There is one type of opportunism, or lack thereof, I am very
familiar with. As a student in college,
I do not have to work 40 hour weeks, nor do I have class all day, every
day. Given these facts coupled with the availability
of a syllabus which outlines due dates in detail, in theory, I should have ample time during the
week to complete my assignments well before they are due, and save myself the
headache of a last minute rush to finish my work. Yet week after week, year
after year, hundreds of thousands of students find themselves pushing deadlines
and cramming before exams. In fact, I am suffering the consequences of this lack
of opportunism at this very moment. Even
though I have had multiple hours of free time every day this week, I have not
started this blog post until 8 pm on a Friday night. There are many things I would rather be doing
right now, including joining the rest of my apartment as they go into “fun mode”.
Procrastination is not limited to college students. People procrastinate in all manner of
ways. People put off dieting, even
though it may be critical to their health.
Some people put off paying bills, even though doing so will result in
financial penalties. It’s not always something unpleasant we put off
doing. It may be telling a friend you
will buy concert tickets again and again until finally the tickets are no
longer available and you don’t get to go, or you have to buy them at a much higher
cost. It may be seeing an incredible deal on a vacation package, yet we don’t
purchase it when we have the chance and sooner or later it’s gone. Another I can think of is how people avoid
going to the gym, even when they have the time and ability. This is ironic to me because going to the gym
is something I would do to avoid writing this blog post, or other
homework.
So why do people procrastinate? There are a variety of answers to this
question, most pointing to an avoidance of pain or fear on various levels. By procrastinating,
we don’t leave our comfort zone.
Ironically, eventually we all have to face the music. By avoiding our
fears, they simply grow larger until the deadline arrives and we are forced to
face whatever we have been avoiding doing. This would explain why an action
that some people avoid doing (working out), is something I do to avoid another action
(writing this blog). Going to the gym is
well within my comfort zone, I love working out. Blogging on the other hand, is not.
While I agree with this answer, I also feel there are other
reasons why we do not take action when we have the opportunity. I believe some people are simply lazy and
choose the action that provides immediate gratification. There are many times where I have chosen to
sit on the couch and watch TV rather than completing an easy assignment which
presents little to no challenge at all. A perfect example of this is the
surveys many professors conduct at the beginning of the semester, including in this
class. These are easy, require no actual
work, and take very little time, yet many students, including myself, don’t
complete these until they are in class the first day. In the
case of buying tickets to an event, we put it off even though we know the event
itself would be incredibly fun and have no concerns about the event. I don’t believe the “fear” rationale is
appropriate in these situations.
On a side note, several hours of my free time this week have
come while sitting at work on a computer.
I could have easily shifted my work responsibilities to someone else,
and worked on this blog post instead. I
chose to do my work and put off writing this post. Was this lack of opportunism or was the
driving factor my desire to act ethically? Even I am not quite sure.
There is a really great essay on procrastination called Later that I encourage you to read. It really gets at the issue and is quite fun to read as well. Procrastination gets even the best of us. (I procrastinated in uploading grades to the class site. I told a student I'd do it yesterday, but didn't get around to it till this morning.) And I appreciate your saying that blogging is not your favorite activity. My goal for you is that by the end of the semester while you probably won't love it, you won't mind it so much.
ReplyDeleteBut I wonder if part of the issue is conceptual on the topic, not on the writing, since you seem to convey your meaning quite well. In this case, I would not call procrastination opportunism. Cutting in line at a job fair while nobody is looking would be an example of opportunism. But then there is a harm created with others - the ones behind you in line. With procrastination, you are really only harming yourself. Procrastination is typically not considered responsible behavior. But not all irresponsible behavior is opportunism.
Since I know you are in accounting, you are probably familiar with the history of Enron. They had Andersen as their accounting firm. Did the accountants look the other way to keep the Enron business? If so, that would have been opportunism. And if so, it was only near term advantageous. Soon thereafter Andersen went out of business.
There is a corollary to Murphy's Law that I subscribe to:
Doing it the hard way is always easier.
It holds true in blogging, and in accounting, and in the rest of life too.
Its very interesting that you bring up Enron. I would say yes, they definitely looked the other way in order to keep the business. Enron and Arthur Andersen had developed a relationship that far exceeded the independence required by auditors, and had essentially become business partners (in the audit partner's mindset anyway).
ReplyDeleteIn regard to your wish that blogging becoming something I won't mind so much, I would definitely say that even over the course of 4 blog posts, I have noticed a difference in my approach. I would venture to say by the end of the semester my comfort zone will have expanded sufficiently to include activities such as this.