‘Structured Procrastination’

It has recently occurred to me just how crazy I am.

I’m certainly not a cat killer. Rather, I’m a workaholic.

Already taking on both my junior year of high school and my first year of college through the School for Advanced Studies, I’ve added onto it a plethora of activities and commitments that recently had me wondering how I’m able to stay on top of them all.

This revelation came about when myself and two friends paid a visit to our Natural Science professor to discuss our research project. During our walk, one of my friends asked me “how I did it.”

Bewildered, I replied, “Do what?”

But in reality, I knew what he was talking about, and I thought about it all evening. From taking 10 classes in a challenging academic program to starting an internship with a Senator, playing in two separate symphony and chamber orchestras with daily practice sessions, conducting microbiological research, working as a staff writer for this newspaper, volunteering as a translator at a local church and taking nightly CrossFit classes, my schedule is nothing short of hectic. Add to it the acronymic frenzy of junior-year college prep tests like PSAT, EOC, SAT, SAT II, ACT, AP, CLEP— why not SOS?

I was more struck at not what I do— as I am certain that there are people who do much more— but rather how I do it, because I myself was not sure. After perusing my multiple planners I concluded that I managed to “do it” because I never delayed anything— because I never procrastinated.

However, even the most organized of people are not always effective in getting work done.

John Perry, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, published an insightfully poignant essay entitled Structured Procrastination. In the essay, Perry sheds a new light on procrastination by arguing that “the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.”    

The Perry method of structured procrastination consists of a list in which one has placed important tasks as most urgent. Two things characterize these tasks: they have clear deadlines that have already passed and they are important things to do.

An example Perry gives is an essay on the philosophy of language that he has to write and was due “11 months ago.” Did it have a clear deadline? Yes, but after emailing his editor, it turned out that he was not that much further behind schedule than the others. Was it important? Yes— published essays are to professors what shiny toys are to five-year-olds— but in reality, he does not have to write it. With this task on top of his list, Perry claimed he was able to “accomplish an enormous number of [actually] important things.”

It goes to show that despite the natural disposition you were blessed (or cursed) with in regards to getting things done, you can get that test grade, get into the school of your dreams, and get that dream job. It all starts with you.