Procrastination – The Procrastination Pen

Sleeping With ASMR

This week I went for a while with next to no sleep. I just could not get my actual sleep mode to fit with when I needed to be asleep. I was tired when I needed to work. I was awake when I needed to sleep. (I watched quite a lot of television). My partner pointed to the fact that I am making one of the cardinal sins which is that I sit and read in bed before sleeping and a number of articles point out that the bed has to be for sleep only.

The one thing that did come out of it was that when I finally did manage to get a few hours how delicious it all was. So wonderful I could have been tempted to give thanks for every precious second of unconsciousness. My eighteen-year-old self would have looked upon that sentence with incredulity.

I think, of late, that the professional ASMR has been improving and the inadvertent ASMR not quite so much. This is a disappointment. But I always imagined that finding good material might eventually prove difficult. Even that which at first sight appears suitable, often, ultimately, is not quite so much – as we have found. However, the endeavour persists – we’ll see what we can find.

I must admit that I am now tiring of some of the approach (I’ve been doing this three years) and I am thinking that another shake up will be required soon. Possibly to start with moving away from a medical theme for a while might make a nice change. I’m off on holliers soon so I’ll see what happens when I come back with a fresh perspective.

This week’s Calm item is this:

Inspiration

https://www.calm.com/app/player/iViiLizTTt

Daily Jay

Soul Grow

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

Which is about becoming a more extraordinary version of yourself.

Whilst exploring this letter https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/kurt-vonnegut-xavier-letter_n_4964532

Bearing in mind that if you want to listen you also have to buy a subscription (which I imagine will put a few people off).

This week let’s look at a very different kind of professional ASMR video which is this one:

ASMR The Reincarnation Station 🔃 Choosing Your Next Life

It is from the channel Cosmo Whispers ASMR which, again, I cannot remember having been to before. It has 172k subscribers, six hundred and fifty one videos, eighteen playlists and it looks bizarre like it is an ASMR version of Sesame Street.

There are notes on the channel:

“Cosmo Whispers ASMR

Description

Hi! I’m Cosmo! Your friendly neighborhood pink fuzzy monster and this is my ASMR channel!

I make ASMR videos with a little purple goober named Jeremy, a video editor named Lennard, and my close friends to help you relax, have a good laugh, and fall asleep!

I hope you can find comfort and maybe even have a few laughs from my silly little channel.

Much love to you all! 🫶💖”

And of course, the video also has notes:

“21 Sept 2026 11 products

Remember to leave a LIKE!

Thanks for watching! 💖

And make sure to subscribe and hit the bell button so you are notified when I release a new video! ☺️

New to the world of ASMR? That’s okay, I was once too! Welcome! ☺️

What is ASMR?

“ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) or TINGLES are a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body that are triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.”

I remember my first time experiencing Tingles!

Watching a friend of mine read a book while listening to him flip the pages and lick his finger before doing so.

It made my head feel soooo fuzzy that I fell asleep right in the armchair I was sitting in.

My goal is to help recreate that feeling for some of you!

I also LOVE hearing other people’s first experiences with ASMR so drop me a comment or message!

Much love my friend! 🫶”

Which I have heavily edited because they were comprehensive to say the least.

The video is thirty minutes long. It starts with music and some sci-fi sounding noises. It is reasonably quiet and I had to run the sound up a bit for the review. I am not a fan of music in ASMR videos and I am certainly not keen on videos where the music forms an actual part of the video. Some people seem to find music and ASMR fit well together (a number of the sleep-orientated Calm tracks do this for example). I think it is a very unsound marriage and I think ASMR should be voice only. I very rarely get my wish. When the vocal track starts, a background hiss starts at the same time. That is not too distracting. However, it is comfortably masked by the music in any case.

The voice sounds like it is artificially slowed as if the person would prefer to be talking more quickly. However, after a very short while I soon got used to that. There is a strange background crackling noise as if the track was being played on a badly stored vinyl record. I’m not sure why this was done.

I thought the concept of the video a good one. The idea that you are met by an individual once you have died and are offered a series of choices. That sounds a lot more appealing than disappearing into a box with all consciousness snuffed out. I would say it is more a calming experience than actual ASMR as such and I am not convinced, personally, I would find it that conducive to sleep. I bet there are a large number of people think differently.

After a while I decided I liked the voice, either that or the voice settled down and got comfortable in its role. I hankered after a music free version of the same video – I do not see this option sadly.

Despite my reservations I did find myself nodding to this which must be a good sign. Why not review it for yourself.

I was thinking about blog feedback. I realised that the last (non-spam) feedback comment I had was from Aidan Blunt. A the time I remember thinking it is little moments like this that make the blogging process worthwhile. When someone reaches out from their lives to interact with mine over a small piece of work I completed some months ago.

Given that Hollie Berry was and remains once of my favourite voices since I started reviewing unintentional ASMR videos, it was a high point for me to rival being given permission to use one of Lindisfarne’s album covers back when I restarted blogging.

This appears a long time after I got the comment but I thought I would provide encouragement, to anyone that happens across this little blog, to feed back about what they have read.

The blog has been about ASMR since December 2022 (a bit of a mélange prior to that) and I have (nearly) consistently been focused on unintentional ASMR videos on YouTube. Firstly, because that is still where most of the videos seem to reside. Secondly WordPress offers me the rather nice option of embedding them in the blog post to illustrate a little of what the article is about.

The demand for unintentional ASMR videos seems to continue unabated and I have been keen to try to find as many as I can, assemble them into a great long playlist and then share the playlist so that others with similar tastes can listen to it of a night time. Particularly if they find themselves towards the insomniac side of restfulness.

Today I am back on message with a medical orientated video and one involving an examination so far so back where this all started

It is this one:

02 – Assessment of muscle tone after stroke

At just shy of twelve minutes it is a good length. It starts without startup music (God be praised) and is a lovely muted introduction – shades of delight creeping in already.

The notes state: “841,613 views 6 Sept 2017 STARs – Management of Tone & Spasticity After Stroke: A Role for Everyone

This resource is from the Stroke Training and Awareness Resources (STARs) website – http://www.stroketraining.org

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…”

Comments are permitted but thankfully so far the trolls appear to be on holiday. However, there are no ASMR orientated comments which is a surprise I would think that the ASMR fans would be all over this.

Not only is the medical professional excellent in terms of his voice for our purposes even the patient appears to have a great voice as well.

The medical professional is incredibly gentle – just the sort of approach that we look for in one of these videos and a number of commentators applaud him for this. The patient we find is Alan (possibly misspelled)

Given the title of this video starts 02 we can assume I think there is a 01 and quite possibly a 03 so it is worth determining if they are also worth reviewing.

The channel is Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and it turns out that our video is one of six contained in this playlist:

STARs – Management of Tone & Spasticity After Stroke: A Role For Everyone

With notes: “these resources are from the stroke training and awareness resources (stars) website – http://www.stroketraining.org

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike 4.0 International License.

Https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/”

It appears that we might have a gem into terms of video series so let’s take a look at the other 5.

01 – Reflexes After Stroke

This is short it’s only just over one and a half minutes. It is consistent with the first one reviewed in this article – which is a benefit of professionally produced videos.

It is there for moments and then is gone, but it is so relaxing I think it belongs in the Procrastination Pen playlist. In fact, I’d be prepared to guess that all six videos in the Management of Tone & Spasticity After Stroke playlist belong there.

03 – Muscle position and stretch

Just over three minutes so we are definitely at the short end of videos that we’ve included in the Procrastination Pen Playlist.

However, this remains an excellent quality video lacking extraneous noise or distractions which have haunted some of the material that we have reviewed (and consigned some of them to the Procrastination Pen Archive list).

04 – On and off bed

A bit over two and a half minutes so not huge in terms of length either. It remains consistent with the previous videos in this playlist.

05 – On and off chair

This is a little less than there and a quarter minutes and it is beautifully calm and quiet, if I have to be treated for a difficult condition this would be the way I would like it to happen.

06 – Walking and tone

Supportive, calm, relaxed, quiet, not only a medical professional but a tutor and caring person. This set of videos has been a thoroughly good set for us and all of them are going into the Procrastination Pen playlist.

The channel Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland has three hundred and fifty-seven videos and 41.8K subscribers which I’m sure you will agree is a few. There is every incentive therefore to come straying back here in the future in search of more excellent videos at this quality.

It is unusual to find a set of videos in a playlist where every video is suitable both for ASMR and for restfulness as a precursor to sleep but I think this set may well be they. I think we will be back here in due course to determine if Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland have any more material for us.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The Chest Heart and Stroke playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

I would think that on the days I come in from work so tired I’m amazed I made the journey that the night time would be punctuated only by snores. In practice the experience is a lot more staccato than that. Sometimes the effect is exactly as expected and I hit the pillow with eyes closed and rend the night time with loud snorts and squeakings. Not unusually though I can lie there reading into the early hours or just lie there…

For this reason, I started some years ago now looking into restful material to act as a distraction and discovered that I rather liked ASMR videos. I’m still reviewing them all this time later. Sometimes I spend my time listening to the Procrastination Pen playlist, sometimes to other material. But I reason that if I review ASMR material each week then at least the ASMR fans get some feedback. If I compile a playlist then at least the insomniacs have some distracting material. At least if I write something then the disgruntled have something to criticise which might even make them feel better. (I’m not adverse to a bit of criticising myself).

I did say I’d be on the lookout for material that was not on YouTube and that was advert free. In 2026 that is quite a big ask. It would seem that most people have worked out how to monetise and are squeezing that lemon till the pips gasp their last.

Occasionally I find people of a religious affiliation who produce material due to some spiritual conviction. I recognise though that some readers are not keen to hear from a Christian, Muslim or Buddhist.

Some people produce material on the assumption that if people listen to the free stuff, then they might pay handsomely for the other stuff they produce which is not free.

Some people seem morally disposed to share their message with others and are not hounding a pay cheque. I am grateful for all such people (and no doubt others who have reasons I have not listed here).

I have been listening off and on to a podcast over some months now which is produced in order to spread a message of happiness and not just that but backs it up with scientific findings. It is not hugely ASMRy but you might like the material as a different distraction (to the Procrastination Pen) playlist. It is “The Happiness Lab Podcast” with Dr. Laurie Santos. It often has some very surprising findings for example a recent episode that tells us winning the lottery is likely to be very bad for you: https://www.drlauriesantos.com/happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos-podcast/episodes/winning-lottery-ruin-life.

Having finished my non-YouTube material, let’s look at this week’s Calm material.

https://www.calm.com/app/player/wicRCqVcjB

Daily Jay

Gossip

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

I am reviewing whether I will continue with Calm, there are so many alternative offerings out there. It’s not likely to be an immediate change. However, do not be surprised if the Calm recommendations ultimately dry up.

I did find today that it is possible to share free links to Calm but the terms and conditions do seem to indicate it is designed for a Calm subscriber (me) to share with the odd friend. Not for them to take a free link and post it on their blog for everyone to use. It sounds like if I did that it might quickly invalidate my subscription. So, I am not going to try it.

This week for the professional ASMR artist I thought that I would try the medical offering from the channel that I reviewed only recently. You might remember that I tried Italian ASMR because I am trying, and failing, to learn Italian. I found that the video was not in Italian. So I failed to stick to the blog theme and failed in the purpose of the diversion.

The same artist I notice has this one:

ASMR Italian Nurse Checks On You 🇮🇹🩺 Medical Roleplay & Personal Attention

It is a bit of a fudge in that I have been trying to review videos which are older as these seem to fall out of favour on YouTube. Most people, seemingly wanting a proper bang with their bang up to date. This one, however, is very, very recent so I am, yet again, diverting from the target.

The channel of course is AppleWhispers ASMR, this has 5.33k subscribers from only eight videos which seems to me properly exceptional. This ASMR artist must have something to be getting that kind of loyalty already.

We’ve previously detailed the notes on the channel so I wont rehash things, however, as expected, there are notes associated with the video itself:

“42,323 views 28 Aug 2026 #asmr #sleep #relax

Your Italian nurse is here to check on you and make sure you’re doing okay. 🇮🇹🩺🤍

In today’s relaxing ASMR medical roleplay, I’ll gently check your condition, take your vital signs and give you plenty of close-up personal attention while you rest.

Just get comfortable and let me take care of you for a little while.

You’ll experience gentle medical checks, soft whispers, close-up attention, soothing hand movements and relaxing examination sounds, all designed to help you switch off, feel cared for and hopefully fall asleep. 🌙

Triggers include:

🩺 Medical examination

❤️ Vital signs check

👀 Close-up visual examination

🤍 Personal attention

👐 Gentle hand movements

💤 Whispering & relaxing medical sounds

I hope your Italian nurse can make you feel a little more relaxed tonight.

Now just rest… I’ll take care of everything. 🤍

—————————

🍎 Welcome to AppleWhispers ASMR!

Hi, I’m Elena! 🤍

I’m so happy you’re here.

My goal is to help you relax, unwind and fall asleep through gentle whispers, personal attention and immersive ASMR roleplays.

If you enjoy my videos, don’t forget to like, subscribe and turn on notifications so you won’t miss future uploads!

🌙 Sweet dreams!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🇮🇹 Looking for ASMR in Italian?

Visit my Italian channel:

/ @appletinglesasmr

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

💌 Business Inquiries

appletingles95@gmail.com

🎥 Personalized ASMR Videos

If you’d like to request a custom ASMR video, feel free to contact me via email.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

❤️ Support the Channel

If you’d like to support my work, you can leave a donation here:

https://www.paypal.me/AppleTingles

Every contribution helps me create more relaxing content for you. Thank you so much! 🤍

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

📱 Follow me

Italian ASMR : / @appletinglesasmr

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎧 For relaxation purposes only.

Please do not listen while driving or operating machinery.

#asmr #relax #sleep”

These are the normal (for a professional ASMR artist) level of ludicrously long. For a start who comes to YouTube to read the video notes. The majority of professional ASMR artists seem to double as ghost writers for a re-write of war and peace. Mostly I set about the notes with a hatchet in my blog or it would all get rather tiresome. (Perhaps it does anyway).

There are comments. Comments seem to be allowed by all the professional ASMR artists and, mostly, they seem to be describing how close to a deity the listeners feel the ASMR artist is. So here. Not the usual level of thousands of comments. However, a brief spin through those that there are indicates that AppleWhispersASMR is up there with JC and he who could move mountains.

The video is very slightly under twenty-seven minutes long and so an appreciable enough length in comparison to some that I have reviewed. It starts without music and we get the immediate impression that breathy is going to feature. The accent is enchanting and the level of the voice more or less perfect. This is not a whispered presentation. The enunciation reminds me of the French video I reviewed a little while ago. The clicks and clucks that professional ASMR artists produce (presumably because they act as a “trigger” for someone) here seem to occur naturally as a result of the way the words are pronounced. For those who like the odd mouth click this must be a very satisfying experience. For me I am about the voice, the normal spoken voice, and this is a great one. It is calm and well-paced. It is not loud and there are various pauses rather than the gabbling-on that some presenters seem to focus on.

There is the odd clothing related noise due to the artist being in motion quite a lot during the video. I did not find it distracting, but if you are using this for sleep there is absolutely no need to be watching it. The sound is good enough I find.

There are sounds which purport to be bed linens being moved (not excessively loud). There is the odd clunk (apparently of equipment being moved). In a similar way there is the odd click, rattling sound, fizzing sound, associated liquid noises, the occasional phrase in Italian thrown in for good measure. (I think I really need to review some of this artist’s Italian Language output – note to self). There are glove-related noises (not my favourite). There are sounds like hands being moved over a surface (these are off camera so who knows).

There is some whispered content (the normal refuge for a professional ASMR artist). There are sounds of gloved fingers being run through hair (I believe some people watch entire videos of that kind of thing but it happens only briefly here). There are noises like items being removed from a large paper bag (not incredibly loud, but loud enough).

There’s the odd tap from a reflex hammer being employed (quite quiet).

I did find myself nodding to it at intervals so I would imagine that a lot of listeners would find it an effective sleep aid.

Because I was recently reviewing some wood carving videos, of course I receive recommendations of more wood carving videos from the same artist. I am not given to review wood carving videos. I rather think I am supposed to be reviewing medical-themed videos. However, I noticed a playlist. I rather liked what I saw. So this week I am going to segue into wood carving (again) purely because I enjoyed the content I found on this channel previously.

The playlist is this one:

However, I am going to start with the first video rather than do the whole thing. We can come back on a future occasion and take a look at another one.

There are seventeen videos in this playlist and none of them seem to be particularly long, save the ultimate one. So, this will not take long. The playlist is “The Great Wave (making the woodblock print)” and the first video is:

The Great Wave – Part 1

Logically enough I suppose.

The channel, of course is David Bull, I detailed a great deal about this channel in a previous post so I will not go mad this time. Suffice to say that it has 192k subscribers, one hundred and forty-seven videos, seven playlists – not a one is on a medical theme (it may surprise you to understand).

If the quality is like that in my previous review, I can quite imagine that I will be back to review every single video here (if I am spared). The updates seemed to have slowed a little with the last video (to the channel) being posted eight months ago. I can review a lot faster than that, but then I am not slaving over something that takes quite so long to prepare.

The notes associated with the video are: “189,087 views 5 Jan 2015

This set of videos will document the production of the new reproduction of Hokusai’s ‘The Great Wave’ being made by Dave Bull and his Mokuhankan woodblock print workshop in Tokyo, in early 2015.

The print is being made as a ‘reward’ for backers of the Kickstarter project run in the autumn of 2014 by Mokuhankan to gather support for their new shop in Asakusa, Tokyo.

The print will be carved by Dave, proofed by him once the blocks are ready, and then produced by his printing staff.”

How marvellous to have notes that are not the equivalent length of one of my blog articles…

The video is just slightly over nine minutes and so is not going to waylay you for long. I like short videos. I do not like that between every video, YouTube inserts an inane advert of no relevance whatsoever to the quiet unobtrusive material that I was just watching.

I’m not certain if you have ever clicked on one of these things. I can remember I mistakenly clicked on an advert – it was for a revolutionary cooling system just at the time that it was thirty-two degrees outside. I was taken to a website but (fortunately for me) did not order anything. I found out a month later the whole thing was an utter scam and the product was incapable of doing what it purported to do. I am even more lairy of adverts today than I was before then.

Back to the video itself. It starts without music. There is a background hiss, it does not sound like air conditioning. It was a little loud when compared to the professional ASMR video I reviewed just before it. So I thumbed the volume down a little. Once at that level the hiss was muted and the voice sounded much better. The subject (to me) was interesting. The pace was slow; the voice seems calm. However, the video goes outside and it is really very loud. Lots of background voice noises (people chatting). It is not the quietest. At one stage you can hear a child screaming. It’s a shame, the video was well worth reviewing up to this stage.

Just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The David Bull playlist on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

This week some progress on the wearing of the hearing aid. I am resting my ear at intervals and so I wear the hearing aid perhaps three days per week. This lessens the pain in the ear canal but does not stop the itching from wearing it. That’s all distracting detail though. The main thing for our purposes is that despite the slightly metallic sound I get when wearing it the effects on my appreciation of ASMR seem to be non-existent. Perhaps the old brain is able to adapt to the sound changes but whatever it is, I now feel that I shall be able to go on reviewing ASMR material with no appreciable effects on my facility to like or dislike them.

Of late I have not been listening to ASMR material because I have had a segue onto material that I occasionally listen to instead. Historically I was listening to audiobook material on YouTube – I listened to Terry Pratchett, some science fiction and a great deal of Agatha Christie. However, quite by chance recently, I came across Paul Temple, a character who probably means very little to the majority of people under 70. The peak Paul Temple period seems to have been between 1954 and 1968 on the radio. Initially I came across some YouTube material, for example:

However, it turns out that YouTube is not the only source, for example:

https://www.radio-uk.co.uk/podcasts/the-adventures-of-paul-temple-old-time-radio

Definitely not ASMR but possibly a good night-time distraction nonetheless.

The Calm offering today is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/wicRCqVcjB

Daily Jay

Gossip

NARRATOR

Jay Shetty

I rather like Jay; I listen to him fairly frequently. I haven’t been able to build the meditation into a daily discipline yet however, even though this is a pay for service. (I do try to get my money’s worth out of pay-for services).

Today’s professional ASMR offering features two participants. I don’t get to feature such videos that often (I think they are comparatively rare).

ASMR Home Doctor Physical Exam with My Sister Alisa, Bilingual Medical RP

The comments lead me to believe that the whole sister thing is a complete red herring and there is one person playing two separate roles. That must have taken some clever video editing. I am in admiration of the sheer time people are prepared to dedicate to their videos.

The channel is Lizi ASMR, I am pretty sure I have not been to that channel before. So, a surprise for us all then. The channel has 780k subscribers, nine hundred and sixty-three videos, eighteen playlists so it is extremely popular. That does not tell me much; I have written a number of disappointed reviews of artists who have innumerate fans of feverish dedication.

The channel has notes:

“Lizi ASMR

Description

Hi there, and welcome to my channel! 🌟

I’m Lizi, and I’m so happy you’re here! I create ASMR videos to help you relax, de-stress, and enjoy those wonderful tingles.

If you love soft whispers, fun soft-spoken role-plays, and binaural sounds that feel right in your ears, you’ll feel right at home here. 🎧 Don’t forget your headphones—they make all the difference!

I post new videos every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, so there’s always something new to help you unwind. If you like what you see, hit Subscribe and tap the 🔔 so you never miss a video. I’d love for you to join our little ASMR community—a cozy and welcoming space!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Let’s relax and hang out together! 💖”

So, this seems to be an artist who focuses on the whispery approach (which is by far the most common approach for ASMR artists).

Today’s video also has notes:

“563,288 views 15 Oct 2021 #LiziASMR #ASMR #ASMRPhysicalExam

Shop Kenzzi here: https://kenzzi.com/products/kenzzi-ip…

Use code Lizi50 for 50$ off

Hello everyone! I wanted to do another ASMR video with Alisa, it’s a Physical exam with Alisa being extremely naughty. I know you guys like 360 sounds so I filmed this video in such a way that the second person off-screen will be moving around the room touching stuff, taking notes and etc. Alisa will give you an eye exam in the middle for a change. There are many unintentional sounds and some language triggers in addition to medical ones. I hope you enjoy it💖

If you enjoy Bilingual RP videos, check my playlist

~ • ASMR Relaxing Medical Examination by Russi…

TimeStamps

00:00 Kenzzi Promo

02:10 Physical Exam

14:17 Alisa Eye Exam

19:42 Physical Exam cont

My Upload Schedule: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday

**USE HEADPHONES FOR THE BEST EXPERIENCE**

For more ASMR videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/LiziASMR?su…”

Which, not unexpectedly, are of a reasonable length.

The video is a little over twenty-nine minutes and so of a respectable length in terms of videos that have been reviewed recently.

It starts with my least favourite thing in a YouTube video which is a product endorsement. So, on that basis, I reject this one and let’s move on.

Let’s try this one instead:

ASMR A ~*Completely Normal*~ Medical Exam

A rather unusual ASMR title, let’s hope that it bodes well.

it comes from the channel: Amy Kay ASMR this has 553k subscribers, five hundred and seventy three videos, thirteen playlists none of those are obviously medically themed.

The notes on the channel are:

“Amy Kay ASMR

Description

Brands & Sponsors: amykayasmr@runbyinfluencers.com

Other business matters (I don’t do customs): mkayamy@gmail.com

Instagram: AmyKayASMR (for random selfies and irl Amy Kay stuff)

Twitter: AmyKayASMR (for my unfiltered thoughts)

TikTok: @AmyKayASMR & @AmyKayASMRFast (this is just me goofing off)

Become a Patron to help fund all my props and costumes! 🙂

https://www.patreon.com/amykayasmr

Thank you to all my Patrons!

For those who want to support me but would rather not use Patreon, Throne is like an amazon wishlist but safer 🙂: https://throne.me/u/amykayasmr“

Which also incorporate a fair amount of promotion so crossed fingers it isn’t just a glorified advert.

The notes on the video are:

“153,923 views 5 Oct 2020

Wait a second, does she even know what she’s doing???

Thank you to CrinkleLuvin ASMR for agreeing to cameo in my video!! 🙂

Go say hi to her channel here:

/ channel

Twitter: @AmyKayASMR

Instagram: AmyKayASMR

TikTok: AmyKayASMR

For Patreon:

linktr.ee/amykayasmr

Become a Patron to help fund all my props and costumes! :)”

Comments are permitted and there are a lot of them. Most of them seem a tad off-the-wall which usually isn’t a good sign.

The video is a little over twenty three and a half minutes which is a reasonable length. The video does not start off at the whispery end of presentation so that is something of a result. In fact, I like the tone. There is no background noise but there is a slight border around the individual presenting so I suspect that this was filmed with the modern equivalent of a green screen i.e. that the backdrop does not exist. (I’m guessing you will not be spending a great deal of time watching in any case if you are using this to get some snooze time.

The presentation feels a bit stumbling at intervals which I think is because the video is aimed at demonstrating that the individual is a tad inept. Now the comments begin to make sense.

There are paper noises, sometimes these are a tad loud. There are tapping noises, fingers brushing over a surface, gloves-related noises (not my favourite). There are rustling noises coming from activity off camera (again, a fairly typical technique).

The gloves-related noises make up rather too much of this video for it to be a good one for my purposes and I was rather glad when they stopped.

The humorous presentation was fun but I was not certain that it added much ASMR-wise which is really my purpose in reviewing these things in the first place.

There are keyboard noises (rather loud and sounding completely random as if no typing was actually taking place (which I suspect that it wasn’t)). There are clicking noises, clunking noises, pencil scribbling noises, nail tapping noises (against all kinds of surfaces including a metal can). There are adhesive noises (a bacon-coloured sticking plaster for some reason).

So it wasn’t my favourite, but it was fun in a humorous kind of fashion, so why not listen for yourself.

This week I am breaking one of my rules simply because I cannot find the original source (If anyone reading can find the video this is from an can fill me in I will review that original video.

So, I have a video that someone has doctored but which seems taken from a genuine medical video. It is this one:

ASMR Loop: Physical Examination – Unintentional ASMR – 1 Hour

It is on a channel dedicated to ASMR so someone has edited this video, and also has looped it to create a video one hour long. I really dislike loop videos so I went in search of the original but did not find it. Instead I found the shorter version of this video put up by another ASMR-dedicated channel, which is this one:

*Real Person* Medical Examination | Best Unintentional ASMR

it is from Touro University Nevada who have a channel dedicated to university promotion (as you would expect) https://www.youtube.com/@TouroNevada there are one hundred and sixty six videos on here but I cannot see the one this footage is extracted from (I get the feeling that universities take down their older videos and then they become preserved only in the hands of ASMR fans).

I think the posting by ASMR fans is somewhat precarious. I have reviewed very good videos hosted on ASMR sites in the past all of which disappeared, sometimes taking the ASMR channel with them. I think some organisations are not keen on their videos being used in this way.

My advice: listen while you may.

There are comments. Some are trying to prove how much they know about ASMR, some trying to prove how clever they are altogether and some seem to be a tad strange. That sounds like YouTube video comments in microcosm.

The video is a little less than fourteen and a quarter minutes and it starts very loud indeed. The person’s voice can even be heard to echo in the room. There are loud rustling noises from the “drape” which I assume was made of some kind of paper. The medical professional’s voice calms down a lot when the examination starts and then just as it did, a loud and energetic advert kicked in.

There are clunking noises from the equipment used, some loud thunks, clicking noises, some rustling noises, noises from the medical professional being (almost constantly) in motion.

The presentation is calm and measured though and that is restful. Just like that though another loud and energetic advert, and the video is not even five minutes in yet.

There are deep breathing noises, clothing related noises and then yet another loud and energetic advert still not even eight minutes into the video. There are palpation noises, metallic noises from the table used to support the patient, noises from chair wheels rotating on a hard floor. Then another loud and energetic advert just over twelve minutes into the video. It ends without music (and thankfully without a further advert). However, this illustrates the issue I have written about for months now. Reasonable, but not excellent, video ruined by loud non-ASMR adverts (and so many of them). I have a suspicion that the vast increase in number of adverts is the result of channel owners trying to maximise their revenue. It spoils the listening experience.

So, I think the video makes for interesting listening (I can’t find the original to review so this is probably the best that you’re going to get.

Sadly, though I can’t recommend it for sleep as roughly every three minutes you will get an energetic advert.

Just one, video this time.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

Today I was dragging in a second-hand sliding patio door unit with a man some tiny fraction of my age. He seemed unfazed by the whole operation whereas I was reflecting, would I even be able to move it?

One of the consistent pieces of feedback I read about sleep is that the greater amount of exercise you can slot into your life, the much better will be the quality of that life and of the sleep that you manage to get.

I have the feeling that there are some bronzed performers who started life as the athletes picked in school and went on to win athletic medals at university and although they have (no doubt startling) careers, still find time to pound the track, lift incredible weights and consume vast quantities of protein shake.

I am not of that ilk. I never found it necessary until this moment, in fact, to do much that was more proactive than to dig the garden or walk in the countryside. However, I feel that a change is going to be needed and if I can find the wherewithal to make a go of it, I will document the relevant effects on sleep and if the claims made for exercise live up to the reality.

Meantime, I am going to resume examining ASMR. I am feeling a little more positive of late as I seem to have unearthed (and reviewed) some very good videos recently. However, some of that has been at the consequence of going a little off-piste in terms of subject matter. Let us see what this week brings.

The Calm track this week is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/f8udqt_eR8

Daily Trip

Oh, That’s What’s Happening!

NARRATOR

Jeff Warren

AUTHOR

Jeff Warren

Regular readers will no doubt already be aware that you cannot get to Calm content without first subscribing. No doubt this is the reason that they can get voices at the quality that they do. It is regrettable, but if you do not have a subscription, you will not be able to listen to this. So, moving swiftly on.

This week’s professional ASMR offering I only looked at because of the claims made in the title:

[ASMR] Medically Accurate Cranial Nerve Exam 🩺🔎 (whispering, glove sounds, personal attention, …)

Given the wide variety of cranial nerve exams that I have watched (and listened to) that is a somewhat bold claim. It comes to us from the channel

Lotta’s ASMR 32.1k subscribers, three hundred and ninety three videos, fifteen playlists of which this one is on theme for this blog:

There are notes which are charmingly brief for a professional ASMR artist:

“Lotta’s ASMR

Description

Hi there and welcome! My name is Lotta and I create ASMR videos for your relaxation! I hope you have a great day (or night)! I post new videos every Sunday 🙂

Links goodreadsgoodreads.com/user/show/163221862?ref=nav_profile_l

instagraminstagram.com/lottasmind”

The video itself has notes: “2,054,033 views 25 Jun 2023 #cranialnerveexam #personalattention #asmr

Hi everyone!

Do you want to learn more about what a REAL cranial nerve exam looks like?

As you might know, I am actually a med student. Well, lately we spoke about the cranial nerves and how to test each one of them. Funnily enough, the real ways in which a neurologist would check your cranial nerves is very similar to how ASMRtists often do it.

I know many ASMRtists probably take inspiration from the “real way to do it” but I didn’t expect it to be so SPOT ON.

Anyway, if you’d like to have a medically accurate cranial nerve exam plus some information on what the nerves actually are and do, you’ve come to the right video. This video would also be perfect if you’re an ASMRtist looking to create a cranial nerve exam role-play.

Triggers included are: whispering, personal attention (face touching, …), tapping, glove sounds, some tracing, …

I hope you like it, have a good night!

Enjoy! ❤️

What even is ASMR?

ASMR describes a feeling of pleasant goosebumps (this is also called tingles). You may it know from when someone scratched your scalp or your back. ASMR videos trigger this feeling using various different sounds and visuals.

ASMR can help people fall asleep. It also calms anxiety and can be used for both relaxation and focusing on a task.

#asmr #roleplay #cranialnerveexam #whispering #personalattention #doctorroleplay”

Which, sadly, are anything but brief. In fact I have doctored them a little as the length was way too excessive even for blog articles like this one.

Comments are allowed and there are a phenomenal number. Some of them are calling out the claim in the title. Unsurprisingly, I am not the first to be intrigued by that.

The video is a little less than thirty minutes. Not a bad length in terms of those we have listened to of late. I am a little concerned it lists glove-related noises as triggers, as this is most definitely not my preferred thing. However, let us venture forth and see what we may find.

The video starts with that finger flicking motion that a number of ASMR professionals do and which I’m pretty sure medical professionals do not. It is not my thing but at least the video did not start with music. I am also interested that the presentation starts out whispery. Not that I have anything against a whisper, I am just pretty nigh convinced that a medical professional does not whisper at you during an examination.

The tone is good; the pace is good. It has the odd breathy moment and of course, that finger flicking. Lotta reveals that she is currently still a medical student rather than a fully-fledged doctor so perhaps for that we should grant some latitude around cranial nerve exam claims.

There are nail clicking noises, glove related noises (oh dear), that mouth clicking/clucking noise that ASMR professionals tend to excel at. There are paper stroking noises and noises from manipulation of cardboard. There is a background noise at one point of someone having a conversation outside the room. Fortunately that is quite brief.

As ASMR, I think it stacks up well. I’m not quite so convinced about accuracy. However, for our purposes I would say that this is well worth reviewing yourself.

Those loyal people who keep reading this blog will, at this point no doubt be feeling a tad cheated as I do try to find a resource that is not on YouTube and that does (at least to some extent) deny the constant thirst for advertising revenue that seems to be everywhere on the Internet. This week I came across this in one of my emails:

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/podcasts/item/happiness_break_a_practice_in_moving_through_stress

Happiness Break: A Practice in Moving Through Stress

It will nag you to sign up for a newsletter but not painfully. There is no obvious download link but I found I could listen freely without signing up. Jonathan Relucio is the artist and he has a calm voice and I think this is well worth a listen.

The inadvertent video this week is this one:

Calculus explained through a story

It comes from a time when I was trying to explore videos outside of the medical theme that I have been following for greater than three years now and hence this one is not on theme for this blog. Dependent upon your perspective this is either a welcome distraction or a bloomin’ nuisance. Normal service will be resumed soonish.

It comes from the channel Tibees with 1.34m subscribers, three hundred and eighty seven videos, eighteen playlists with literally none of those on theme for this blog. This is going to mean that unless today’s video is marvellous, I am unlikely to pay a return visit.

There is the usual large number of notes on the channel:

“Tibees

Description

Hi, I’m Toby, on my channel you can expect to see videos about physics, math, astronomy and the history of science.

If you like my channel then please help me out by sharing one of my videos with a friend. You can also support me through Patreon or Ko-fi (links below). I really appreciate it 🙂

Please visit my website for FAQs and contact information https://tobyhendy.com/

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a |mathematical| day :)” Which, again. I have edited down a tad.

And a comparatively brief number of notes with the video itself:

“767,249 views 6 Oct 2018 #JoyOfMathematics

Here is a look at the essence of calculus through the story of Bob. We use differentiation to find the slope of a curved line and then use ‘integration’ to find the area of an irregular shape.

Special thanks to the owl and birds in my garden for making so much noise during filming. ” also reduced in size a little.

There are literally thousands of comments with the video and most of them are a tad surreal, or definitely odd. To be honest that does not bode well with ASMR fans generally offering up their firstborn to a preferred ASMR artist in my experience.

The video is a little less than fifteen minutes in length so this is not going to keep us that long.

It starts with music, regrettably and some outside noises as if this was filmed in a parkland or similar. When Toby starts speaking, thankfully, that music stops altogether (the wildlife noises persist however) and we find that Toby has a great voice. Toby appears to be female and that Toby is not whispering. By turns, gratifying, interesting, and gratifying again.

I would have preferred it without the wildlife but I would say that Toby has a good voice for our purposes and it is almost certain I will be back to the site again. Why not take a listen for yourself.

So just one video this week.

I wish you well in your drive to get more sleep.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Sleeping With ASMR

Of late I am becoming as good at procrastination as the title of the blog would lead you to suspect. I am not writing and yet, perversely, when I am writing I don’t find the process that unpleasant. So it is rather odd that I am choosing to avoid writing in this fashion.

However, apart from getting you a blog article this has nothing to do with ASMR (well as far as I am aware anyway).

Of late I have been falling asleep to Paul Temple who is a character that I came across quite by accident. There is a whole set of Paul Temple playlists on YouTube like this one:

and this follows on rather nicely I think from the Agatha Christie material that I used to dose off to:

There are even more of those, for example:

and in fact, as part of my material that is not on YouTube, I can choose one of those that is in the Internet Archive such as:

https://archive.org/details/ATTWN_AC_DS

https://archive.org/download/ATTWN_AC_DS/01%20-%20And%20Then%20There%20Were%20None.mp3

https://archive.org/download/ATTWN_AC_DS/02%20-%20Ten%20Little%20Soldier%20Boys.mp3

A bit of a cheat in that it has nothing to do with ASMR but as a mechanism of falling off to sleep, I do find that the occasional audiobook is a great way to ring the changes from ASMR every once in a while.

This week’s Calm offering is this one:

https://www.calm.com/app/player/D1jDKA6-QE

Daily Calm

The Place

NARRATOR

Tamara Levitt

AUTHOR

Tamara Levitt

This explores the tendency of grasping.

Calm is not free. I feel a tad guilty about suggesting something that isn’t free in that I am certain it will therefore appeal to very few people, so moving right along.

Today I decided I’d ring the changes in an entirely selfish fashion given that I have been trying to learn Italian for years without success and in my YouTube recommendations I found an Italian teacher who does ASMR. This is not at all medical. It is therefore not on theme for what I have been doing and I apologise for that. Normal service will be resumed soonish.

ASMR Your Italian Teacher Explains Italy Geography Lesson

It is a little less than twenty two minutes so somewhat shorter than some we have been used to. There are comments – a fair few of those and mostly positive too which bodes well. The channel is AppleWhispers ASMR. I am pretty certain I have not been here before; it has 4.15k subscribers, four videos, no playlists and there is even a medical themed video:

So, I may be returning to review that if nothing else. With only four videos over the course of very few blog articles I could review all that there are. Assuming the present one is impressive, at any rate.

There are notes with the channel (of course):

“AppleWhispers ASMR

Description

🌙 Welcome to AppleWhispers ASMR! Hi, I’m Elena! 🤍 I’ve been creating ASMR videos for over 6 years, helping people relax, unwind and fall asleep. I also run one of Italy’s largest ASMR channels, AppleTingles ASMR, and I finally decided to create a space for my English-speaking audience. Here you’ll find: ✨ Soft spoken & whispered ASMR 🩺 Medical roleplays 💆 Personal attention 😴 Sleep & relaxation videos 🎧 Tingly sounds and cozy atmospheres Thank you for being here. I hope my videos can bring you a little peace, wherever you are in the world. Whether you’re here to relax after a long day, reduce anxiety or simply fall asleep, I hope you’ll feel safe and welcome. Sweet dreams, Elena 🍎 🇮🇹 My Italian ASMR channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AppleTinglesASMR“

So that is interesting. This is just a sideline channel o the main feast as it were. I may be reviewing that other channel in future then.

The video (of course) also has notes:

“72,761 views 10 Aug 2026 #asmr #sleep #relax

Today we’re taking a relaxing journey across Italy, exploring the geography, history and fascinating facts that make my country so unique.

Many people know Italy for pizza, pasta and beautiful cities, but there’s so much more to discover.

In this ASMR geography lesson we’ll explore:

🇮🇹 Why Italy is actually a surprisingly young country

🏔️ How the Dolomites were once ancient coral reefs

🌋 Italy’s active volcanoes

🏛️ Vatican City and San Marino

🌊 Italy’s incredible geography

🏞️ Mountains, lakes and coastlines

…and many more fascinating facts!

So, sit back, relax, and let me guide you through one of the world’s most beautiful countries.

If you enjoy this video, let me know in the comments! I’d love to continue this series and explore more of Italy together. ❤️

🍎 Welcome to AppleWhispers ASMR!

Hi, I’m Elena! 🤍

I’m so happy you’re here.

My goal is to help you relax, unwind and fall asleep through gentle whispers, personal attention and immersive ASMR roleplays.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🎧 For relaxation purposes only.

Please do not listen while driving or operating machinery.”

I’ve truncated those a lot.

The warning is amusing, who knew that ASMR could be as powerful as a bottle of Night Nurse.

The video starts without music and surprisingly to me it is in English. OK, English teacher teaching Italian, makes sense.

Even for ASMR it seemed a bit slow to me. Despite that, the voice level is ideal, calm, quiet but not a whisper – quite a rare thing.

However, as far as the teaching Italian goes – no Italian. Some details about Italy but not the language as such. OK, serves me right, I should have stuck to the blog theme and stopped dithering about.

At least there aren’t any gloves-related noises in this one. There is the occasional stoke of the map (fingers on paper). But mainly this is all about the voice which is just the way I like it. After a while I found myself adapting to the slower pace and it became ever more restful as I kept listening.

I rather liked this one (as I am certain you understand from that review). Why not take a listen for yourself.

The inadvertent ASMR video this week comes from a time when I was doing the odd diversion from medical themed ASMR videos and so I had a listen to a woodblock carving video and I rather liked what I heard.

I sent myself a reminder to look it up again (Three years ago now) and so here I am with not one but two videos delivered to you in the form of a playlist:

The channel is David Bull with 192k subscribers, One hundred and forty seven videos, seven playlists of which (unsurprisingly) none at all are on a medical theme. I really am taking a foray to stage left this week.

The channel has notes “

“David Bull

Description

Tokyo-based woodblock printmaker David Bull has created a number of video presentations of his work, including a number of videos showing the complete process of making his prints. A highlight of the channel is the series of videos chronicling the production of prints in the Ukiyoe Heroes series – his collaboration with US-based illustrator Jed Henry.

A great deal of the work for producing these videos is recently being assisted by the Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/mokuhankan/   Thank you very much for your support!

Dave streams three times a week from our Twitch account: https://www.twitch.tv/japaneseprintmaking

Links

Mokuhankan workshopmokuhankan.com

Our Patreon pagepatreon.com/mokuhankan

Woodblock.com websitewoodblock.com

Twitch livestreamingtwitch.tv/japaneseprintmaking”

The first video is this one:

Japanese Woodblock Printmaking Workshop – Hakobi

It too has notes:

“50,125 views 27 May 2021 TOKYO

This is the first in a series of videos demonstrating various traditional techniques and tools in the Japanese mokuhanga woodblock printmaking industry and how we use them today here at Mokuhankan.

Today’s video is about the pigment brushes our printers use, known as ‘hakobi’ (運び) or ‘tokibo’ (解き棒). First Suga-san tells us a little bit about what hakobi are for and why she makes her own instead of only using store-bought ones, and then she demonstrates the whole process from start to finish. Finally, we have a slideshow at the end going over the tying steps again for you to follow while making your own.

We have a list of ideas and have started the process of making more of these – but please feel free to leave a comment about what techniques and tools you are interested in learning about so we can consider your ideas for future videos.

Narration and demonstrations: Natsuki Suga

Cinematography: Yasuhiro Aoyama and Cameron Hilker

Editing and Subtitling: Cameron Hilker

Hasegawa Typeface: Markku Mujunen (https://mokuhankan.com/fonts/ and http://markkumujunen.com/)

On Dave’s personal website, there is more information on making these tools:

http://woodblock.com/encyclopedia/ent…

http://woodblock.com/manga/hakobi/ind…

The Mokuhankan Twitch channel (where you can watch Dave use the tools shown here):

/ japaneseprintmaking

The Mokuhankan website:

https://mokuhankan.com

Our Patreon campaign:

/ mokuhankan “

There are a large number of comments and a number are positive. Some lead me to suspect that ASMR fans are already well aware of this one.

It is a little over fifteen and a half minutes so not huge but bear in mind this week we have two of them to listen to.

It starts with the weather and the weather is rather blustery. There is the sound of crows, of the wind, and the rain. We find that this video is actually in Japanese and is being subtitled. The person presenting has a good voice and the pace is excellent. I love the intonation of the Japanese language and given the subject matter I have some assurance that no rude words have snuck in (despite the fact I have no comprehension of the language personally and I am relying on the subtitles).

There are some random noises, which we’d expect given the subject matter is about woodblock printing not ASMR. There are water noises, paper-related noises, scissors cutting noises, a background noise which sounds like sanding (by hand). The end is a series of instructions with no voice; there is just some background noise, which sounds like cleaning activity to me. If anything, this section of the video is more restful than the rest.

The credits indicate that the narrator/presenter was Natsuki Suga and it may well be worthwhile keeping an eye open for further videos from this source.

The second video is a little alike the first, it is this one:

Japanese Woodblock Printmaking Workshop – A Printer’s Tools and Workspace

it too has notes: “64,382 views 21 Jul 2021 MOKUHANKAN (JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS AND MORE)

This is the second in our ever-growing series of videos demonstrating various traditional techniques and tools in the Japanese mokuhanga woodblock printmaking style and how we use them today here at Mokuhankan.

Today, Natsuki Suga gives us a tour of her printing bench and surrounding workspace. Watch to learn a bit more about each tool she uses in her daily work as a printmaker. We hope you will enjoy this overview and learn something along the way, as well.

Printmaker and Host: Natsuki Suga

Video and Photos: Cameron Hilker

Hasegawa Typeface: Markku Mujunen (https://mokuhankan.com/fonts/ and http://markkumujunen.com/)

To see Suga-san actually using this space, watch this video:

• Woodblock Printing Process – A Japan Journey

The Mokuhankan Twitch channel (where you can watch Dave use many of the tools shown here):

/ japaneseprintmaking

The Mokuhankan website:

https://mokuhankan.com

Our Patreon campaign:

/ mokuhankan “

It is little less than fourteen- and three-quarter minutes. The comments are still largely positive and again some of the comments lead me to suspect that ASMR fans have come visiting. It starts loud though, with the sound of a train and various city related noises. Again, we have Natsuki Suga as the presenter, same great voice, same peaceful style. If anything, less background noise. This time Natsuki is not on the floor. I did fear for the knees in that position but less fearful when sat at a desk. The subject in itself appears to me fascinating but of course we are here for the sound and I would say we are well served in that respect. I like the intonation; I like the pace. There is the overarching sense of peace about the entire presentation.

So, two whole videos this week and a playlist thrown in for fun.

I wish you well in your drive to get more sleep.

That’s it on this occasion, more next time.

See you again next week.

The David Bull playlist on The Procrastination Pen is here:

The overall playlist of videos covered so far on the Procrastination Pen is here:

The videos weeded out because over time they are just not as good as the others is in this archive list:

I keep this in case subscribers to the Procrastination Pen have personal favourites that they want to hear.

The playlist of videos requiring age verification is here:

I can’t be bothered to stop my listening to log on, this interrupts the experience. You may not mind this in which case this list is for you.

I hope that you find the playlists restful and I hope you get plenty of sleep.

If you liked this blog article, why not follow this blog.

Until next time.

Photo by Deep.ai

Turn Again

Sometimes the message is an unwelcome one; I re-encountered an album recently. An album

which is an old favourite. One of the tracks has an uncomfortable message that I am still not keen to hear.

(If you haven’t heard this album by the way then you are missing something; in my view the best album this group have produced).

I was reflecting that blogging (and indeed writing) is unrewarding today as there is no audience. It might be no coincidence that the rise in streaming media has coincided with a decline in the time that people spend with a book. (There is one pot of time, if I spend it on one thing I can’t spend it on something else).

Some people have an engaging writing style, and some people don’t. My experience is that the things I like to write about are not stimulating to the few remaining readers out there.

The popular approach seems to include changing my message to make it one that the potential reader may like to hear. Writing and marketing merging until they become synonymous terms. Is the purpose of writing simply to sell something?

For a long time I have avoided writing the blog. The content seemed to be the sort of stuff only my mother would have read. Given she wasn’t available any longer what would be the point in writing any more. Some of the old articles I wouldn’t write today anyway as my beliefs continue to change.

Missing, for me, are any opinions – any opinions that I cared about. However having spent a while reading the comments on Twitter and some of the more inflammatory newspaper web sites I am quite certain that I do not want feedback of that sort about anything I have to say.

However the song tells me “the things I should have said…” Once in a while an article affirms that writing is an act which is enough in itself. Some indicate that perseverance is sufficient even where no one reads it. Sometimes writing for yourself is just as valuable as writing for someone else.

It is also absolutely possible that some people might be reading the material but due to a lack of interaction will be invisible. In the end perhaps just writing, for no good reason, is actually enough.

I can of course mute out the people who disagree with my childish opinions and maybe that is the best thing to do if it allows me to keep going.

Anything that will permit what is left of my imagination to flow.

The song nags: “…dreams lay unrevealed ‘til they were rotten”. (I always imagined it was dreams lie unreleased till they were rotten…).

It is better to do something than avoid doing anything because no one is paying attention.

If you liked this article why not follow this blog

The Art of Procrastination

With a blog entitled “The Procrastination Pen” I suppose it is reasonable to expect that at some stage there would be something on procrastination.

To be honest the naming was something that came to light after several days of brain stretching. It was only fixed after I discovered that all my other great name ideas were already taken.

(This is fairly familiar, see my discoveries about the use of the term “Wreck of the Week”).

It was all going swimmingly until Amazon launched a product which is actually called a “Procrastination Pen”. This consigns my little blog to low down in the Google search results.

Anyway enough of this – suffice to say that the title “Procrastination Pen” was in the search for a unique blog title rather than some manifesto of intent.

However it is not a title without aptness. Throughout my life I have struggled with procrastination. At times I would rather clean the toilet than embark on the task that I regard as the most important. During revision for the various exams I have undertaken in my life I have dusted, hoovered and tended the garden to avoid picking up a single book.

And so it was with great embrace that I greeted the book that is the subject of this post.

If like me you have symptoms of procrastination in your life I recommend that you buy this before any other book on the subject.

Bookfinder

My copy is now very precious to me.

John turns out to have been a lifelong procrastinator of the advanced order. This puts him in a uniquely sympathetic position to other sufferers. He is the most positive person I have encountered when it comes to the treatment of procrastination.

If you want a flavour for the author’s style then visit his website here.

He raises the idea of akrasia (apparently originally from Aristotle). This describes why people will do anything other than the thing they are supposed to be doing.

He proposes that procrastinators far from being inefficient wastrels actually get a great deal of work done. However they get that work done whilst avoiding some other task.

Perversely they may be seen to be very hard-working and efficient as a result.

The major outcome of which is that being a procrastinator is quite positive and nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of.

Although he is perhaps the first to propose the term “structured procrastination” to cover this behaviour the first to write about it apparently was Robert Benchley in the Chicago Tribune in 1930. The article “How to Get Things Done” is now the subject of a blog posting.

Structured Procrastination

The benefits of structured procrastination (as opposed I suppose to doing absolutely nothing) is that it is feasible to get procrastination to work in your favour. A great deal of work can be accomplished whilst avoiding the task you really do not want to engage with.

The issue is that mentally (or physically if we can bring ourselves to be that organised) we have a list of tasks which we must accomplish.

Habitually a procrastinator will have the most important task glaring him or her in the face. He or she is quite prepared to exercise his or her self in the performance of tasks lower down that list to avoid that most important task.

The wrong thing to do when you have this mindset is to address the task directly. Worse still is to attempt to minimise the distracting tasks to focus fully on the main one. If you succeed then the only way to avoid the main task is to do something which is not constructive – watch the television, cut your toenails, pick your nose and so on.

One approach is to try to find another yet more important task and to mentally (or physically if it helps) add this task to the top of the list. Now you will be spending all of your efforts to avoid that task. Your previous most important task is now second on the list and is likely to receive attention to avoid the new most important task.

Alternatively, if no likely task presents itself, promote one of the less important tasks to be the most important one.

This means you have to fool yourself that this task is more important. As John points out we fool ourselves all the time anyway in the pursuit of procrastination so we’re already experts at this.

Perfectionist Moi?

Procrastinators are fantasists, unable to complete the task perfectly but nonetheless imagining that they are able to do so.

Finding themselves unable to complete a task to this imagined standard of perfection means the task does not get done.

That is unless the task has a deadline, in which case as the deadline passes guilt kicks in. The procrastinator attains a mad scramble to complete the task. In the process he or she gives his or herself permission to do a less than perfect job.

John states that we would be better using a task triage in this situation. Decide which tasks you can forget altogether, which you can forget until later, and which to start work on.

In the process decide whether a half-arsed job is sufficient or if a perfect job really is needed.

Lists

Surely the bane of any procrastinator and the subject of way too much time-management reading I’ve performed over the years.

Procrastinators keep lists – either mentally or, for the more disciplined, physically.

The lists are pretty pointless. The only reason they are created is to get the buzz from crossing things off the list. Hence the list grows with items that did not need to be on the list simply for the feedback of all those ticks.

Where lists do come into their own is when the procrastinator is faced with a task that he or she cannot face. Something so daunting that nominating some other task as the most important will surely fail.

Here the task needs salami slicing. Each component of the task listed out so that the procrastinator can approach it piecemeal.

The safest time to make such a list is just before sleep – that way you’re less inclined to be distracted.

Music

Motivational music is well worth having.

Personally I think that you can’t go far wrong with this:

You will have your own preferences.

Distractions

These are bread and butter for the procrastinator, email and web surfing for example. Avoiding these is not realistic. Set something that will interrupt you. At least you will stop emailing/surfing the web (or alternative distraction of choice) and do some work before the sun sets.

Desktop

A lot of procrastinators work by spreading papers across the desk. Do not resist this if it is you.

Putting papers into filing cabinets is an almost certain way of never dealing with those papers again. If you are not bound by a clear desk policy feel free to leave the papers exactly where they are when you stop working. That way you can instantly pick up where you left off.

Non-Procrastinators

Procrastinators drive such people mad. Non-Procrastinators are useful to have around. They will insist that you work in a non-procrastinating way. This can be very motivational (if hard on any relationship that you have with them).

Obsessively productive people may choose to do the tasks for you. Make sure that you contribute equally if so.

Positives

A surprisingly large number of tasks don’t need doing at all. By not working on them you gain time that non-procrastinators lose.

Some tasks find better qualified people to work on them and they also disappear from your mental (or physical) to do list.

There are many ways to spend time and many opinions about the best way to spend time. Spending time daydreaming may in the long run be more productive than writing that essay.

Procrastinators may ultimately find better ways to enjoy life.

Unpleasant News

Whilst John is positive throughout about the impact of procrastinators he does reference some material which is likely to bite a bit harder.

Procrastination: Ten Things to Know. (Read this if you’re a procrastinator in a really upbeat mood or a non-procrastinator who needs validation).

For those determined to beat their procrastination into submission John recommends this book:

Bookfinder

However as John concludes, procrastination is not the problem. You will only attempt drastic action against procrastination if you are unhappy.

It would be far better to work on the unhappiness rather than the procrastination.

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