I realise that for people who have not been following (the ASMR theme on) this blog since the beginning might find this to be nonsense. For such people, a bit of background. With each blog article I review a video (mostly videos located on YouTube) for its ability to either produce ASMR symptoms or to be restful enough to aid in sleep. At the end of which the video either gets added to The Procrastination Pen playlist or it does not. The assumption is that ASMR aficionados will just go straight to the playlist and listen, but some of you may like to read the material before doing that.
For an idea of where this all began take a look at the initial ASMR blog post which will give you an idea.
I think we are on more solid ground today as this one is back firmly in the medical exam area.
The channel is Ryann McCarty and sadly for us is not going to be a rich resource of ASMR material. In fact, there is one playlist of music videos entitled Rye and the video that we are featuring today entitled:
Ryann McCarty Student Nurse health assessment performance
So this is all you get today I’m afraid – look at it as an appetiser – keeping you keen to see yet more. (Yes, that didn’t sound that accurate to me either). Posted in 2017 and nothing posted on this channel subsequently. (The music playlist was last updated in 2020). Hopefully Ryann is out there doing more important things with her life. The sleeve badge seems to be for Suny Downstate College of Nursing, only sometime subsequently they’ve had a rebrand.
Ryann announces herself at the beginning so we’re pretty certain this is the Ryann we’re talking about. Initially her voice is a bit loud but once the examination starts it begins to settle down (although I don’t think she will ever be a Hollie Berry).
At intervals, (despite the constant air conditioning sounds in the background) I found myself quite calmed by it.
At one stage the person behind the camera starts laughing which is a little disconcerting. (It is easy to forget that there will always be a third person in each of these one-to-one encounters due to the presence of the camera).
I also liked the comment about cold hands – one feature of using alcohol-based hand sanitiser is that your hands get properly freezing – although in other videos I have featured in the past the medical professional does warn the patient about the incoming iceberg.
The notes state “Week 6 lab- Final health assessment performance”. I’m not sure how the education process works but if Ryann achieved this level of proficiency after merely 6 weeks of education then I am impressed.
In all quite a charming short piece at twenty minutes and fourteen seconds. Worthy of adding to the Procrastination Pen playlist I think.
The overall playlist of all videos featured so far in this blog is here:
Here I’m being completely unfair – I stick with the medical theme for ages and then change tack without warning.
What can I say? This was a YouTube suggestion I watched and I liked. That said it is outside the normal progress of ASMR blog items and so is a bit of a wildcard. I’ve included it because some readers may well like it.
David has a reasonable ASMR voice not quite Dr James Gill, but still pretty good for ASMR. The video is not subdivided into sections and so it is to be hoped YouTube will not intrude with one of their noisier adverts.
There is a great write up in the notes about what was involved and the aim of the video – this is somewhat more than we have been used to of late – some of the videos reviewed recently having nothing in the way of notes (and sometimes just one sentence).
It is interesting to hear how much of a noise problem there is where David is trying to work. The sort of thing that makes me fear city breaks. That kind of outside noise would be enough to keep me awake for days.
I’m also in admiration that he can get up at 3am and still function. At that hour I would be an incommunicative zombie.
David obviously has a great deal more patience than I have.
After the intro there is no speech, so it’s an unusual one for me as I prefer people talking quietly. Think of this as a treat for people who get ASMR from brushing sounds, paper sounds, scrubbing sounds and so on.
There is a certain magic in watching the image emerge, a privilege I would not normally have as I’d be listening to the video rather than watching it.
As such I think this one is going to need special treatment as it does not really belong in the existing playlist. It’s more an ASMR item blogged for other people rather than myself.
At nearly one and one quarter hours this is a bit of a mammoth and probably stands on it’s own. However I am in the habit now of reviewing the channel on which it is found for any other ASMR-related content.
David Bull is the channel also the name of the person doing the carving.
I make it one hundred and thirty five videos at the current time, which is rather too many for a blog item. Given this is a diversion from the main subject I had better strongly limit this for fear of rebuke and shock-horror loss of reading public.
Sadly I can’t find a playlist (provided by David) that includes this one.
The playlists available include:
I think not to test your patience too much, I’m going to focus on the last one as it contains only four videos (however I fully intend to return to David’s channel in the future).
Creation of the Fox Moon woodblock print
Ukiyoe Heroes (11) : Fox Moon – preparation for carving
This video starts with David again, as we have established, he has quite a good voice. The printer though is not at all good in terms of ASMR.
This, unlike the previous one, is narrated and so is much more in keeping with our normal ASMR video.
Ukiyoe Heroes (12) : Fox Moon – carving the key block
David has a cold so less talking sadly. The carving is fascinating but of course usually I would not be watching it. There is persistent background noise – possibly air conditioning.
There is also a guest appearance from David’s neighbour.
The speed of the carving activity is quite extraordinary.
Ukiyoe Heroes (13) : Fox Moon – carving the colour blocks
This consists of initial impression taking. That is in which the key block is covered with black pigment and a test print taken. This is lovely to watch but for us that isn’t really the point. There is a radio or similar playing in the background at intervals.
This is quite chilled and quiet, much better with the narration – well until the hammering starts anyway.
Ukiyoe Heroes (14) : Fox Moon – proof printing
This is the more fun stage in terms of visuals in that you start to see the images building up. There is some kind of background fan type noise happening. It is again very calm and if it was on theme would probably be top of the pops. However carving wasn’t really what I was trying to achieve.
I think the way to manage this is to create a David Bull playlist and not to add these ones to the overall playlist.
The David Bull playlist is here:
The overall playlist (which this time does not include the items featured in this blog post, but does include those from previous blog posts) is here:
If you liked this blog item why not subscribe to this blog
In a previous blog post I mentioned that Dr James Gill was sufficiently prolific in the world of medical exams that it would be inevitable we would return to his own channel at some point in this blog.
I’m not sure if it is built into the YouTube algorithm but every time I look for a medical exam video Dr James Gill will occur at least once on that list. He is obviously dedicated.
This is one I chose for today’s blog:
Respiratory Examination Master Class
But this is one of a great many
Examining the YouTube channel Dr James Gill we find approximately one hundred and sixty nine videos as at todays date. The longest blog item I ever did was twenty three and I feel that was far too long.
In time honoured tradition (for this blog anyway), I will refine this number down using one of Dr James Gill’s own playlists.
As luck would have it we have been on the subject of cranial nerve exams recently – and I find that he has a playlist for this here:
Ten videos all incorporating Dr Gills calming voice (I have the feeling he must have cultured that over a long period of training).
How to Examine Cranial Nerve I – Olfactory Nerve – Clinical Skills – Dr Gill
A funky intro tune (which I could do without) and the constant accompaniment of air conditioning as background noise. These are all things we are used to after the blog item on Warwick Medical School.
However the voice of Dr Gill makes this seem unimportant. Lovely and quiet and calm. He seems consistent in this respect, I have only occasionally found a video of his in which this is not the case. This is one in which he seems quite young. However it was posted only two years ago, which probably shows how old I am.
As one of the commentators relates – we’re not here for the education but we’re getting one anyway.
How To Perform Optic Nerve Examination – Cranial Nerve II Examination OSCE – Dr Gill
Dr Gill is if anything even quieter here. Intra-video volume is a problem. If you’re playing my playlist regularly you may notice that you have one video at optimum volume for sleep and you can’t hear the next one. Worse still the next one kicks in like Trumpet Voluntary and blasts you from a nice relaxing dose.
I may soon be weeding the existing list to reflect only the highest quality, so some high-volume ones may get archived.
The biggest issue with these videos I find is because they have breaks in the track, YouTube introduces adverts into those spaces. Sometimes these are quite jarring adverts that are not toned to the content of the video or the time of day.
How to Find Your Blind Spot – Clinical Skills – 4K
This appears to be out of order. It refers to a cranial nerve exam yet to come which is in fact the video above in this playlist.
I love the comparison of the cranial nerve with a wiring point for the eye. It’s this kind of thing which must really help students to comprehend what is going on.
I also managed to map my own blind spot which is a piece of fun (I’m unlikely to be paid for doing this).
Cranial Nerves III, IV & VI Explained – What do they do and how to examine them – Dr James Gill
Entitled “Ultimate Guide to…” and just less than six and a half minutes. Quite astounding he could cram it in so effectively. Again with the air con but I think the vocal volume is better here. In all of these videos the best ASMR is definitely during the brief exam part of the video.
Cranial Nerve V: The Trigeminal Nerve – Your Ultimate Guide To Cranial Nerve Examination – Dr Gill
Again, the exam part of the video is best in ASMR terms.
Cranial Nerve VII – The Facial Nerve – Ultimate Guide to Cranial Nerve Examination
A very odd background noise at the start like a light metallic sound, almost as if the sound was vibrating through a duct or similar. This settles down as he gets into the motor neuron part of the video.
The video actually explains some of the behaviour we have seen in other cranial nerve exam videos.
Cranial Nerve VIII – The Vestibulocochlear Nerve – Ultimate Guide to Cranial Nerve Examination
Age related hearing loss strikes home, I am certainly starting to lose mine. Which presumably, eventually, will ultimately impact on any ASMR.
Dr Gill seems to repeat himself in this video, when discussing hearing loss due to old age, that can be distracting. I’ll keep this in the playlist but it might be one that is subject to future weeding.
Glossopharyngeal & Vagus Nerve Explained – Guide to Cranial Nerves IX and X – Dr Gill
So much quieter at the start and so much easier to relax to as a result.
Cranial Nerve XI & XII – Accessory and Hypoglossal Nerve – Ultimate Guide – Dr Gill
This again at the start lacks the air conditioning noise – ah peace.
Another segue in terms of video subject this one is osteopathy. The voice is not as restful as in some previous videos – nonetheless I find this one relaxing. (However this is no Dr Gill).
PE: Neurologic Exam – OSCE Prep – 2022
The notes indicate this was filmed at the University of North Texas Health Science Center Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNTHSC – TCOM).
This has a YouTube channel TCOM Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, but it does not include this one.
Here OSCE is Objective Structured Clinical Examination.
The intro tells us that it was filmed in 2022 which is positively up to date in terms of the ASMR videos I’ve covered so far. Neither the “patient” nor the medical professional are introduced so I’m none the wiser.
As the exam continues the medical professional’s voice gets a lot quieter and that is a lot better ASMR-wise. This is a playlist candidate.
Again it is worthwhile checking out the resulting channel to see if there are any gems hiding in there.
The channel is Osteopathic Clinical Skills, and contains about ninety-two videos as at today’s date which again is far too many for any single blog item (perhaps we’ll venture back here at some future date).
Fortunately, Osteopathic Clinical Skills has been kind enough to supply a playlist containing the featured video, which is here:
There are only seven videos in here (which is a more manageable number).
We’ve covered the above one, the remaining six are:
Common Palpatory Landmarks for Physical Examination and Osteopathic Structural Examination
It starts a bit loud for me, obviously the presenter is in education mode rather than examination mode. (Well for most people performing an examination they are quite a bit quieter).
Unfortunately this style continues with the rest of the video making it unsuitable for our ASMR purposes. For this reason this video isn’t going to be in the playlist.
I think that these are probably great instruction videos – this one has fourteen thousand five hundred subscribers for example. But it really isn’t any good for ASMR.
Pelvis & Sacrum Palpatory Landmarks for Physical Examination and Osteopathic Structural Exam
As before, a no-doubt great instruction video but it doesn’t make the playlist.
So no Osteopathic Clinical Skills Playlist (only one video made the grade).
The overall playlist for videos covered so far in this blog is here:
I hope you find it relaxing.
If you like this article why not follow this blog.
This is on Channel ASMR Exams which as the channel name suggests the video has been edited to enhance the ASMR effect.
However, it was obvious that the video originated in a medical school somewhere.
The comments however give it all away: “I’ve solved the mystery of these two. After some intense digging, I found that her name is Jan Victoria Scott, and he’s an impulsive improv actor named J. Chachula (first name near impossible to find). Dare I dig deeper? Okay. I have discovered “J” to be his nickname, his real name is “Julian Chachula Jr.” He owns/directs/teacher an improv group known as “The Flying Machine Theatre Studio“, and he (alike Vicki Scott) is from Raleigh, North Carolina, or areas nearby it. His parents are Cuban immigrants, and he is okay with Spanish. Victoria Scott just finished teaching her last class at Duke University in Summer 2017, and she’s going to move onto either retirement or other things. She lives in (more specifically) South Shore, and she’s a heavy supporter of “Conquer Paralysis Now“. She graduated with a Bachelor of Health Science degree in 1981, and earned the Master of Health Sciences degree in 1991. She taught this education program for 20 years.”
That is very helpful, this should mean that the original is going to be available via Duke University.
However a search on YouTube reveals that there is no such video (perhaps it was taken down a very long time ago). So for our purposes we are stuck with professional ASMR channels who have retained the video. In essence this is a cheat, however it looks like there are no alternatives.
The video has a title page Duke Health The Complete Physical Exam. Duke Health still has a YouTube channel. This has three-hundred-and-sixty-eight videos at the date I checked them but this one isn’t one of them.
Returning to the video – Vicki has a very good voice for our purposes and there is a good interaction between Vicki and “Mr Allen” (probably misspelled). At in excess of forty-five minutes this is a long exam and a long video for ASMR however it might be a good length if you’re really struggling to get to sleep and the dreaded YouTube adverts keep kicking in and snapping you back awake every time you finally get to doze.
I notice Vicki uses “it looks symmetric” which must be grammatical but I would have said “looks symmetrical”.
She also uses the term “stop breathing” and “breathe” whereas I would have expected “hold your breath”. “Stop breathing” if feasible being a lot more final in its effects. I’ve seen this phrase used before in other examination videos (no doubt some that will feature on this blog) so I have no doubt it is correct despite my misgivings.
There is some humour here so it is nicely relaxed (which you may have noticed is not true of a number of the student videos where some participants look like they are on the way to the gallows).
For those (like me) who had no idea about an otoscope, it’s a device used for examining the ears.
I think Vicki Scott may have a voice on a par with the quality of Hollie Berry and that is fighting talk ASMR-wise. It is definitely worthy of inclusion in the playlist – it makes some of the existing ones in the playlist seem a bit lacklustre by comparison (perhaps it is soon time for some judicious weeding).
Inguinal nodes – another mystery term – these are lymph nodes which can be felt in the groin area in healthy people.
The video gives credit to the participants including Physician Assistant Vicki Scott, MHS, PS-C and Mr Allen J Chachula with copyright set at 2003 so twenty years ago. This gives credence to the comment above about the participants (together with some of the information found elsewhere on the Internet).
Some of the comments seem a bit nasty. This is a tiresome attribute of a number of videos I’ve looked at recently – be nice people. It is best probably to ignore comments if it is just to get to sleep. Some videos I notice hide all comments and judging by this are none the worse for it.
The videos I can find for Vicki include the above one.
This one:
Duke PA Program Complete Physical Exam PART ONE
Which is on channel Natural Massage. This is just a bit longer than twenty-five minutes which is a more usual length for edited ASMR videos (well those not involving looping in any case). It has the same title as the previous one but starts with an introduction that we did not see before. In essence it is substantially the same but including some parts missing from the previous video. Therefore, many of the prior comments remain valid. Despite the repetition I think I can include it in the playlist although it may suffer a future weeding effort as that list starts to get more unwieldy.
This one
ASMR Duke PA exam part 2 for night time
Which is effectively a black and white version. The channel is ASMR Clips. The content of course will be familiar it’s just a black and white version. It is just over twenty minutes long so if anything a better length than the previous two. However I’m debating the relevance of it given we have two previously which surely must be enough for the ASMR material we need. At the moment therefore I am not going to add this one to the playlist. Let me know if you disagree and I’ll add it in there.
This one
ASMR Duke PA exam part 1 for night time
Which is also in black and white and on the same channel as the above video. This one is twenty five minutes and by now I am really, really familiar with this material. There is nothing new here that I can perceive so this one will not be in the playlist either.
As you can see these are not even found on one channel and one set are simply black and white variants of the earlier (colour) videos.
Still it is helpful to know that there is some background to the video even if the originating organisation no longer host it.
In fact there are sufficient number of channels hosting this video that it must be something of an ASMR legend.
The next item in the ASMR sleep series is a little more complicated. Now that I have been following ASMR-related videos for a while it has become obvious that some ASMR publishing people are trying to game the system.
From the number of follows, comments, views, and so-on I am not the only person who is searching for ASMR content. There appears to be a subset of people who are interested in videos where the person produces ASMR effects by mistake. Examples include speeches made where the person has a gentle voice; a lecture where the lecturer’s tone happens to be the correct one to set off ASMR in some of the listeners; interviews where the participants have very calm voices.
Some professional ASMR artists, (and indeed amateur ASMR artists) are now making videos deliberately but claiming they were produced entirely coincidentally. There is obviously a money angle – the more adherents you have – the more advertising-related revenue you can captivate. So the temptation is there, frankly, to cheat.
Some titles will say something like “by a genuine person” (as if there were non-genuine people wandering around). Sometimes there are “medical examination” videos, with a couple of suspiciously attractive young people in the video who don’t appear to know a great deal about medicine.
In this climate I am a little unsure about this series. They are great videos for ASMR which purport to be part of a medical education series.
Patient Examination Series- Dr Hollie Berry
Given I am suspicious I took a look on DuckDuckGo (other search engines exist) and it turns out there is no Dr Hollie Berry other than as part of this video series (or other people discussing this video series). No LinkedIn account, no medical papers, no references or citations – and no college sites linking to the videos.
So far Aidan Blunt appears to be the only source and he (assuming it is a he) is obviously aware that Dr Berry has this affect in some listeners as he has produced some videos edited in order to enhance the ASMR effect.
Here:
Cranial Nerves Examination ASMR Loop
I have a dislike of ASMR loop videos. There will be (say) a medical exam which is about ten minutes and to make it an hour it will play (or parts of it will play) over and again. It might be that I am just dosing when a part I’ve heard before comes winging back. This is one of those. So I will not be adding it to the playlist.
And here:
Cardiac Examination ASMR Edit
This one edited in order to enhance its ASMR effect. Again I won’t add this one to the playlist, however some people reading may find this kind of thing right up their street perhaps.
And here:
Abdominal Examination ASMR Edit
Also edited for its ASMR effect and therefore, as before, not included in the playlist.
And here:
Upper Limb Neuro Examination ASMR Edit
As before.
However Aidan also produces some more dedicated medical videos so for the purposes of this blog item I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.
I found this series originally through a posting on Reddit
Which leads to this video:
Cranial Nerve Examination
Which leads me to suspect that the filming was done at Manchester Medical School and the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. However I am currently not able to find any similar video content other than that put out by Aidan.
This video has the smell of the genuine article and is a sensible seven and a half minutes in length which seems to fit with a reasonable length medical examination video found elsewhere.
Aidan Blunt – this is the channel where the Hollie Berry videos are all found. There are thirty four videos here and so too many to feature in any one blog item.
However I started with a Hollie Berry video and so I will concentrate on the videos from this channel that feature Hollie Berry.
Apart from the compilation, ASMR edit and ASMR loop videos (all of which I know to be doctored and therefore will discount) there are these:
Abdominal Examination
This is a sensible length at five minutes thirteen seconds.
Cardiovascular Examination
This one is five minutes six seconds.
I think Hollie may have my favourite ASMR voice of the videos I have covered so far.
Diabetic Foot Examination
Three minutes twenty five seconds in length.
A repeating theme in these is that the “patient” appears either petrified or completely distracted. I’m not sure what they could have said to them to get them in this state. Hollie seems the ideal medical person – professional and relaxing. But for the people in these videos it does not appear to be working.
Lymph Gland Examination
Three minutes fourteen seconds in length. And given the comments I’d say a number of people find Hollie’s voice to be relaxing.
Respiratory Examination
Five minutes thirty four seconds in length. The more I listen the more I think this set of videos is a great find ASMR-wise.
Upper Limb Neuro
This last set seem all to have been posted eleven years ago. I think we can assume that Hollie Berry does (or did) exist and probably made a set of videos for the Manchester Medical Schools a decade or so ago. They’ve moved on and taken down her videos subsequently but Aidan has preserved them for some reason.
Why Hollie should disappear altogether at that point is anybody’s guess but a set of six short videos is all we have of the greatest ASMR voice I have so far discovered. A great shame.
The playlist is here:
The complete playlist of videos covered so far is here:
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.
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:
Two stories both on the same subject to show the effects of Narrative vs. Dialogue.
From a course I did so long ago now that I can’t remember the context.
They’re here purely for your enjoyment and with no other explanation.
I hope that you like them.
Narrative
Elizabeth was a fool Jane knew it. They hadn’t been friends for twenty years without the realisation that Elizabeth was a weak-headed, softhearted, naïve fool.
Didn’t she, the mother have the greater insight into the workings of her daughters?
There were the startling, the mediocre and the downright alarming. Rebecca, the eldest – she had always been the exceptional one. Always knowing what she wanted to do. She planned her wedding for the best weekend of the year, a marvellous dress, a fantastic husband.
Then there was Ruth. Jane could feel the anger like a tiny pricking sensation already starting, just thinking about her.
Ruth, yes – she’d warned her – with every one of the dropout wasters she’d hung around with (and taken to bed) she’d warned her.
Now she was pregnant,, of course she hadn’t taken the time to tell her own mother, oh no.
A hasty wedding in October – at a registry office, a rush job at minimal expense – well this guy Richard was hardly the high-flyer, not like Rebecca’s husband.
Ruth had made a bad choice and it was obvious why. It was just to spite her mother. They’d never seen eye to eye and now she had chosen the one thing that she knew would really hurt.
Jane took pride in her family – liked to think that she’d instilled in them some old-fashioned values.
Rebecca had never hung around town late at night picking up boys – and what boys. The latest one had a tongue piercing – and a dotted line tattooed across his neck with a small pair of scissors labelled “cut here”.
What kind of guy was he this Richard? She doubted very much that Ruth even knew him very well. She knew he had a motorbike and was the sort of guy that Jane would despise. Jane would never welcome him into the family.
How better to hurt her mother than to marry him? Well it worked; all the years of spite and angst could not equal what she was doing this time.
If only Ruth wasn’t such a stubborn, wilful girl, she wouldn’t be dragging the family down in this way. Jane wished, not for the first time that she could disown her.
It was bad enough that she’d found them “at it” in her own bathroom but then to go and marry him? It was too much.
So what was Elizabeth going on about? The loose-minded woman. No doubt, she saw Ruth as another hard-luck case like an abandoned puppy or something.
No, Ruth had a lot of learning left and she, Jane was not going to shield her from any of it.
Dialogue
“Isn’t it the most perfect day Jane” Elizabeth gushed, her brow furrowed in concern.
“It’s October Elizabeth, who ever heard of a wedding in October? I may as well look around for thermal underwear” Jane was at her most caustic today. “Now, Rebecca, Rebecca; there’s a girl with sense, a June wedding, very sensible”
“As I recall Jane, you moaned all day that it was too hot and you were suffering from sunburn,” said Elizabeth archly.
“Hmmph well at least I didn’t have to go there looking like an Eskimo – it’s so unattractive.”
Elizabeth sighed inwardly and tried again “The weather is unseasonably warm Jane. Anyway I’m told the registry office is centrally heated”
“Office, yes office, why not a church?”
Elizabeth decided on a change of tack “Did you see the dress though Jane? She will look beautiful”
“I didn’t want to see it, it’s not as though it’s a wedding dress or anything. There won’t be a train or walking up the aisle will there?”
“I guess as long as she’s happy though?” Elizabeth’s voice squeaked with the effort of maintaining diplomacy.
“Happy, happy, what kind of selfish attitude is that? I give it six months, that’s all, six months”
“Richard seems a very nice lad” Elizabeth was tiring of the fight.
“If you don’t count the tongue piercing and the tattoos of course.”
“They all have those now I think”
“Well he isn’t tolerant enough for Ruth that’s for sure. I don’t think he’s had half enough time to realize what a vicious little wildcat she can be”
“What makes you think that, Jane? What evidence do you have?” Elizabeth, by now beaten decided to go with the flow.
“I’ll tell you why – she’s been going round like some old slapper. Mike last year, Derek six months ago and now Richard. Is it any surprise that she’s pregnant?”
Elizabeth gasped, “That’s a vicious thing to say, you’ve no evidence at all for that statement”
“Oh, come on, don’t be so naïve, she’s been hanging around him like a bitch in heat” Jane snapped.
“How can you say that about your own daughter?”
“You just have to look at her for God’s sake, how many brides do you know actually put on weight for their wedding?”
“I think you’ll find the dress size is exactly the same now as when she ordered it Jane.” Elizabeth was sounding exasperated. “You can’t just treat your daughter in this way Jane, you can’t. It will come back to haunt you if you do.”
Jane glared at her stubbornly “I have five daughters, Elizabeth, five and have any been so awful to me as this one? I don’t think so.”
“Ruth is a lovely girl, Jane, surely you see that” said Elizabeth, tears by now gleaming in her soft brown eyes.
Jane’s gaze was grey and piercing “I tell you, for all the pain this one has brought me, I wish I only had four daughters.”
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I realised that in my Gravatar profile I state: “Keen on privacy and IT Security. A volunteer counsellor. I use blogging to improve my writing.” There has been a few blog items on writing and the odd one related to counselling but except for the EXIF article precious little in support of privacy.
Snowden showed us that if you decide to put something on the Internet it is not private anymore. (No matter how much security you imagine protects it).
Security services have techniques that can read information, often when we believed that information was protected.
Information that you put on the Internet today, believing it to be secure, is exposed in a security breach tomorrow.
Some people believe that this is fair enough, if you decide to put a nude selfie online for example then on your head be it.
This article is not for them.
Still reading? Ok, well there are some basic steps that you can take which will protect you. Some more advanced steps you can take if you are very keen on privacy. There are also steps you should take if your life depends on privacy (which is sadly not unfamiliar to some activists in the world today).
If you are in the group that really needs to protect your privacy faraday bags for phones do work.If you like your privacy but your life isn’t likely to be in danger over it – turn on location services only when you need it.
Similarly turn off Bluetooth and wireless when they are not in use.Better still if you do not want to be tracked leave the phone at home.
Encrypt Encryption uses mathematics to render the information inaccessible to anyone other than the people you want to have access.However encryption does not solve all problems.There is some evidence that some encryption has been circumvented. .However encryption will defeat prying eyes in the majority of cases.
Encrypted Apps – Use encrypted alternatives to text messages. The recommended system here is an app called Signal which is as easy to use as any text message system.
Unique Passwords – Make certain that every website you log into has a unique password.
Breaches in passwords happen every day.
A breach is when a company loses the usernames and passwords of its customers onto the Internet. Criminals then get hold of these details and attempt to log into as many websites as they can. It takes criminals minutes to do this it can take many years before a company is aware of the leak.
Password Managers – maintaining a different password for each login (for every website) is a discipline that is sometimes beyond the memory of the average individual. This means that you really must use a password manager.
Password Managers store all your passwords in one place and you only need to remember the one password – the one to access the password manager.
I use KeePass . It is a standalone password manager (in that it is not integrated with your browser).This reduces functionality a little but increases security a lot. (With all your passwords in one place you do want the solution to be secure).
Use two-factor authentication. Remember I said that passwords are leaked onto the internet every day? How do you stop a criminal logging in when you don’t know that your password is already out there?
Make certain logging on to your account takes more than a password.
A number of sites permit use of two-factor authentication. Usually this means that after you add your username and password you get a text on your mobile phone giving you a code that you also need to enter.This small amount of extra effort can have a big effect on your security.
Use a VPN service that cloaks your location.Every ISP has a list of addresses that they hand out to their clients. This means that when you browse the Internet others on the Internet can determine which ISP you use. In many cases this gives a good approximation of where you are accessing the Internet from.In addition every piece of browsing behaviour goes through a link provided by your ISP who has a log of your activity. The only way to disguise your activity from your ISP is to have a tool that uses an encrypted tunnel to hide what you’re are doing.
This can be a VPN , use of ToR browser or using ToR browser over a VPN .
ToR is not a panacea but it does make it much more difficult to trace any actions back to you. ToR is a technology that sends the messages you use to communicate on the Internet through a very convoluted route, making it very difficult to trace.
Of course it is far easier to keep something private if you do not share it in the first place. If you share something which would have consequences (if it became public) then perhaps sharing it is not wise. Don’t depend for example on Facebook privacy settings. It is known that people use Facebook to monitor and to trap the unwary.
Don’t put your holiday destination into Facebook until after you have returned.
It is really a bad idea to exchange nude photographs. Can you really be certain that the picture won’t turn up later on in a context which you might not like?
Many sites allow recovery of your account if you supply personal details about yourself. This means that they allow you access after you share with them a secret that they know about you. A favourite is Mother’s maiden name for example. If you forget your password – you supply your mother’s maiden name – you get to reset your password.
If that information (your mother’s maiden name) is on the Internet already (say on social media) it is no longer a secret. Criminals can use this information too.
Firstly be careful what you share. Secondly if you are asked for a secret that can be used to reset your account – lie. If your dog is called Fido and the recovery question is “pet’s name” use ”jambalaya” for example (don’t do that – it’s in the Internet now so people know it – make up your own version and keep it secret).
Once you have created a lie make sure you record it somewhere offline (say in the password manager) so if you need to recover the account you can remember what lie it was that you told them.
Make certain that you use the HTTPS version of a website (most sites have a HTTPS version now). The HTTPS-everywhere add-on can do this for you. HTTPS uses secure communication and hence is more secure to use than HTTP.
Adverts on the Internet have been the source of a great many attacks. Wherever possible use an ad-blocker. This also makes it harder for sites to track your behaviour and use it to bombard you with ads.
It is known that search engines like Google mine your information in order to sell it to advertising companies. One way to obviate this is to use an alternative search engine that does not log your behaviour. The best known of these is DuckDuckGo.
If you are one of the people whose life depends on your privacy then this article is not going to be cautious enough for you.
However it would be remiss of me to advise about these given my life has never been at risk because of a lack of privacy. You must gauge the level of risk and apply appropriate precautions.
For everyone else these few steps can make a big difference.
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This was something unique to one of the courses. I had never before come across the idea of having a writing manifesto. This is a declaration – public usually of your policy and aims. Presumably any such declaration is going to be a forceful lever motivating you in your desired direction in this case writing).
We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness.
Courage, audacity, and revolt will be essential elements of our poetry.
Up to now literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and sleep. We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap.
We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath—a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.
We want to hymn the man at the wheel, who hurls the lance of his spirit across the Earth, along the circle of its orbit.
The poet must spend himself with ardor, splendor, and generosity, to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the primordial elements.
Except in struggle, there is no more beauty. No work without an aggressive character can be a masterpiece. Poetry must be conceived as a violent attack on unknown forces, to reduce and prostrate them before man.
We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!… Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.
We will glorify war—the world’s only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman.
We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.
We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multicolored, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd.
Primary storytellers, we are dedicated to the narrative form.
We are prose writers and recognise that prose is the dominant form of expression. For this reason we shun poetry and poetic licence in all its forms.
While acknowledging the value of genre fiction, whether classical or modern, we will always move towards new openings, rupturing existing genre expectations.
We believe in textual simplicity and vow to avoid all devices of voice: rhetoric, authorial asides.
In the name of clarity, we recognise the importance of temporal linearity and eschew flashbacks, dual temporal narratives and foreshadowing.
We believe in grammatical purity and avoid any elaborate punctuation.
We recognise that published works are also historical documents. As fragments of our time, all our texts are dated and set in the present day. All products, The Introduction to The New Puritan Generation 15 places, artists and objects named are real.
As faithful representations of the present, our texts will avoid all improbable or unknowable speculation about the past or the future.
We are moralists, so all texts feature a recognisable ethical reality.
Nevertheless, our aim is integrity of expression, above and beyond any commitment to form.
First commandment of popular fiction of any kind is (as the lovely Claudia Carroll once said): Thou shalt not bore. Quite right too.
Second aim – to say something.
I know this sounds a little vague but sometimes I read books that don’t actually say anything. They just potter along, telling a nice story, but not really going anywhere. I think books should have something solid rooted at the heart of them – a theme if you like. Sometimes that theme doesn’t make itself fully known until you finish the 1st or 2nd or even the 3rd draft, but it’s often bubbling away under the surface of your words, slowly rising to the surface. For example in the first Amy Green book I wanted to tell readers it’s OK to be yourself. In fact it’s pretty darn cool to be yourself. It’s a theme that runs through all the Amy Green books.
My third aim is to write with passion and with confidence.
I’ve been writing for many years now and I’ve started to understand what both these things really mean and how important they are. Write without passion and you’re doomed. The confidence bit – that can be learned over time. But if you write with both passion and confidence – then you might just have a pretty good book on your hands.
Tips for Producing a Manifesto
What are your aims when you write?
What symbols reoccur in writing?
Prose vs poetry?
What do you want to glorify?
What do you want to eschew?
What do you believe in?
What do you declare?
The manifesto is a mechanism for recognising why author’s write.
A manifesto is a declaration of intent – a public declaration of policy and aims. It will help your focus as you need to know why it is that you are writing.
A manifesto states what is important to you in your writing. The best place for your manifesto is on the wall somewhere you can see it to remind you why you are writing. In the first place the manifesto is for you.
At the time the manifesto I came up with was this:
Phil’s Manifesto
I write to enjoy the process
I write to enjoy the output for myself
I write so that other people will read my writing and will get enjoyment from reading it
I want to make a living from writing
I am keen to write novels
I will write of things in psychology that interest me
I will write of people in conflict with themselves or with others
I will write of people who escape “real life”
I will write attacks on the mundane, the boring, the routine
I will write prose rather than poetry
I will glorify freedom and escape
I will write of people with complex thought patterns
I will write of people who are small and boring
I will write about anyone who is protesting
I will eschew tediousness and boredom
I will eschew too much sanity or saneness
I will eschew routine
I will eschew “real life”
I wish to be published – a real book with paper not an e-book or a blog
I believe in rebellion as a method for change
I believe in not sticking to the status quo
However all these years later I think I would make a few changes to this manifesto now. Perhaps if there is sufficient interest I will write a new one.
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The Procrastination Pen 