Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing

3.6/5 ( ratings)

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 we’re 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 book—really, a tongue-in-cheek argument of ideas. Perry offers ingenious strategies, like the defensive to-do list and task triage. He discusses the double-edged relationship between the computer and procrastination—on the one hand, it allows the procrastinator to fire off a letter or paper at the last possible minute; on the other, it’s a dangerous time suck . Or what may be procrastination’s 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 doing—grading papers and evaluating dissertation ideas. How lucky for us.

Language: English

Pages: 112

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Workman

Release: September 13, 2012

ISBN 13: 9780761171676

The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing

3.6/5 ( ratings)

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 we’re 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 book—really, a tongue-in-cheek argument of ideas. Perry offers ingenious strategies, like the defensive to-do list and task triage. He discusses the double-edged relationship between the computer and procrastination—on the one hand, it allows the procrastinator to fire off a letter or paper at the last possible minute; on the other, it’s a dangerous time suck . Or what may be procrastination’s 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 doing—grading papers and evaluating dissertation ideas. How lucky for us.

Language: English

Pages: 112

Format: Hardcover

Publisher: Workman

Release: September 13, 2012

ISBN 13: 9780761171676

More books from John R. Perry

Captive in Iran

4.2/5 ( ratings)

A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Dialogue on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Don't Buy This Book Now!

3.4/5 ( ratings)

Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings

3.8/5 ( ratings)

Personal Identity

3.5/5 ( ratings)

Sport Psychology - A Complete Introduction

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The Complete Guide to Homeschooling

3.5/5 ( ratings)

The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Situations and Attitudes

3.5/5 ( ratings)

So That's in the Bible?

4.4/5 ( ratings)

The Who Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Themes from Kaplan

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Reference and Reflexivity

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Hold Ye Front Page: Hold Ye Front Page - 2000 Years of History on the Front Page of The Sun

4.3/5 ( ratings)

The Nature of Florida

4.3/5 ( ratings)

Nightmare Mom

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Belief Reports and the Structure of Believing

La nobile arte del cazzeggio: Un programma geniale per risolvere tutto rimandando all'infinito (Saggi)

The Encounter: Sometimes God Has to Intervene

Rate this book!

Write a review?