To Do: Write a To Do List

Almost everyone can say they have had at least one experience with procrastination . . . Just ask me or my fellow senioritis-victim classmates how far we are in our final projects. Even in the process of starting this post I already managed to check my e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook. The main reasons people delay the completion of their tasks is due to laziness and/or a lack of interest, time and motivation. Some people (especially journalists with approaching deadlines) may view procrastination as their worst enemy. Mr. Clark, however, views procrastination as a good thing when it comes to writing.

Mr. Clark believes writers “experience procrastination as a vice, not a virtue” as they should strive to view the delay not as “something destructive, but as something constructive, even necessary.” If you rename “procrastination” with “rehearsal” it automatically becomes a necessary aspect of any type of presentation, including written ones. Mr. Clark believes that successful authors “write stories in their heads” during their so called periods of procrastination. If you take advantage of the precious twenty minutes in the car or of the silence in a room while you pour some coffee, use the bathroom, or stare off into space, you could essentially write your story in your head. I know if I have an assignment to complete by the end of the night then I think about how to approach the assignment or what to include in it while I’m in the shower or brushing my teeth or even picking out tomorrow’s outfit.

Of course everyone knows that if a class of high school students is given a writing assignment due on the 14^th of May it is very likely that a majority of them will start their papers on the 12^th or 13^th. Mr. Clark says the alternative to a student staying up until 2 a.m. writing their paper is to “reframe periods of inaction into forms of rehearsal.” By writing your paper in your head before you go for the pen and pad, you can kill two birds with one stone: you still get to complete your need to procrastinate, and you still may be able to knock out the paper quick enough to get to bed at a decent hour.

Mr. Clark restates the importance of writing in your head:

“The writer must not write in order to write. To write quickly, you must write slowly. To write with your hands, you must write in your head.”

So the next time your teacher or parent accuses you of procrastinating, just simply inform them of your intense rehearsal session!