It’s amazing how many strategies exist for killing procrastination. Lifehacker has perhaps the best self-help compilation because they link to everything that helps you understand, combat or even make procrastination your friend. I haven’t gotten around to implementing the handy techniques though, mostly because I’m enjoying doing other things. OK, you can say that I’m procrastinating.

Another pawn of procrastinationOne thing I find missing from discussions of procrastination is how much fun it can be to procrastinate. Trust me, I hate how procrastination creates unnecessary worry, but I don’t hate it enough to change my behavior. If it weren’t for procrastination, I wouldn’t be as informed about current events; the latest Lindsay Lohan drama; or seriously funny movies about gay unicorns. Time and again, I’ll drift off task, make a playlist for my iPod, chat on gmail, doodle intricate scenes, and I will still get stuff done at the last minute. Talk about reinforcement of a behavior!

So I ask myself and anyone else who has fun procrastinating: why change what’s working?

The problem is that procrastination works to an extent for some things, like yard work or cleaning the garage, but it spells trouble for finances. I really wish I didn’t put off becoming financially responsible until later in life. When I think about the long road I have ahead of me for saving money for a house and start-up capital for a business, I puff up to let out a huge sigh; sometimes a grunt when I’m really ticked off. I could be having much more fun and leisure now if I took steps to face my financial picture sooner.

Now that I’m looking for a new job, my inclination is to put it off because the job search process is so damn discouraging. However, I’m going to take the lesson learned from avoiding financial responsibility. The longer I take looking for satisfying work; the more discouraged I’ll get; the less time I’ll have for building skills on a job I love doing; and the more time I’ll have to endure my current job I’m not enjoying.

With all the outlets at our disposal for procrastinating, it’s easier to turn our attention to more tempting pursuits than attending to a dreaded task. But the way I see how procrastination fits into finances, the lots of little fun (or expensive!) things you do to put things off (e.g., financial planing or budgeting) doesn’t really measure up to the enjoyment of being financially secure or having job satisfaction, which takes diligent work and dedication to attain.

In short, you can have bits of fun now, or work towards lots of fun later. I’m going to opt for working towards lots of fun later by stepping up to the challenge of making a career change, no matter how tedious the process can be. You can’t really call that plan procrastination. It’s best described as determination.