lean against the counter for a minute and listen, trying to remember snippets of the lyrics so I can look it up. I end up staying to listen to the whole song, then return to my computer and Google the lyrics. Hmm, "Somewhere With You" by Kenney Chesney - I love this song because even though his voice is country, to me it's not a typical country song, it's got a great, sexy beat. While I'm listening to it, I see an ad for the Black Eyed Peas' new video for "Just Can't Get Enough", so I check that out, too. What a great song, I'll have to add it to my workout playlist and add The Beginning to my wishlist since I listen to E.N.D and Elephunk often, especially when I'm exercising.

I put the song on repeat and realize I never got a drink when I intended to. I make my way back to the kitchen and get a glass of water. I see the mess I left from when I made popcorn earlier while watching one of my favorite movies, Phantom of the Opera, so I take a minute to clean that up.

Then I notice the book I got earlier from the library, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I've been waiting a couple of weeks for it, maybe I should just read a few pages, see how I like it. No, that would be taking the procrastination too far. But would it really? My friend Keith Worth recommended it to me and I want to tell him how I like it. I really shouldn't...but now that I'm thinking about Keith, I wonder if he's updated on HubPages lately - maybe he's written a new installment of the Saga of the Vagrant Heart?

So I return to my room, pull up the internet, and check his profile page, but nothing new since the last installment. While I'm on HubPages, I might as well check my stats, see how my pageviews are doing and reply to a few comments. And once I'm done that, I should probably check Facebook, I've been away from the computer all day, maybe there's something interesting going on. And my email is really piling up, I should probably sort through that too....

After I get through with all of that, I look at the clock and realize it's over an hour since I first sat down at the computer with the intention of writing. I sit for a minute and think that I could probably continue to procrastinate until it's time to go to bed and then just start fresh tomorrow, but then I know I'd feel guilty. So, I close the internet, open Media Player, turn the volume way down and put U2's Achtung Baby on repeat. And I finally get to work, doing the thing I love most - writing.

Thank you for reading - or maybe I should say thank you for humoring me by reading - The Art of Procrastination: A Night in the Life of a Hopeless Procrastinator. I hope you enjoyed it, and can maybe even sympathize - I know I'm not the only one who's a hopeless procrastinator, and that fact is comforting!  Feel free to leave comments below, you don't have to be a member of HubPages to comment.

If you love to write as much as I do and you're looking for an outlet, why not join HubPages? It's free to join, you can write about whatever you like, and the community is wonderful and supportive.