Procrastination

I was procrastinating on writing my blog today when I read Cheryl Richardson’s newsletter on the topic of – yes, procrastination. She is so right when she says that dreading a job takes so much more energy than actually doing it. Read the article: it’s one of her best.

I wasn’t really procrastinating on my blog today – that was my idea for a clever lead-in. What I was really procrastinating on was helping my older son to get organized to take a few classes this fall. We both got into summer drifting mode, and then the whole thing started to seem so daunting. But this morning he and I got up at 6 and left for Denver at 7 and were at the Metro State advising office when it opened at 8. And then, well, it WAS daunting. The lines were long, and we kept on being in the wrong one, and by the end of our morning all we had accomplished was that he took the needed math/English assessment tests to find out where he placed for coursework and we made an appointment with a music department advisor for Thursday morning, which means getting up on Thursday and doing the whole thing over again.

Well, not the WHOLE thing. Even though today felt a little bit like one step forward and two steps back, it really was two steps forward: 1) taking the needed assessment tests; 2) scheduling the correct advising appointment. Maybe even three steps forward if you count finding out that he needed to take the assessment tests in the first place. Does it feel better than waking up every morning with a knot of guilt in my stomach? You bet it does.

Now I’m just procrastinating on reading a dissertation for a defense next week, and reviewing the five books I need to review for Children’s Literature, and making my syllabi for the three courses I’m teaching this fall.

Off to read dissertation chapter one!