Procrastinators Unite! Eventually...

(I should begin by saying that I am dedicated student. I turn in all my assignments on time (health permitting) and my grades and classes matter to me a great deal. That being said, I don't know a time when procrastination has not been something I've struggled with a little bit.) 

Dictionary.com says that procrastinating means "to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost."

And that's really what you lose, isn't it? An opportunity to spend your time in a more productive manner. That doesn't necessarily mean you always regret procrastinating though...

Procrastinating can take many forms, I have found. My top five ways and circumstances where procrastinating occurs are:

1. Internetting and tving. This category includes netflix, hulu, tumblr, twitter, and of course, facebook. And a billion other websites. Usually this results in a lot of tumblr re-blogging, and a few episodes of Secret Life of the American Teenager being watched and mercilessly mocked. It always results in me feeling incredibly guilty afterwards.

2. Socializing. This is when I don't want to do homework, so I find someone to hang out with instead. I can usually justify this one a bit more, especially since I'm a bit of a home-body and hanging out with people often validates me, and thus I can reason (to myself, in my own head),  "Look, I'm hanging out with someone! I am a functioning and valid member of society!" That probably went a lot deeper than you wanted it to. This is awkward. Go to the next one.

3. Organizing. When I really don't want to start whatever I'm supposed to be doing, I clean my room completely. I explain to those I feel accountable to, "I just need a clean space to work! Who can do work in a messy room? Stop looking at me like that. You're a cat, what responsibilities do you have?"

4. Napping. It is quite easy to justify this when you have mono (like I have for the past six months), but it can be done otherwise too: "How can I really concentrate when I'm this tired? This paragraph would sound a lot better if I was fully energized when writing it. Stop staring at me, cat. It's true."

5. Last but not least, there is a somewhat sneaky form of procrastination: productivity. Sometimes I'm not even aware this procrastination is actually happening, and then one day it hits me: I'm not really reading or writing what I know I'm supposed to be reading or writing. For instance, yesterday I was finishing up reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss. It's a fun read about the current state of punctuation, as well as a history and guide to each main punctuation mark. About 10 or so pages from the end, I found myself thinking, "Wow, I should really review Elements of Style before I start writing fiction again."And then I realized I have been reading about punctuation so I don't have to begin my fiction writing again, because I'm somewhat terrified of trying to. So, although reading "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" was helpful to my overall Plan and knowledge of writing, it was still, somehow, procrastinating. 

Which brings up a bigger question - why do I procrastinate and how can I become more aware of the specific reason I am procrastinating? 

Also, if anyone is reading this, do you have any particularly funny ways you procrastinate? How do you beat the procrastination bug?

Also, here's a clip of the Amanda Show that is relevant and hilarious: 

http://youtu.be/yoN2cXqRT7Q