Lateness, genetics and college-application deadlines
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- January
- 16
Yesterday was the deadline for many college applications. So my eldest son was at his school until 10 p.m. last night finishing his applications. I know that because at 8 p.m. he called to ask for an example of his stubborness, something he needed for his college essay.
“An example of your stubborness? How about waiting until the last minute to finish you college applications, even though we told you to do it months ago,” I said.
“I can’t use that in this essay,” he said.
That leads me to the following question: Is procrastination genetic? I once had a tendency for lateness that led a friend to come up with the concept of Maniace time - a time zone that’s somewhere to the left of the Eastern zone. I think the final straw was when I arrived a half hour late to drive him to his wedding.Â
But procrastination had nothing to do with that. It was love. Before arriving at his house I gave my then-girlfriend some tips on driving my car, which she would need to get to the reception hall since I would be in a wedding-party limo. It was love. I treasured that gleeming, cream-colored 1972 Super Beetle.
Eventually my wife cured me of my procrastination (This may come as a surprise to my editors; not the part about my wife, but that I’ve been cured). While I could be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour late, my wife topped me by orders of magnitude. When it came to leaving on vacation trips, this meant we’ve been anywhere from three to six hours late. My reaction to her lateness was to reform; I’m now semi-punctual. That has allowed me to name a time zone after her.
Hence my original question: Is procrastination genetic? If so, my kids are going to be world champs. Â
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 8:40 am by Len Maniace.
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