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How to reconcile Procrastination and an Outrageous Retirement

Last year while I was still working, I started thinking about procrastination.  I realized that many times procrastination had saved me from doing tedious work and wasting many hours.  The result was a post here last summer.  Now that I am retired and actively pursuing an outrageous retirement lifestyle, I no longer have a boss to complicate my life.  I no longer have a corporate identity to embrace and glorify.  I am free at last to follow my own dreams and vision.  Or am I?  In my new life, is there any justification for embracing procrastination?  Inquiring minds want to know.

I just reviewed the post and revised it.  Maybe my thinking hasn’t changed but I did see some tweaks that improved the writing.  I still think that there is a case for embracing procrastination even in retirement.  Just because you fired your boss and became an independent contractor doesn’t mean that you need to actually do everything you put into your plan.

What do you think about procrastination?  Has it ever saved your bacon?  Sold you down the river?

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Hansi January 1, 2011, 7:28 am

    Ralph…I also think about procrastination, but tend to put-off any serious contemplation on the subject. That was bad, but couldn’t resist.

    Seriously. I feel procrastination is not a fault, but a process by which one is able to sorta wrap ones mind around (figure out)the solution to a problem.
    Case in point. I want to re-built one of my garden planters, a 4’x 12′ endeavor. Seemed like a lot of work, and that I’d be better off paying the unemployed guy across the street a hundred bucks to due it. But I put that off. Gradually I started to really look at this project, tried a few ideas, and Bingo! The project now seems do-able; even dealing with 2x10x12 foot pieces of lumber.

    Procrastination pays off. Can’t wait till it stops raining to start. I know I’ll be feelin’ good because of the accomplishment, and the wife will be happy that the garden’s been up-grade and that I got out of the house for a while.

  • Ralph@retirement lifestyle January 1, 2011, 9:55 am

    Hansi,
    I’m glad to hear that procrastination is working for you. The way the rain is going you will never have to actually do the work.
    Ralph@retirement lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..How to reconcile Procrastination and an Outrageous Retirement

  • Bill Birnbaum January 1, 2011, 5:29 pm

    Hi, Ralph… I watched your video about procrastination and I think that the point which you make is correct — procrastination may, at times, be a signal that the intended path is incorrect. Though, I think it’s more common that procrastination is used to avoid an unpleasant task. Yes, I speak from experience, for I certainly procrastinate from time to time.

    Seems to me also that some people are more comfortable procrastinating than are others. Some will, habitually, leave a task “for the last minute.” Others, myself included, will most often begin working on a task earlier. When those of us who are “early starters” procrastinate, we suffer emotionally — feelings of guilt, I suppose.

    Happy New Year, Bill
    Bill Birnbaum’s last Blog Post ..Overcoming Writer’s Block

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