
How to Stop Time - e15ctr0n
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/opinion/sunday/how-to-stop-time.html
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tsunamifury
As I've matured and grown in my technology career, I've found procrastination
pays enormous dividends with only small drawbacks.

Procrastination pushes you to wait to do a task until you find the optimal
amount of time you know you need left, while doing it in the most relevant
environment.

For example, If I code or design something to early it is more likely that
research, marketing or product direction could have changed, causing a
percentage or all of my work to become moot.

However, If I wait to do my work until I know I have just enough time left, I
find my work is the most relevant and least likely to require changes of
substance due to shifts of other parties.

I whole heartedly advocate for procrastination due to this. Its a beneficial
decision making response that we should stop fighting.

~~~
hnriot
I need fewer developers with that attitude, I want people who can get stuff
done, but by their nature, put it off. There will always be those that
procrastinate in a team and there will, thankfully, always be those that just
get it down. The reason why your technique seems to work for you is more
likely because are picking up your slack.

I wholeheartedly advocate you getting off my team :)

~~~
ZoF
You have no idea of the context from which he is making that statement.

You have no idea of his technical competence or his efficacy with regard to
completing tasks and shipping products.

You have very little legitimate basis from which to extrapolate that he/she
would _ever_ want to be a member _your_ team in the first place.

Judging by the implicated narrative you seem to be espousing, I'm sure _I_
wouldn't want to be a part of your team.

Even disregarding the fact that you mistakenly omitted the word "others" your
haughty comment could not have been better phrased to portray a small-minded
project manager with little understanding or empathy for those that
_apparently_ work under you.

The assumption that any programmer commenting here is equivalent to a 'member
of your team' is little and less based in reality, and much and more based in
your own flawed interpretation of it.

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dgreensp
The quality of discussion about procrastination is shockingly low. Try telling
people you're reading a book on procrastination, and some joker will say, "Ha!
Ironic, right? Get it?" And everyone will chuckle good-naturedly at the
thought of someone procrastinating by reading a book on procrastination.

No one stops to examine why we should assume someone reading a book is
shirking their duties. Even watching a YouTube video is not inherently an act
of procrastination. If anything, our culture has an epidemic of people not
being able to relax without being filled with guilt and shame over their
momentary lack of productivity.

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nate_martin
Also a good read on the subject
[http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html](http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html)

~~~
busted
I'm bummed he had no advice for type-a procrastinators like myself

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skinnybatch
Simply not doing what one is specifically "tasked to do" does not necessarily
represent procrastination. It may be not be a direct route to one's specific
end; however, it's important to recognize that sometimes on the journey from
side to side, one learns, finds, or imagines a new way to move forward. The
internet simply provides new ways (which society moves to chastise and to
ascribe blame) to wander off the beaten path. I find that when my internet
clicking and surfing become as wayward as a three year old following a
butterfly in flight, usually I come away having learned something unexpected
or something I didn't know I wanted to know, in both cases, of value. Do I
think people spend/waste a lot of time watching random fart contests and
people acting the fool? Well sure. But, let's not throw the baby out with the
bathwater. The benefit of online "procrastination" in many cases is
significant.

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benmarks
Age and the accompanying experience have started to bring me introspection and
retrospection, and from these I've realized opportunities I've missed out on
because I didn't do something earlier that I could/should have.

------
lotsofmangos
_A recent infographic in The Economist revealed that in the 140 million hours
humanity spent watching “Gangnam Style” on YouTube two billion times, we could
have built at least four more (desperately needed) pyramids at Giza._

Perhaps the pyramids got built because the Egyptians were putting off
something more important.

