The difference between procrastinating and not

[Collin Li]

People who resign themselves to procrastination waste time.

Obviously nothing you didn't know already, but what's the end result of this?

If you never take initiative, and only do things when you have to do them, then where will you end up?

Taking initiative is the difference between being trapped in the 9-5 worklife (possibly with overtime) to achieve this "deferred enjoyment lifestyle" versus having the ability to do more with your time while generating income via opportunities that most people think are "not for me".

The thing is, time is valuable, and if you want to spend it doing nothing, fine! But you don't realise how awesome it is to spend time doing nothing until you've tried filling in your time with everything.

Now, don't use the excuse that the time isn't right - you've got VCE, or university exams coming up. They're always coming up. When will the time ever be right? Nothing will ever be done.

Find commitments and projects that interest you, and pursue them.

(A semi-rant that I have yet to fully execute for myself)

BTW, would anyone be interesting in reading a personal development/productivity blog? What's my niche?

[costargh]

People who resign themselves to procrastination waste time.

I was challenged by a tutor this semester as to the validity of 'wasting time' - does it really exist?

Do we ever really 'waste time'?

Or are we merely valuing doing 'nothing' (which may in fact be a way of relieving stress) over doing homework.

I'm still undecided.

[Ken]

Available time (before the exams) and usable time (to study for the exam) do not equate.

[Mao]

Thank you coblin, your wise words have changed my life. I shall continue browsing VN and facebook, maybe grab some need4speed later.

[doboman]

People who resign themselves to procrastination waste time.

Obviously nothing you didn't know already, but what's the end result of this?

If you never take initiative, and only do things when you have to do them, then where will you end up?

Taking initiative is the difference between being trapped in the 9-5 worklife (possibly with overtime) to achieve this "deferred enjoyment lifestyle" versus having the ability to do more with your time while generating income via opportunities that most people think are "not for me".

The thing is, time is valuable, and if you want to spend it doing nothing, fine! But you don't realise how awesome it is to spend time doing nothing until you've tried filling in your time with everything.

Now, don't use the excuse that the time isn't right - you've got VCE, or university exams coming up. They're always coming up. When will the time ever be right? Nothing will ever be done.

Find commitments and projects that interest you, and pursue them.

(A semi-rant that I have yet to fully execute for myself)

BTW, would anyone be interesting in reading a personal development/productivity blog? What's my niche?

Define "wasting" time. Because in my views, you simply writing that post is "procrastination". Also; how can somebody be doing "nothing". What's your definition of "nothing". Because, put quite simply, you can learn something new from every task you take out. Everything someone does is contributing to his/her life, the way they live it- and how they intend to live it in the future.

[TrueLight]

ha procrastination..... i usually procrastinate not doing uni work until last day...but i do other things as well like surfing the net and listening to awesome ppl...cough (ron paul) and other things.......its just too much effort doing it so far from the due date...

[Collin Li]

Re: "but nothing might actually be worthwhile"

Yeah, it might be - but I'm asking you to try have a lot less of nothing instead of continuing to choose it by default. You'll cherish nothingness a lot more at least

Re: skepticism

Probably everyone here has been in some kind of optimistic denial, where they believe that what they're doing is the right thing and they'll coast towards some kind of standard success (uni, get a job, etc.)

*

And BTW, don't feel like I'm telling you what to do - it might just apply to me more than anything (it was better suited for the blog I don't have).

[Fyrefly]

Collin... you need to be careful, or you'll run yourself right down into the ground... please don't take on too much.
You may not feel that you've stretched yourself to capacity yet, but if you go in too hard and too fast then you'll hit it like a brick wall once you do.

[Collin Li]

Collin... you need to be careful, or you'll run yourself right down into the ground... please don't take on too much.
You may not feel that you've stretched yourself to capacity yet, but if you go in too hard and too fast then you'll hit it like a brick wall once you do.

I'm doing things that I actually want to do - it's just that I'm escaping my default mode of 'waiting for things to happen' and entering the mode of 'finding things to do'

For the sake of my freedom, I never contract myself into situations that I may want to escape in the future - my mantra is that I am not afraid to give things a go, despite the risk of failure.

[/0]

Exactly.

To draw an analogy, imagine that you are on vacation. It is your last day at an amusement park, and you only have 1 ticket for your favourite ride.
Are you going to step in and doze off, or perhaps feel sad because this is your last ride... or are you going put your hands up and scream as loud as you can? It's up to you.

We all get only one chance to live our lives. It is a gift that we are lucky to have, and a gift we will ultimately be deprived of. So I say take what you can from life, think of it as an opportunity rather than a burden, and live for the moment.
Life was not meant to be squandered on dull, daily routines. We have been socially conditioned into thinking a dull life is normal life, but it is not.
Because one day, we will all die. That much is inevitable. When I grow old and look back on life, I don't want to regret not having lived - if I can do this then I will die a happy man.

(Read this while listening to Vangelis for extra cheesiness)