The Wall …

After a couple of weeks of vacation, I’m back.  And something unheard of has happened:

For the first time in 5 years people can see my computer screen.  During my 3 years of PhD and for the first 6 months of this real job, my back was turned to a wall.

I was totally free to browse with only myself to blame and control.  How did I fare?   Well … not too well. Yes, I partly achieved my goals.  Yes, I learned lots on Wikipedia, TheOilDrum, Casaubon’s Book, The Financial Times, Avax Books, Youtube, Instructables, okcupid, plentyoffish, and a million other time-warping websites.  But I did not learn anything relevant for my work.

Today my colleagues can see my screen and I welcome this new era of peer pressure.  I’m thrilled to have more control and productivity seems to be on the rise!  How do I know?  The next post will explore how to diagnose SIP (Severe Internet Procrastinitis).  I’ll let you know which tools I use to measure time lost, useful time and improvement!

What procrastination is not

Procrastination may be many things …

But I don’t think it’s laziness. One can do a thousand things while procrastinating. One can even learn, create, read, interact and yes, agreed, loose sight of priorities. Even so, I can say that often procrastinators can achieve many things even if these were not in the original plan.

Procrastination … what it is.

WordNet defines it as:  “the act of procrastinating; putting off, delaying or deferring an action to a later time”.

Or you may prefer a witty video-definition (from Lev Yilmaz):

The etymology of “procrastinate” means very literally: “putting off until tomorrow“. (cras=tomorrow in latin).

In my case I became a devoted procrastineur around high school. …

Hello world!

This blog starts … well, Right Here, Right Now!

The blog will be an evolving roadmap to help me escape the procrastination of corporate life and eventually start my own company and realize my dreams.  Of course, you, my dear reader have already spotted the irony.  I am after all blog-crastinating.  I’m using this blog instead of getting the job done and starting a more productive enterprise.  But let me explain.  I think the upsides of the blog will out-weight the downsides because:

• It will help me visualize my goals.
• I will keep track of my failures and successes.
• My dear readers will encourage me to go ahead!
• Some readers will provide good advice.
• It may provide a useful road-map for others.

Whether I’m tying to convince myself or those are genuine benefits … well,