Don't squander procrastination time

When Benjamin Franklin spoke his famous words that you should "never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today," he had most likely never seen Princeton during Reading Period. This time when we have the most work seems, paradoxically perhaps, to be the time when we also procrastinate the most.

Procrastination, as defined by Webster, is "deferring action, delaying." Little did Mr. Webster know how many ways Princeton students can find to defer action and delay. Whether it's taking a nap to get a few extra hours of sleep, emailing all your friends from high school to tell them all about your life at Princeton or rearranging your sock drawer according to color, we can find just about anything to do to get out of doing our assigned work.

What I have found, however, is that procrastination lets you get a lot of stuff done that you wouldn't otherwise do. Or it at least makes these little, somewhat meaningless errands and activities more fun and interesting. If you think about it, wasting an hour on AOL Instant Messenger is a lot more fun if you're supposed to be writing a paper. If you had nothing else to do, that conversation might get a bit boring.

This fact became apparent to me at home during Winter Break. I wanted to write part of a paper while I was at home so I wouldn't have too much to do once I got back to campus. A friend of mine had some internship and r sum work to do. We decided to go to a caf to get some work done. We were sitting at a table together; I was writing away as she was researching internships. Two hours and a mere paragraph later, I realized that she and I had kept a conversation going the whole time.

Because we were supposed to be doing something else, our pretty much banal conversation had taken on a new level of interest. I realized that I didn't really need to be writing this paper and the time spent with my friend was of much better use. Had we tried to just sit at a caf for two hours talking, I'm not sure how successful we would have been. But with books and notes and pens in front of us, we got to spend some good time together without having to really "do" anything (other than "not doing" work).

This situation happens at Princeton all the time: two people in Firestone chatting for an hour by the computers, or a few friends doing group work while spending time talking at the student center. This time is important; it's when you really get to know the people at your university. Your paper might not be finished but you probably know one or two people a bit better. Your work is still there to be done; you're not gonna miss it. As we have all learned, the work always gets done when it comes down to it.

So during Reading Period and Finals this year, I'm going to try to remember that though I might not be doing work, what I'm doing while I procrastinate might be valuable. Ben Franklin did have a point, but if the work can be done tomorrow then why not do something else today? Unless the assignment is due the next day, does it really matter?

Or at least that's what I'll tell myself for a few days so that I won't have to do too much work. Besides, I think my sock drawer really does need some rearranging. John Lurz is a columnist from Baltimore, Md. He can be reached at johnlurz@princeton.edu.