ON PROCRASTINATION

I have two weeks to prepare a presentation on "Sleep and the RA," and my laptop just broke. I haven't started the presentation, despite ample opportunity to do so. And I honestly am much less interested in the topic than when I volunteered for it several months ago.

In college, I was never a real procrastinator. Big papers were never a problem, and I only remember a few cases of staying up abnormally late to study for an exam, or prepare a speech for the following day. Some people say they do their best work under pressure; not so, here. I would much rather get everything done in advance and then "tinker" in the time right before the due date.

This anti-procrastination method worked wonderfully for me, and I am forced to ask myself why I abandoned it. Countless times over the past few years - my working career, in other words - I've waited until the last moment to prepare presentations (for interviews) or to hand in paperwork (although my semesterly reports get turned in well in advance).

I don't know what I'm doing differently - if anything, I have less on my plate than I did as an undergrad. Maybe it's because I no longer "have to" be super-organized, I slough off a little bit. Or maybe it's because I care a lot less about a job that pays me than I did about an academic career I was paying for (sort of).