The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing

Perfectionism of the sort I am talking about is a matter of fantasy, not reality.

The fantasies of perfection are replaced by the fantasies of utter failure

I was what I call a structured procrastinator: a person who gets a lot done by not doing other things

Here is where technology can help. It doesn’t have to be something Steve Jobs came up with. The old-fashioned clock radio will do, as long as you can find a station

The toast is burning, the rain is pouring, and Dalton feels like she’s losing her lover—but she does have coffee to go with all of this misery. In spite of the morose message, the rhythm is completely infectious

Putting a song on your start-me-up list is not a judgment about which songs and groups are the best. Perhaps you think “Hey Jude” by the Beatles is clearly superior to their song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” The latter still might be a better choice for morning music.

And a happy song with an infectious beat can get us up and at ’em when we’re feeling down in the dumps, which can be all too often for procrastinators.

But something like “Hurt” is just what you are in the mood for when the blues hit. That’s why they call the blues the blues, I suppose. I get up feeling low. Two or three or four cups of coffee don’t get me going. Maybe music will help?

Whether the procrastination causes the depression or vice versa, I don’t know. Whichever comes first, they reinforce each other.

in the case of people like me with tin ears and little sense of rhythm,