I'm not Procrastinating

I can't speak for everyone, but I have been known, on occasion, to put off doing things that I find to be either uncomfortable, or downright painful, either emotionally or physically. I know...I AM a bit of a weenie in that regard. Some might call it "procrastination", but I think it's a bit different than that. 

I think procrastination is a tendency to put off pretty much everything until the last second, then rush around like a crazy person to get it done. I used to do that with school stuff. I pretended that it "made me more creative" or whatever Baloney Slices I was trying to sell in that particular instance.

But as I've gotten older, I tend to look at projects or tasks from a standpoint of "how much time do I have at the moment to devote to that", and "will I be able to start, finish and clean up in the time I have available". If I have a preference, I really tend toward wanting to jump into something, start it, work it, and finish it, all in one block. I really struggle with the idea of starting something, getting partway through, leave it to go do something else, and then come back and work on Project A again, then go work on Project C, then come back to Project A, then take a vacation, then 2 weeks later come back and finish Project A. I tend to get really focused when I'm working on something, and once I get my head into it, I don't really like to be distracted.

There are other people in this world ... let's call them "The Insane Ones"... who believe that "multi-tasking" is not only possible, but a good thing. When I was leading the contact center at a regional medical center, my staff used to brag about how they were amazing multi-taskers. When I told them that multi-tasking was actually less efficient, most of them looked at me like I was a satanist in the middle of the Vatican.

However, the fun thing about the medical community (at least for me) is that when you present them with data, they have a hard time telling you that you are crazy. Because they believe in "evidence-based medicine". OK, most of them do.And some of them still call me crazy. Oh well...

A 2010 French study found that the human brain can handle two complicated tasks without too much trouble, because it has two lobes that can divide responsibility equally between the two. Add a third task, however, and it can overwhelm the frontal cortex and increase the number of mistakes you make. This is one reason why drummers are usually some of the smartest people you know. They literally can "divide their brains". But they are the rarity...the exception, not the rule. If they were the rule, there'd be a whole lot of amazing drummers out there. Let me tell you from experience...finding a really good drummer is extremely hard to do.

Experts estimate that switching between tasks can cause a 40% loss in productivity. It can also cause you to introduce errors into whatever you’re working on, especially if one or more of your activities involves a lot of critical thinking. Most of us common folk can accomplish, say, walking and texting at the same time, because one of those actions is relatively automatic (walking). That is, until said walking texter doesn't pay attention to others, or traffic or walls...

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking doesn’t save time. In fact, it will probably take you longer to finish two projects when you’re jumping back and forth than it would to finish each one separately. The same is true even for behaviors as seemingly automatic as driving: In a 2008 University of Utah study, drivers took longer to reach their destinations when they chatted on cell phones.

What folks call "multi-tasking" is actually "task switching".

Multitasking requires a lot of what’s known as "working memory," or temporary brain storage, in layman’s terms. You know...that processing memory in your computer that is so important to allowing you to run multiple applications at once. And when working memory’s all used up, it can take away from our ability to think creatively, according to research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Too much focus can actually harm performance on creative problem-solving tasks,” the authors wrote in their 2010 study. With so much already going on in their heads, they suggest, multitaskers often find it harder to daydream and generate spontaneous “a ha moments.”

But does that explain why I tend to put off some things? Only to a certain extent. There are other things I put off because they require me to become uncomfortable, or to feel emotions that I don't want to feel.

Our big dog, Jake, had to be put down last year. Actually, it was February last year. It's been over a year, and I still get tears in my eyes thinking about him. Even just writing about him like I am right now. My lovely bride decided she was going to put together a big shadow box of pictures of Jake, plus a plaster cast of his pawprint. This shadow box has been completed, and sitting on the dining room table just waiting for me to string some picture wire on it, and hang it on the wall. I'll bet I put off buying the picture wire for over 2 months. I've had the picture wire for at least a month now, but it's all just sitting on the table. Why? Because it's hard for me to do. The task itself will take me about 15-20 minutes. Working through the emotions again will take me hours. Days. Probably the rest of my life.

Yes, I need to get that project done. It won't be today. Hoping I have the strength tomorrow. Praying that God will give me the strength.

I'm not procrastinating to avoid the work...I'm putting it off to avoid the pain, the discomfort. I know...I need to work through the pain, because the joy and the memories are there, too. I will get there. Just give me a few minutes, because this 15-minute task will probably take me a bit longer than that. Thank you for being patient with me, God.

My two cents worth today.