Creating a Comic

Procrasterbating is any activity that feels superficially productive, but is really just a temporary substitute for something more important.

Checking email and Facebook are probably the most widely indulged forms of procrasterbating. Come on, CJ, you just checked it, like, three minutes ago. Do you really need to check again?

Another common procrasterbation technique, for me at least, is when I check the RoadComics forums over and over to see if anyone has offered a fawning tribute to my latest nugget of wit. (Invariably, they have not.) You can substitute your own favorite board, social networking site, or blog—of course, I’d be honored to have you procrasterbate all over my blog, if you’re into that sort of thing. Just throw me a towel when you’re done.

Procrasterbation is a lot like treason: whether a given activity counts or not is largely a matter of timing. Sometimes I really need to work on new material, or write a blog post, and when that’s what I Need To Get Done then those are awesomely productive things for me to do. Other times—right now, for example—writing is my way of procrasterbating, because I really should be rehearsing my new bits, and rehearsing kinda sucks.¹

Twitter just might be the King Daddy Web 2.0 Procrasterbation Champion, as anyone who’s inadvertently lost half a day to their Twitter stream can attest. Hardcore Twitter-lovers (Twits? Twats?), I am not going to fight with you about this. Twittering about the merits of Twitter is such a hardcore procrasterbation circle-jerk that it makes a gay bathhouse look like church.

I first encountered the term in Tim Ferriss‘s entrepreneur manifesto The Four Hour Work Week; thanks, Tim! I can’t actually vouch for him as the word’s coiner, but I’m way too lazy to Google its etymology. Besides, I’ve got some important shit to do.

1. My rehearsing fills the same role as sex-ed: it doesn’t stimulate me or give a satisfying release, but helps me figure out what to do when the time comes. [↩]

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