Thoughts on Procrastination

If you haven't noticed already, I can be pretty long winded about things. Apparently this is one of my personality traits according to the Myers-Briggs test. Andrew and I took this test during our premartial counseling with the pastor at our church. It was not something that I expected to be doing as part of religiously based premarital counseling, but it ended up being incredibly informative. After scoring our tests, Pastor Steve counseled us on what the results meant in terms of us individually and the ways in which we interact with one another. It was not the first time that I had taken the test, but it was the first time that someone had taken the time to analyze it in that much detail for me. It was crazy how "on" he was when describing things that we both do. There were a few "aha" moments when we looked at each other and said, "Oh, that's why you do that!" Needless to say it was a fabulous experience, and three years later I'm still talking about it.

So what does all of this have to do with procrastination? Part of the test puts you on a continuum from Judging at one end to Perceiving at the other end. I came out WAY over on the Judging side. According to Pastor Steve, this means that I plan everything. I like to get things done in advance, and do not procrastinate! I remember him lamenting that he wished he was more of a Judging personality rather than the highly Perceiving personality. He told us that due to his perceiving personality, he actually figures out exactly how much time he thinks it will take to write a sermon, and then counts back the hours until it is due. That is the time he starts working on it, and not a minute sooner. Now, while I do like to plan things in advance, I also find that I often (read: ALWAYS) procrastinate on things. I will find just about anything else to do in order to not have to work on something with a firm deadline. In college, I would do physics homework so that I didn't have to study for organic chemistry (go ahead, laugh!).

I'm noticing more and more over the years that I will procrastinate until the last possible minute. Somehow I always manage to get everything finished (even up to my high standards) in time. It is almost like I subconsciously know that I don't really need to start working on something with my full focus just yet. Unfortunately, this doesn't give me any level of satisfaction or relaxation. The whole time I'm procrastinating, I'm also stressing that I haven't been working enough. Thank God Andrew is supportive of me in this, or he probably would have divorced me/not married me in the first place. Did I mention that if it weren't for him, I'm pretty sure I would have quit this a long time ago? I think he secretly wants to be married to a "doctor."

SO...all that just to say...I managed to get a bunch of work done on the dissertation this weekend, but have you noticed the new blog background and header?