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31 Ways to Procrastinate
by Janet Attard
You did it. Maybe
you got carried away with the spirit of the holidays. Or perhaps it was
that extra glass of Zinfandel. Whatever it was, you vowed to your spouse
that you'd clean up your office, paint the spare room, or apologize to
your mother-in-law for putting that jar of wrinkle cream in her Christmas
stocking. But now, well, you just don't want to do it. How can you get out
of it? How can you put it off a little longer without looking like you're
trying to go back on your promise?
The answer is as close as your computer. Here are 31 sure-fire ways to use your computer to procrastinate your way out of almost any undesirable chore.
1. Clean your hard drive to make more space.
2. Clean out the Internet history and cookies folders in the windows directory. Do it one file at a time with an Internet connection open so you can see where each goes and make sure you don't delete any shortcuts you might want to use again.
3. Erase the passwords you stored in the logon preferences in your AOL software. Don't give up until you remember the password without calling customer support.
4. Clean out the windows directory temp file one file at a time. Open them all in notepad to be sure there's nothing you want to save.
5. Install a hard drive.
6. Install a printer and try to get it to print envelopes and labels correctly.
7. Install a network.
8. Help your best friend fix her word processing program so it will print envelopes and labels correctly just like you made yours do (after 10 hours of trial and error).
9. Call customer support (any big company) for help on any matter.
10. Try to untangle the phone cords for your computer, telephone and answering machine and fax and then make all devices work again.
11. Clean off your desk (so you can find the floppy disk you need).
12. Clean out your filing cabinets in preparation for cleaning off your desk.
13. Clean out your CD ROM and floppy disk storage drawers.
14. Look for the manual that came with your computer.
15. Call customer support to find out IF a manual came with your computer.
16. Get and read your email.
17. Read JesseBerst. Follow all the links in all the side stories... then try to find your way back to the first page.
18. Check your favorite message board.
19. Create a home page.
20. Make changes in your web site.
21. Call your grandfather and try to explain what a home page is. Get in the car and run over to his house for help after he tells you about his new business venture: designing web sites for business.
22. Search the web for anything that comes to mind.
23. Shop for airline tickets online.
24. Compare the features of the new computer you bought two weeks ago to the new, improved model touted in the computer catalog that arrived yesterday.
25. Try to find a single file on your backup tape.
26. Completely back up your 10 gigabyte hard drive - onto zip disks or floppy disks.
27. Clean out the gook that's accumulated between the keys on the keyboard.
28. Start working on the novel you always wanted to write.
29. Start working on that big project for work you've been putting off.
30. Set up Quicken or Quickbooks and add a year's worth of accounting data.
31. Read your email again. There's likely to be more mail.
About the author
Janet Attard is the founder of
the award-winning Business
Know-How small business web site and information resource. Janet is
also the author of The
Home Office And Small Business Answer Book and of Business
Know-How: An Operational Guide For Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses with
Limited Budgets. Follow Janet on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/JanetAttard.
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