Goodreads Bookshelf
Procrastination Pros
Yesterday, I had one of my classes write in their journals about things that have bothered them in the last week. Today, I had them write about ways they procrastinate. Write about what you know, right? I decided to join them today, writing about two particular procrastination tools that often vie for my attention.
On the first day of the computer age, the computer was invented, and productivity rose to amazing new heights. On the second day, a bundle of games was installed and productivity settled right back down where it started.
Over the summer, while visiting a certain professor at my alma mater, he chanced to mention Spider Solitaire. I had never played this game before, but I became intrigued. The next thing I knew, August was over and I hadn't given a thought to school, but I had managed to get my winning percentage on Medium Difficulty up to around 50%. We take our victories where we can get them. Spider Solitaire's frustration--and, perhaps, its allure--comes chiefly from the fact that it is not always possible to win. Sometimes, no matter what you do, the cards just don't fall right. Can't be done.
Contrast this with my other virtual-card-solitaire experience, Freecell. The game is set up such that one can always win if only the right card-manipulation decisions are reached. Both Spider Solitaire and Freecell offer the opportunity to re-play the same game, but why after I've lost a game that I probably couldn't win anyway, why would I want to go through that again? Not so with Freecell... if I can just figure out where I went wrong....
Thus, on an intellectual level, I prefer Freecell. Nonetheless, Spider Solitaire keeps drawing me back. Perhaps the appeal is that Freecell is life as we wish it was, a game that can always be won by the sufficiently clever, while Spider Solitaire is life as it actually is, a game that sometimes proves impossible to win, regardless of how promising its start seemed, and despite your best effort or the application of your intellect. You may do better because of these things, but sometimes the game just beats you no matter how smart you are or how hard you work.
As you can see, the real procrastination isn't playing cards so much as it is justifying my play and over-analyzing it. Well, whatever works.
Incidentally, the writing assignment was to list 10 (or more) ways you procrastinate and then select one or more to write about at greater length. If any of you would like to steal the idea, feel free to write about it in your own blog (and leave me a comment so I and my readers can check it out) or just write about it in the comments here.