# We need a better word/term for this procrastination-like thing **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662 "2011-02-17T03:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/21 "2011-02-17T19:13:58Z")
There already is a word for it, sort of. [.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velleity) The lowest level of volition. You’ve got something that you want or need to be done, yet have no willingness to actually do it. One of my favorite words. I’m having a velleity right now about getting up from my desk and actually doing some work. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/22 "2011-02-17T20:15:47Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > But that’s exactly what it was NOT. I was not finding any excuse to put something off until later. “Looking for excuses” that implies a negative outlook and unwillingness to deal with the task and that unwillingness is completely absent in the scenario I’m trying to describe. Procrastination is not about whether you are willing to do something. Willingness doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you think you should be doing a task. Procrastination is avoiding something, plus rationalization. Rationalization is one way a person deals with a situation where his actions don’t live up to his self-perception (in order to avoid the negative feelings associated with failure.) When we procrastinate, we are not doing something that we think we should be doing. We don’t want to admit that we are too lazy to do something, so we come up with a story that explains why we didn’t do something that lives up to our self-perception as a person who isn’t lazy. That’s why it’s important that you think you should be doing something. Because if you don’t think you should be doing something, they you are not a failure if you don’t do it. There is no need to rationalize the failure, so there is no procrastination. I think of procrastination as the process of not doing something while avoiding the feeling of failure by lying to yourself about reality. To pretend you didn’t fail at cleaning the house, you had to rationalize why you didn’t clean the house when you should have cleaned the house. You told yourself that you were not doing it because you would have more time later. Congratulations! You didn’t clean the house and you are not a failure. But wait! Later comes along and you still don’t want to clean the house. What do you do now? Now you don’t have enough time to do a good job of cleaning, so you’ll do it tomorrow. Success! You’ve just avoided doing something the whole day that you should have done, and you’ve come up with a story that explains why you didn’t fail at doing such a simple task. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/23 "2011-02-17T20:31:50Z")
‘Ive got plenty of time’ is one of the classic stages of procrastination, as is ‘I want to do a really good job’. The whole point is there is no compelling argument not to begin doing it now with either of those statements, other than an unstated desire to delay actually starting on the task. Particularly given something like cleaning a house, where it can be broken up into smaller tasks quite easily. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/24 "2011-02-18T12:10:56Z")
> [@Deegeea](#): > > The more I think about it, the more I think that it’s very related to the thing that makes “For a Limited Time Only!” increase sales. > > It sounds like you’d (the OP) had been used to cleaning when you had a chance, because you didn’t have much time to do it. So rather than a habit (something you would’ve continued to do at the same rate whether employed or not), cleaning had become a “Limited Time Only!” opportunity to grab. When that no longer applied, your normal impetus to clean was gone, so you didn’t do it. Thats really interesting. Certainly in my first example, it was a time during which I was normally OVER-employed. In addition to our full-time day jobs, my housemate and I ran a company in the evenings and weekends. I know at one point he had to rely on a wash-'n-fold service for his laundry because one project was a doozy. Meanwhile my brief stint of “unemployment” was that I’d quit my day job and hadn’t found a replacement yet. You’re right though, the “For a Limited Time Only!” is probably related. The limited time produced a motivating urgency to acquire something scarce, in the scenario I’m thinking of, the procrastination seems to be similarly triggered: demotivation caused by excess. Like **Cellphone** ’s plentiful beer. > [@Swallowed My Cellphone](#): > > That made me laugh out loud. Clearly you don’t know the crayon-eater IRL (a crazy busy, schedule-juggling freakazoid). Pot calling kettle “freak”? 😉 In all fairness to **don’t ask** most people who see the word “unemployment” and “procrastination” in the same paragraph tend to jump to “lazy” pretty easily. He/she has no way of knowing my RL schedule. > [@Lakai](#): > > Procrastination is not about whether you are willing to do something. Willingness doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you think you should be doing a task. This is fair. Perhaps I’m trying to think of a term for a specific subset of procrastination. One that wouldn’t happen at all if not for a surplus of something positive. For example: 1. Problem needs solving 2. Small to normal amount of solution is available 3. Solution applied to problem, no procrastination Next: 1. Problem needs solving 2. Lots and lots and lots of solution is available by the ton 3. Solution NOT applied to problem The kind of procrastination I’m thinking of is directly influenced by this surplus of “solution”. IN regular doses, the procrastination would never happen. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/25 "2011-02-18T12:17:11Z")
“Lack of urgency” ? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/26 "2011-02-18T14:08:20Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > … The kind of procrastination I’m thinking of is directly influenced by this surplus of “solution”. IN regular doses, the procrastination would never happen. isn’t that simply procrastination? why do it today when it can be done tomorrow? if it can’t be done tomorrow then it’s just a failed task which you chose to drop. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662/27 "2011-02-18T14:17:19Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I’d go for lazy. > > You saw something that needed doing and adopted the principle, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow.” > > Lazy. Just do it. I immediately thought of “embracing the lazy” as in: * * * I could’ve cleaned my place at any time, but I was embracing the lazy and lounging in housepants amidst the disarray instead…\*\*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-a-better-word-term-for-this-procrastination-like-thing/571662.md?page=1)