num_pages: 112
description: This is not a book for Bill Gates. Or Hillary Clinton or Steven Spielberg. Clearly they have no trouble getting stuff done. For the great majority of us though what a comfort to discover that were not wastrels and slackers but doers . . . in our own way. It may sound counterintuitive but according to philosopher John Perry you can accomplish a lot by putting things off. He calls it structured procrastination:In 1995 while not working on some project I should have been working on I began to feel rotten about myself. But then I noticed something. On the whole I had a reputation as a person who got a lot done and made a reasonable contribution. . . . A paradox. Rather than getting to work on my important projects I began to think about this conundrum. I realized that I was what I call a structured procrastinator: a person who gets a lot done by not doing other things.Celebrating a nearly universal character flaw The Art of Procrastination is a wise charming compulsively readable bookreally a tongue-in-cheek argument of ideas. Perry offers ingenious strategies like the defensive to-do list (1. Learn Chinese . . .) and task triage. He discusses the double-edged relationship between the computer and procrastinationon the one hand it allows the procrastinator to fire off a letter or paper at the last possible minute; on the other its a dangerous time suck (Perry counters this by never surfing until hes already hungry for lunch). Or what may be procrastinations greatest gift: the chance to accomplish surprising wonderful things by not sticking to a rigid schedule. For example Perry wrote this book by avoiding the work he was supposed to be doinggrading papers and evaluating dissertation ideas. How lucky for us.
language: English
title: The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing
publisher: Workman