This is what I do when I’m avoiding work. I need to make some progress on the yes requirements. I have a meeting tomorrow morning to discussj (actually, later today). It’s now 4am and for the last 2 hours or so I’ve been reading the U.S. Tax Code. Yup. Fascinating reading it is. Real page turner. I’m surprised no one’s made a movie of it yet.
What it’s called is procrastination. Here’s an interesting fact. Wikipedia defines procrastrination thus -

Procrastination is a type of behaviour which is characterised by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.

But here’s what Wiktionary says-

The act of postponing, delaying or putting off, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.

There’s are real dissonance here – am i coping with anxiety or just habitually lazy. I like the wikipedia definition more. In fact I like it so much I’m close to spending a couple of hours researching the basis for their ‘axiety coping mechanism’ proclamation.

All in all, I don’t just spend a lot of time procrastinating, I spend a lot of energy. I don’t procrastinate idly, (most of the time) I doing something else that would be productive at some other time. For me procrastination is making a thoughtfully prioritized list of tasks and then spending the next 8 hours doing something that isn’t on the list, but seems really interesting at the time. It’ll be a task that probably would be on the list if the list were 100 times as long (e.g. if I could prioritize all the tasks I’ll need to do in the next year or two, this task would definitely be there).

So I just finished my scan of the tax code. I now feel much more knowledgeable about taxes and a little more prepared for the tax strategy that I must eventually formulate and execute. And when I do that a month from now, I’m sure I’ll wish I could still remember the shit I read tonite.

– Bill