Comparing Paul Graham's 'Good And Bad Procrastination'
Frank Reico
Professor Reich
English 101-27
5 March 2014
Good and Bad Procrastination
According to Paul Graham, in his article, “Good and Bad Procrastination,” he claims that it is impossible to avoid procrastination because there is always something you could be doing, “No matter what you work on, you’re not working on everything else” (86). Graham talks about three types of procrastination: (a) working on nothing, (b) working on something less important, and (c) working on something more important. He says that the last type is good procrastination. He goes on to describe type-c procrastination as being the “absent-minded professor” who, while thinking about some interesting question, forgets to look where he’s walking, or forgets to shave in the morning or even forgets to eat his breakfast. Graham states that “His mind is absent from the everyday world because it’s hard at work in another” (86). He also says that type-c procrastinators put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff. Graham describes small stuff as: shaving, doing laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank you notes, etc. Basically anything that could be classified as an errand. “Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work” (86). Graham also talks about why it pays to put off certain errands such as mowing the …show more content…
I am a huge procrastinator. I always wait until the last minute to do everything. I waited until the last minute to type up this paper. As I type this, my clock reads 11:02 PM and it is the night before this paper is due (yeah, this is how bad I procrastinate). However, all I am thinking about is soon I will finally be done with this paper, and I’ll never have to look at it again (at least until I have to revise it and type up the next
Professor Reich
English 101-27
5 March 2014
Good and Bad Procrastination
According to Paul Graham, in his article, “Good and Bad Procrastination,” he claims that it is impossible to avoid procrastination because there is always something you could be doing, “No matter what you work on, you’re not working on everything else” (86). Graham talks about three types of procrastination: (a) working on nothing, (b) working on something less important, and (c) working on something more important. He says that the last type is good procrastination. He goes on to describe type-c procrastination as being the “absent-minded professor” who, while thinking about some interesting question, forgets to look where he’s walking, or forgets to shave in the morning or even forgets to eat his breakfast. Graham states that “His mind is absent from the everyday world because it’s hard at work in another” (86). He also says that type-c procrastinators put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff. Graham describes small stuff as: shaving, doing laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank you notes, etc. Basically anything that could be classified as an errand. “Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work” (86). Graham also talks about why it pays to put off certain errands such as mowing the …show more content…
I am a huge procrastinator. I always wait until the last minute to do everything. I waited until the last minute to type up this paper. As I type this, my clock reads 11:02 PM and it is the night before this paper is due (yeah, this is how bad I procrastinate). However, all I am thinking about is soon I will finally be done with this paper, and I’ll never have to look at it again (at least until I have to revise it and type up the next