Do you procrastinate? I know I sure do, quite a bit actually. But after reading a blog post by fellow author Riley Froud, and her take on immortality and time, she got me to thinking about procrastination.

What is it that I procrastinate on the most? Well, after some deep thought on the matter, would you believe that it turns out to be eating and sleeping. Do you procrastinate on these rather life important matters?

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This really came to light one weekend when my daughter was out of town with a friend. I worked for longer stretches without breaks, I barely ate anything, and certainly nothing healthy, and I collapsed into bed only once exhaustion had taken hold.

It turns out that the needs of my daughter to eat well and get sleep is a pretty big motivating factor for me to eat and sleep better. It also helps that she’s rather insistent with me when it is time for either!

There are, of course, other things that I procrastinate on as well. Frankly, once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. But I found it interesting to analyze my procrastination habits and I came to realize that I primarily procrastinate on the things I really don’t want to do, or at least that I don’t want to give up precious minutes for.

I think this is a huge factor in my previous conclusion that yes, I would be very much open to immortality. I feel that if time wasn’t such a limited commodity that I would be more likely to feel “ok” with giving up those extra minutes to do the mundane things such as eating and sleeping!

I can certainly understand the perspective that a deadline, including that of death, could potentially reduce procrastination. Which suggests that an infinite amount of time would open the flood gates for procrastinating. But to agree with Riley, I guess it really does depend on each person and perhaps their reasons for procrastinating.

I tend to procrastinate on things that are forced upon me, but not on the things that are important that I’m passionate about. In a way, sleeping and eating are forced on me for the very fact that I’m a human being.

Ironically, I also procrastinate when it seems clear that there is no possible way to get everything done that should be done. A bit counterintuitive! I guess it’s more of a “why bother if it’s not possible” subconscious. Though my grandfather always said that if you can’t do something right, don’t bother doing it at all. This was of course intended to encourage me to put my best foot forward and do things right. But I won’t lie, it’s a great line to use to get out of doing something too! Haha

I will say that this little bit of reflecting on procrastination and taking a closer look at the projects and priorities in my life has helped me to gain some clarity towards how I should be spending my time to best serve me and my goals.

Over to you, do you procrastinate? And if yes, what do you procrastinate on most?