I agree... to an extent. One of my favorite quotes is taken from the scifi miniseries Taken: "90% of life is maintenance."

While I love the idea and the process of following your own genius and the inspiration that comes with it, there is definitely something to be said for getting the things done that maintain life. The day-to-day details are what make life possible. We have to eat. We have to sleep. We have to love. We have to play. We work to make those things possible.

Two points come to mind: First, if you choose a life that you truly love, and you know why you love it, and you lose the fear to change it, you won't need to procrastinate. You come to understand the reasons why you do the things you do, and you enjoy them. If you are true to yourself, even when you change, even when you stay the same, you can find happiness in everything you do.

Secondly, if you have a huge project that is staring you in the face, and you have to find things to do in order to procrastinate, then you are facing the wrong project. Huge projects should be things that you love. Like he said in the article, you should be pulled along by enjoyment, not pushed by a list. If you have to procrastinate doing it, it's not worth your time. Part of the reason the greats were able to do what they did despite working conditions that were not ideal is because they loved what they did enough to overcome any obstacle.

Well, I think it is important to remember the premise of his article, which is that you *cannot avoid* procrastinating. At any point in time there are an infinite number of different things you could be doing, and the key is choosing the right one. Is your policy to choose less important or more important things?

Procrastination I think by definition is putting off doing something that you need to do in favor of doing something else less important. Basically, it's something important that must be done, but laziness over rules it. It's a nice article on prioritization, though.

One thing I didn't like is his declaration of what is "small stuff", or from the way he treats them, what is unimportant:

"What's "small stuff?" Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary. It's hard to say at the time what will turn out to be your best work (will it be your magnum opus on Sumerian temple architecture, or the detective thriller you wrote under a pseudonym?), but there's a whole class of tasks you can safely rule out: shaving, doing your laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank-you notes-- anything that might be called an errand.

Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work."

Small things are usually more important in life than the big things, I believe. Your chances of being remembered very long for your "big thing" in life are almost zero when compared to the people we remember for what they did to those we don't. This means people who built awesome buildings, wrote good books, developed something like the moving walkway, etc. What they did might live on in some form, but they have died. And then you move on to the people who simply will never achieve fame, their "greatest work" is beans compared to these.

People are the most important. And it's other people, not yourself. I think it can be very easy to get caught up in oneself and one's work, thinking it is the most important thing you could be doing and *must* be done, especially in today's society.

It is little wonder that things like divorce, spouse and child abuse, broken families, and mental disorders are at an all time high. We have begun to put what we want and what we think is important in front of people, especially those we most care about like our spouse and family (where applicable). We rationalize this is OK because they love and understand us and thus can handle it.

Completely and innocently forgetting something little like a birthday or anniversary or thank-you note is one thing. It's still not good because the person feels neglected, but those sorts of things can be understood easily.

When someone conscientiously chooses not to do those things because they feel writing their book or committing to whatever other project they feel is so precious, that's a tragedy. As president David O. McKay said: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.” I think this can be extended to some degree to include some people not neccessarily inside our home.

As he said, no success. None. Not calculus, not moveable type, not the invention of the computer, not even something like a cure for AIDS. Not if it has to come at the price of neglecting the people that you truly care about and that truly care about you. While one problem or disease may be resolved, another one is perpetuated, one I feel is far more deadly.

So I got on a bit of a soap-box I guess, but this sort of thing I feel is very important. Critically. Every time we don't give of ourselves to someone in need (when we either are capable or, like in famliy, are obligated), or give someone a chance because we feel some*thing* else is more important, it is just adding another chapter to the tragedy of humanity. The tragedy wherein is played the social ills of our world, the things that lead to murder, theft, war, rape, and abuse.

An excellent treatise. I haven't found a dictionary yet that agrees with your definition, however. Procrastination is simply the act of putting something off, and you're always putting something off. You do need to be careful of what things you consider more important; the author clearly has his own view of what things are more important, and I don't neccessarily agree in all the particulars. Nevertheless, I think that while some people neglect others in the pursuit of great things, it is far worse that so many people neglect great things in the pursuit of pleasure. I'm more concerned with the latter.

Let me revise that: in most cases they aren't even pursuing pleasure, they're avoiding pain. That is dispicable.

Personally, I think that pursuing pleasure can be very noble and good. There is beauty in relaxation, in spending time with friends and family, and in developing your talents. Yes, absolutely, do the things you love. Work hard. Play hard. Live a life of action in the things you choose to do. Seek learning. Grow. Don't be afraid to admit your mistakes. Truly, honest-to-goodness, live your life!

Our beloved dictionary.com cites procrastination as avoiding doing something, usually out of habitual carelessness or laziness. While importance does not formally come into the definition, I would argue that when procrastination is used, it is overwhelmingly in the sense of not doing something that one needs to do, an important but un-fun task.

And I completely agree that seeking pleasure over progress is just as bad. Though for Chelsea's point, I think one needs to differentiate between pleasure and relaxation. The one is seeking for immediate gratification, the other being a means of renewing oneself.

I pose a question:

What if you don't feel a call to do any great thing? What if, in order to do something great, you would be pushing yourself through drudgery that holds absolutely no joy for you? Is that worth it? Would it then be better to do the little things, to have a list that you must cross items off of? Or should we avoid those altogether?