Introduction

While procrastinating and putting off writing my paper, I found an interesting video on youtube about procrastination.  I've read (or skimmed...) a few books on procrastination, e.g. Getting Things Done, The Now Habit, and Procrastination, as well as read countless articles online (one of my favorate ways to procrastinate is to read about procrastination), and the idea in this video about the cause of procrastination isn't new or revolutionary, but this guy distills it into a concise explanation, as well as articulates a very simple solution.  The solution won't help with the problems ancillary to chronic procrastination that most of us suffer from, such as poor organization and time management skills, but it does seem like an intriguing way to approach the core, self-destructive, seemingly irresistable urge to waste time and put things off. 

The video is long, but worth watching in its entirety.  In a nutshell, however, the point he makes is that procrastination is an emotional reponse we've developed throughout childhood to combat the apparently arbitrary authority we encounter from parents, teachers, etc. (like I said, nothing too new).  Now that we're adults, however, the response is vestigial and irrational.  To shed it, we simply need to realize that we're our own boss, and we can do whatever we want; we don't "have" to do anything. The choices we make have consequences, but they are choices nonetheless. 

That's a pretty lame summary you'll have to watch the video for yourself to get the whole idea. Here's the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1WC6hNTONg If nothing else, it actually made my anxiety go away (my chest pain has stopped for once!) and I am looking forward to trying out this way of thinking.  I am not expecting any miracles, and I'm so behind that it's probably too late anyway, but I'll report back with the results regardless of how it turns out.

 Sorry this post is so long!