The Real Drug Problem

Addictions come in many forms. While drugs and alcohol are seen as the most serious, life-threatening of these addictions there is a far more dangerous addiction. Procrastination. Once said to be the thief of time, procrastination prefers to creep up on you tear you away from the realms of productivity with promises of distraction. The vile addiction sends word like dawdle, dilly dally and hisses all-too-famous phrase "life's too short" into the addict's ears. It courses through your veins and stops any impulse to the brain that contains phrases like assignments, essays, reports, portfolios, cleaning, or indeed anything . I will now stand bravely in front of the support circle and proclaim loudly my addiction because; my name is Michael Park, and I am a procrastination addict.

Defined as; The act or habit of putting off to a future time procrastination is a phenomenon that no-one can deny exists. There will always be two groups of people in the world. Quiet, conscientious people who sit down and get on with the task at hand weeks in advance and make sure it is done to perfection with time to spare. Then of course, there are the procrastinators. The people who say tomorrow, then when tomorrow comes there is always another, longer tomorrow. The problem is that it quickly becomes a habit that you cannot break. Everything that comes along can, must be put off as long as possible. I honestly cant say whether it is a love of risk or even just laziness because I do try to sit down and get on with work and studying and always find myself distracted.

Of course, to be, or not to be. That is the question. Dont worry. I'm not quite contemplating suicide. Although if I were to attempt it I'd probably never get around to it anyway. If you are bored or depressed and you need an activity, talk to a known procrastinator. They will have absolutely no hesitation in finding you something to do. You see, we addicts can always, without fail, find something better to do. I have been known to actually clean instead of studying. Although the truly interesting thing about procrastination is that things you will do to avoid the given task are often ones that on any other day you would avoid. For example cleaning my room is a task I tend to avoid like the plague. Unless I happen to be considering the finer points of risk management, then my whole room suddenly becomes a gleaming haven, reminiscent of a well-kempt Victorian townhouse. Computers are procrastination's best friend. In this high-tech world where information can be accessed at the touch of a button, the procrastinator is never without distraction. I would think the only way to remove these electronic distractions would be to deactivate the internet, destroy all Instant Messenger programs that look so enticing flashing away in the corner of your eye and then cut my hands off because I guarantee I'd find a way to turn it back on. There is also another phenomenon that can take most of the blame for procrastination: Google. This is something that essentially puts every website under the sun at your fingertips.

This puts procrastination into the 21^st Century, allowing you to find any information that you could ever require with a few clicks of a mouse. Then there is the pub. That foul house of temptation and lechery is one of my favourite places on Earth, especially when there is work to be done. The phone call that comes through, "Michael, you fancy coming to the pub?" Bang. A massive crash of a gong and I'm sold. "I'll see you in 20 minutes".

"There's no time like the present," and "why put off till tomorrow what you could do today?" are two slogans which I cannot possibly avoid. Two phrases I have spent a very long time trying to escape. Two sayings that at first seem so reasonable it sends a chill down the spine of any procrastinator. Perhaps I dont see things quite the way others do but I can honestly deny the existence of the present provided I know I have time before a deadline to rush the work, I've never failed a coursework. Could this approach actually work?

I lack drive. The grit and sheer determination to push myself towards bigger and better things, is something I have lost. I need to work toward distracting myself with work and not the warm lure of a public house. So what am I to do? I have been told that the solution to my problem is a very simple one. I have to force myself to sit and stare at blank screens for hours on end until a subject, no matter how narrow, pops into my mind. I then have to maintain my focus until the task is complete. I'm sure there are several ways of doing this. An extreme one would be to sit in a completely dark, quiet room with a computer and nothing else. A lock on the outside of the door. No distractions anywhere. I dont think Id be able to cope.

A far better solution seems to be to find a subject that truly interests me, something I would be able to talk about for hours without a second thought. Perhaps this is what I've been missing all these years. Perhaps I am so set in the processes of ignoring work and putting it off until the very last second that I will always find that I thrive under the pressure of the deadline bearing down on me. I may never find the solution to my problem and always have to force myself to sit quietly staring at a half written piece wondering why I havent given up yet. One day I will cure my addiction and my life will improve. Until that happens though, I will remain a self-confessed procrastination addict.