Confessions of a Procrastaholic

Hi, I’m Nicole and I am a serial procrastinator. (“Hi, Nicole.”)

To those of you who have known me in a professional or academic setting, this may come as a surprise. For those of you who have ever lived with me or known me on a more personal level, you’ve probably been waiting for me to admit this for a long time.

It’s true, I’m incredibly bad at getting things done when I say I will. I blame my father for naturing and/or nurturing me this way. I can’t pretend I don’t get anything done. I am, in fact, a highly-functioning individual with a lot of finished tasks under my belt. Give me a deadline for a real-life, important task and you will be amazed by how I accomplish it on time (after putting it off until the last possible second). The things that are time-INsensitive, however, become QUITE time-insensitive.

The irony is I love making lists. I make lists of everything- on paper, on receipts, on my hand, on my iPhone, carved into trees- but crossing things off the list is another story. To-do lists are my specialty. My parents always praised me on my strong work-ethic and determination. I guess that went out the window when I discontinued my classical ballet training. (To-do: research relationship between ballet and productivity to add to this post). My parents also used to refer to me as the “Queen of Stalling” when I (did not) go to bed as a child. It seems this has resurfaced as a dominant trait.

One thing I always do right away: google. I’m SO good a googling. In fact, this was the first image on the google search for “procrastination.”

Okay, so maybe all this babbling has truly just been procrastination of an important and embarrassing confession:

I (Nicole) am a failed contributor to this blog. The blog to which I was a contributing founder. While I can honestly proclaim that my intentions have been sincere since its conception, my ability to follow through has been more hopeful than realistic. I read the blog, I edit the blog, and on occasion I have even written my own posts. But the number of times I’ve said I was going to contribute something- 100% convinced that I will actually do so- is horrific and shameful. If this blog did not have such wonderful contributors besides myself, it would be called DWWLTDIBCFTMOTdancer…Dancers who would like to do it but can’t find the motivation or time. -Title courtesy of fellow contributor (to both DIYdancer and DWWLTDIBCFTMOTdancer) Riley Watts.

I am constantly surprised that my co-founders have not shunned me. But their faith in me is inspirational. So much so that it has finally inspired me to trick myself into being an active and visible member of this blog.

How will I do this, you ask?

I will use my procrastinating addiction for good by blogging about my procrastination. Genius, I know. However, this idea is not as original as I originally thought. Case and point: I have already done this. 

So this time I swear it will (might) be different!

Maybe I will blog about all the things I will (not) do. Maybe I will blog about what I am doing instead of blogging. Or maybe, just maybe, I will eventually get around to blogging about something worth reading.

Consider this series of mine a meta-blog. Procrastination inside procrastination about procrastination through procrastination…(yes, my brain hurts too). All this thinking I’ve done just proves how committed I am to this project. Or am I just procrastinating?