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Structured Procrastination - Papers Online

Structured Procrastination

The most perfect situation for structured procrastination that I ever had was when my wife and I served as Resident Fellows in Soto House, a Stanford dormitory. In the evening, faced with papers to grade, lectures to prepare, committee work to be done, I would leave our cottage next to the dorm and go over to the lounge and play ping-pong with the residents, or talk over things with them in their rooms, or just sit there and read the paper. I got a reputation for being a terrific Resident Fellow, and one of the rare profs on campus who spent time with undergraduates and got to know them. What a set up: play ping pong as a way of not doing more important things, and get a reputation as Mr. ...

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human being.

At this point you may be asking, "How about the important tasks at the top of the list, that one never does?" Admittedly, there is a potential problem here.

The trick is to pick the right sorts of projects for the top of the list. The ideal sorts of things have two characteristics, First, they seem to have clear deadlines (but really don't). Second, they seem awfully important (but really aren't). Luckily, life abounds with such tasks. In universities the vast majority of tasks fall into this category, and I'm sure the same is true for most other large institutions. Take for example the item right at the top of my list right now. This is finishing an essay for a volume in the philosophy of language. It was supposed to be done eleven months ago. I have accomplished an enormous number of important things as a way of not working on it. A couple of months ago, bothered by guilt, I wrote a letter to the editor saying how sorry I was to be so late and expressing my ...

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Structured Procrastination. (2011, May 13). Retrieved April 2, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Structured-Procrastination/99134

"Structured Procrastination." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 13 May. 2011. Web. 2 Apr. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Structured-Procrastination/99134>

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/13/2011 11:11:30 AM
Submitted By: NMR4
Category: Miscellaneous
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 766
Pages: 3

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