Can You Pass This Difficult Spelling Quiz?

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The Right Way to Procrastinate, According to Productivity Experts

Just about everyone I know is a procrastinator on some level. Going by Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000-Hour Rule”, basically every college student is an expert procrastinator. But procrastination doesn’t mean putting off work forever and never doing it. For most people (even college students!), work that gets put off must eventually get done. From this perspective, the real masters of putting off work are those who still manage to get everything done and done well. Luckily, there are some simple productivity techniques that can make your procrastination work for you.

Accept that Procrastination Can Be Good For You

In our culture, we tend to vilify procrastination as the antithesis of productivity. When done correctly, however, procrastination can help you focus in on your goals, gain clarity on what’s important, and boost your creativity. Getting all the benefits you can out of your break time means actually learning how to procrastinate.

Procrastinating for Productivity

Effective procrastination is built around “active procrastination” or “productive procrastination” techniques. Strategies can include restructuring your tasks so that in putting off some work you actually get other valuable tasks done. You might also try pitting your task against your own boredom. (“You don’t have to write that email, but you can’t do anything else.”) Or you could default to certain helpful tasks, like organizing. In fact, active procrastination is often so productive that many people wouldn’t even call it procrastination. Here are some go-to strategies from success experts.

1Get Your Head Right

So often we dive into a project with little direction. Give yourself time before and during a project to step back, organize your thoughts or actions, and get clarity on what parts of the task are important. This doesn’t have to be terribly formal, either. It can be as simple as clearing the clutter on your desk for focus or clearing the clutter in your planner to decide what’s a priority. It can mean having a coffee and actively thinking about your approach to a problem or job. Whatever it is for you, do that thing that allows you to get your head on straight.

Sometimes it can feel like you’re juggling a million and one things at a time. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, it is worth separating all your tasks, correctly prioritising each one and then resuming action. Doing this can clear things up in your mind and leave you feeling less overwhelmed. —Jörgen Sundberg, Link Humans and Undercover Recruiter

2Embrace the Time Crunch

One of the reasons procrastination is appealing to people is that it creates the needed additional stress to push us to complete tasks or projects. The added pressure of limited time can help us focus and prioritize better. So, let yourself wait until (almost) the last moment.

I have tried many things in the past to get work done: to-do lists, diarying the stuff that I need to do, Pomodoro. However, the best thing I have found so far is the ‘Just in Time’ method of working. You know there is a task to do by a certain date. Two days before the date you spend all your time getting it done, depends on how big the task is of course.

For instance, I had a program where I needed to make 15 videos. I would normally do this over a span of 3-4 weeks. However, I spent 2 days, before the program went live, and completed the videos. This way you’ve got pressure, you’ve got a commitment, and you’ve got the added bonus of not overthinking things, you get out of your own way and just get it done. —Stephen Aitchison, Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life

3Procrastinate by Getting Your Foot in the Door

Having trouble getting to the gym or writing that blog post? Let yourself procrastinate or dwell on one small step of that process. If you need to head for a workout, allow yourself to spend some time prepping your gym bag (once it’s all ready you’re more likely to go). Need to get the blog post done? Spend some time getting your space right or simply crafting the thesis.

The hardest part of anything is starting, and 9 times out of 10 if I start I can carry myself through and get a lot done. That other one time, where I still can’t do anything? That’s when I know I should just go do something fun and try again later. —Sean Ogle, Location 180

4Make Sure You’re the Best Person for the Job

Procrastination allows you to pause and look critically at a project. Taking time to critically analyze what parts of the project are holding you back might help you understand whether or not you are the best person for the task.

Procrastination is a gift. It allows you an opportunity to assess if you are the right person to work on that task or strategy. Overcoming procrastination only takes 15 minutes. If you are really avoiding something you need to ask yourself: Is this something I MUST do?

If the answer is no, determine can you delete it or delegate it. If you can delete it that’s fabulous. If you can delegate it, who is the best person to outsource it to? —Neen James, Neenjames.com

Productive procrastination isn’t necessarily the best fit for everyone. Depending on your situation, you may have better luck nipping procrastination in the bud. There are literally as many approaches to managing procrastination as there are people, and no one is always right. So, it’s important to think critically about your work, goals, and priorities when planning for your productivity.

How do you manage procrastination? Are there any tips you would add?

Do You Remember Your Grade-School Grammar?

10 Interesting Facts About the English Language that You Didn’t Know

Guest Post by Rochelle Ceira

Did you know that enneacontakaienneagon is actually a word in the English language? (And you thought pronouncing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was difficult?). In fact, the meaning of the word is just as bizarre as the word itself: it’s a shape with ninety-nine sides.

 

Compared to other languages, English may seem simple, but that is probably because most people don’t realize it is full of crazy inventions, misinterpretations, mistakes, strange words, and needless words!

Let’s take a look at ten interesting facts about the English language:

1“I am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

2 A pangram sentence is one that contains every letter in the language.

For example, the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is a pangram.

3Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (*breath*) is NOT the longest word in English.

This extra long word (that approximately means “fantastic”) was popularized by the movie Mary Poppins and was eventually added to the dictionary. What you probably didn’t know is that there is a word that is longer—yes longer—than this one. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a type of lung disease caused by inhaling ash and dust. Go ahead and try pronouncing that!

4There are “ghost words” that mean nothing.

Believe it or not, there are some words that appeared in the dictionary because of printing errors. The nonexistent word “dord” appeared in the dictionary for eight years in the mid-20th century. It became known as a “ghost word.”

5The shortest, oldest, and most commonly used word is “I.”

Medieval manuscripts reveal that some of the oldest words in English are “I,” “we,” “two,” and “three.” This makes “I” one of the shortest and oldest words in the English language. It is also the most commonly used word in English conversations.

6A new word is added to the dictionary every two hours.

Between now and your next meal, a new word will be put into the dictionary. During the course of the year, almost 4,000 new words are added! So, the next time you try to catch the attention of the dissertation committee, try adding some new words to your project.

7There’s a name for words that we repeat often.

Words we always use even though they add no meaning or value to a sentence are called crutch words. For example, in the sentence “Then I was like, OMG, then like, he went there, and like…” it is pretty obvious that “like” is the crutch word. “Actually,” “honestly,” and “basically” are also commonly used as crutch words.

8Swims will be swims even when turned upside down.

Such words are called ambigrams.

9English is the language of the air.

This means that all pilots have to identify themselves and speak in English while flying, regardless of their origin.

10Girl used to mean small boy or girl.

The word “girl” was not initially used to refer to a specific gender. It used to mean “child” or “young person” regardless of the gender.

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Rochelle Ceira is a specialist in English, currently serving as an instructor at a private institute. She also works part-time with a team of dissertation experts at Dissertation Avenue. She’s an avid reader of Dan Brown and G.R.R Martin, and she loves to indulge in their novels whenever she has time.

Were These Words Invented by Shakespeare?

4 Fictional Families We Wish We Were Born Into

Our favorite authors create worlds, characters, and relationships that feel real to us. Here are four groups of siblings from literature we wish we were related to:

The March sisters in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March show us what true sisterhood is all about. They make up each other’s worlds, acting as playmates, enemies, counselors, and friends. Like many sisters, they could be arguing over a pair of shoes one minute and bonding over a family tragedy the next. I’d act out a play in the attic with the March sisters any day.

The Weasley siblings in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Percy, Charlie, and Bill weren’t always on the best terms (ahem, Percy’s stint in the Ministry of Magic), but in the end, they have each other’s backs. Rowling paints a noisy, cozy picture of the Weasley household in the Harry Potter series, with Fred and George teasing their siblings constantly and Mrs. Weasley riding the line between total exasperation and complete control. The Weasleys are wild, but in a fight against Voldemort, you couldn’t ask for anyone better on your team.

Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen In matters of the heart, Marianne and Elinor don’t always see eye to eye. In a way, their very different perspectives end up bringing them closer together. Marianne and Elinor’s relationship mirrors what many siblings go through as they grow up together: establishing an understanding of who your siblings are and respecting them, even if they’re very different from the way you want them to be. If I had to move to a cozy cottage in the country, I’d want the Dashwood sisters with me to add both sense and sensibility.

The Alden siblings in the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden know how to sniff out a mystery…and how to solve it, too. Adopted by their kind, wealthy grandfather, the Alden siblings are free to solve mysteries, have adventures, and generally explore the world to their hearts’ content. If you slid open the door of an abandoned boxcar and found these kids, it would be a pleasant surprise.

Who are your favorite siblings from literature? Let us know in the comments!

Typos: Should You Forgive or Forget?

Typos–we all hate them–but are some typos more unforgivable than others? That depends largely on what you are writing and for what audience. Below are several typo scenarios ranging from green light (no problem, speed on ahead) to yellow (caution) to red light (zero, and I do mean zero, typos allowed). A good general rule of thumb is the wider the audience and more formal the setting, the less “allowable” the typos.

First draft/stream of consciousness phase of creative writing: Few things shut down the creative impulse more quickly than trying to correct as you go. Writing and editing are two different processes so let those fingers fly when the muse comes calling. Backspacing to fix typographical errors puts the brakes on inspiration as your inner critic takes the wheel. Move in one direction–forward. Do give a quick glance back at the end of your creative spurt to add in words that your fingers skipped the first time but that may be essential to making sense of your work later. Then, set the work aside and come back after a day or so to refine and polish.

Text messages: We are all “all thumbs” when it comes to text messaging. Typos and odd auto-corrects are acceptable, particularly when the recipient is your BFF or SO. As long as the message’s core meaning–such as what time the movie starts or which dinner ingredients need to be picked up on the way home–is understandable, it’s all good. Even the most OCD of grammar mavens typically do not sweat a transposed letter pair or an absent apostrophe in such instant communications.

Message boards: Many of us frequent Internet message boards and frequently see typos. However, there are message boards, and then there are message boards. Making a few typos in a long-winded commentary to fellow racing fans about what Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Daytona 500 victory means for Junior Nation is understandable. However, what if you are a student in an online college course? You do not have to be perfect, but it is strongly encouraged that you practice professional communication skills when posting to a more “official” board. Now suppose you are on staff at the National Institutes of Health. You are answering a question that a member of the public has posted about N1H3 and you keep calling it N1H5. The reader will get confused, and you will lose credibility, at least on the board, as a public health authority.

Anything scheduled for publication: Any writing that you plan to publish should always be carefully reviewed, preferably by at least two proficient proofreaders. A company’s quarterly report, for instance, will likely be thoroughly read by shareholders. Any errors in wording, or worse, numbers, can cause shareholders to lose confidence in the company. Published fiction, whether it is an e-book or “dead tree” edition, should have zero typographical errors. Readers want to immerse themselves in your imaginary world. They find typos to be jarring. It disrupts their enjoyment by pulling their focus out of your story and to the mere mechanics of the written text.

Presentations: Perhaps the most glaring type of typo is the one that sneaks into a key bullet point on a slide show presentation. This is especially true if you are presenting a sales pitch to a potential client or you are an expert in your field trying to convince an audience to take your side on a particular issue. Such a typo not only distracts the audience from your message, but it tells your audience that you are sloppy and ill-prepared.

To sum up, weed out all typographical errors in your formal and set-to-publish manuscript with extreme prejudice. Know, however, that typos are accepted in the messy process of creativity as well as within instant, informal communication.