Procrastination...

...that's the title of my second favorite SpongeBob SquarePants episode. Sponge Bob has to write a paper for school but finds a multitude of creative ways (such as doing household chores, sharpening his pencil, feeding his pet snail, Gary, and taking great pains to write the first letter of the first word of his essay in ornate calligraphy) to put off getting started. At one point he even hears his chair telling him to relax and put his feet up. I remember the Saturday morning I watched it. I was supposed to be writing a paper.


Reading this article about academic procrastination in the Chronicle of Higher Education was painful because I could identify with so much that was said. However, it was also informative. For example, did you know that the word "procrastinate" comes from the Latin verb procrastinare which means "to defer until morning"? Another interesting tidbit: Paul Ferrari, a psychology prof' at DePaul University divides procrastinators into two camps - - "'Arousal procrastinators' believe they work best under pressure and tend to delay tasks for the thrill. 'Avoidant procrastinators' are self-doubters who tend to postpone tasks because they worry about performing inadequately, or because they fear their success may raise others' expectations of them."

If you have a tendency to put things off, you just might want to read it. Tomorrow.