I also don’t think all procrastination is “not restful” or “doesn’t really make you happy.” We’d like to believe that—just as we’d like to believe that unhealthy food doesn’t really taste that good. It would make it seem that there are no real sacrifices to be made. But I don’t think that’s the case.
My most time-consuming forms of procrastination are socializing (online or in person) and, oddly enough, learning. I had a period when I was obsessed with learning about economic policy, and then a period when I was obsessed with learning about computer vision. Spending time with your friends, and learning interesting things in a non-stressful context, are fun. They make you feel high on life. They even make you feel productive. They’re only procrastination in the sense that they’re not what you’re paid to do—“Work is whatever a body is obliged to do, and play is whatever a body is not obliged to do,” in Mark Twain’s words.
So there’s some perverse impulse to do anything but the activity labeled “work,” which carries the dread association of duty, and makes you think unpleasant thoughts like “am I worthy enough?” If my job were writing policy for a think tank, I’d probably spend all day on the web reading about algebraic topology.
I also don’t think all procrastination is “not restful” or “doesn’t really make you happy.” We’d like to believe that—just as we’d like to believe that unhealthy food doesn’t really taste that good. It would make it seem that there are no real sacrifices to be made. But I don’t think that’s the case.
My most time-consuming forms of procrastination are socializing (online or in person) and, oddly enough, learning. I had a period when I was obsessed with learning about economic policy, and then a period when I was obsessed with learning about computer vision. Spending time with your friends, and learning interesting things in a non-stressful context, are fun. They make you feel high on life. They even make you feel productive. They’re only procrastination in the sense that they’re not what you’re paid to do—“Work is whatever a body is obliged to do, and play is whatever a body is not obliged to do,” in Mark Twain’s words.
So there’s some perverse impulse to do anything but the activity labeled “work,” which carries the dread association of duty, and makes you think unpleasant thoughts like “am I worthy enough?” If my job were writing policy for a think tank, I’d probably spend all day on the web reading about algebraic topology.
This is so good