it's inherited!

Breakin' news out of my family room...

Okay, maybe not out of the family room, really.  Only kinda out of the family room but that is where I heard it first.

Breakin' news from the University of Colorado Boulder...

Okay, I don't actually know if it's breakin' news and even if it is, I didn't break the story first but...  well...  I'm tryin' to paint a picture with my words, here.  MOUSES!

Anywho...  I was walkin' past the family room last night after enjoyin' a mid-evenin' snack, when I happened to overhear the news broadcaster on CBC talkin' about the news that could be breakin'. My ears perked up immediately 'cause I just knew I needed to report upon this.  After listenin' to what needed listenin', I trotted into my office and told Ol' Peepers I would require the computer.  I had a blog post to write.

Apparently, some peeps over at the University of Colorado Boulder have written a paper on procrastination.  These peeps:  Daniel Gustavson, Akira Miyake, John Hewitt and Naomi Friedman, have found some sort of connection between the tendency to procrastinate and impulsive behaviour. Not only do they believe that perpetual procrastinators are impulsive but they also believe that that procrastination is genetic.  It's in our genes.  IT'S INHERITED.  MOUSES!

Interestin'...

My Peep #1 is definitely a perpetual procrastinator.  She's a PPP...  a Perpetually Procrastinatin' Peep.  This likely explains why I'm writin' today's blog post, today.  MOUSES!

That's right.  Like I said earlier, I told the peep that I needed the computer last night to write this post but Ol' Peepers was busy doin' somethin' silly and said, "Why don't you do it tomorrow?" MOUSES!

So here I am, writin' my blog post the mornin' it's due, due to Ol' Peepers' condition of bein' a PPP.   Again I say...   MOUSES!

Luckily for me, I did not inherit the peep's PPP.  First of all, I'm a cat.  Cats don't get PPP and, I believe you'll find that, there's no such thing as PPC.  Nope.  Never heard of that one, at all.

If there's a nip mouse that needs to be played with, I'm right on it.  If there's a snack that needs to be snacked upon, I'm there.  If there's a nap that needs takin', I'm nappin' in an instant.  No sirree...  no procrasitnatin' for me.  I'm a cat of action, I am.  Immediate action, for sure.

Now about this impulsiveness.   The peeps from the University of Colorado Boulder believe the two traits are linked.  Peeps who tend to procrastinate, tend to also be impulsive and make rash decisions.

This makes a lot of sense to me.  If you put everythin' off until the last minute, you kinda have to be impulsive if for no other reason than the fact that you've run out of time to really think things through. On the other paw, some might call this, decisiveness.  What exactly is the difference between an impulsive and rash decision and a decisive one?  Probably the end result.  MOUSES!

Peep #1 says she works well under pressure.  I think she thinks that makin' those impulsive and rash decisions works out for her.  Well, she has certainly had enough practise!

My question is, which came first?  Was it the chicken or was it the egg?  Or, in this case, the tendency to procrastinate or the workin' well under pressure bit?  I mean, if you put everythin' off for forever, you're gonna have to make some split-second decisions 'cause let's face it, you'll only have seconds to make 'em.

But what if you're a cat like me and you know you're capable of makin' those split-second decisions in the first place?  Then, it would seem perfectly reasonable to do the other stuff you wanna do, first, and put off makin' those other decisions until the last minute.  In the cat world, we call that time management.  

We must also take into account environmental factors.  For instance, as a cat livin' with a peep who has PPP, said peep's tendency to procrastinate may very well cause me to make impulsive and rash decisions.  It was all Peep #1's fault that I didn't get today's blog post written last night.  It was all because of Peep #1's PPP disorder that I am being forced to feverishly write my post this mornin', barely makin' my deadline.  Peep #1 may have inherited the gene to procrastinate but I, Nerissa the Cat, have somehow managed to inherit the peep!

This whole inherited procrastination subject is very confusin'.  I think the best thing for me to do will be to have a little snack before takin' a nap.  I'll figure out the procrastination stuff, tomorrow. MOUSES!