I got a perspective on procrastrination by playing chess. Sometimes in the past I would try to do something like write an essay, read a book or, program something. And I would get this heavy feeling in my brain. Thinking would be like running through molasses. No useful thoughts would pop out. I would have read the same sentence over and over, because as soon as I finished reading it I would have forgotten what I just read. And then I would drop what I was doing and "procrastrinate".

Well, I started playing chess. And the same thing would happen, I would get this feeling. And I would start dropping pieces. I would play the opening out of order. I would try my very best to prevent these things and then run out of time. And it made me realize something - because chess is a microcosm model of thinking and knowledge work, more quantifiable and objective - it made me realize that I wasn't being lazy. I had in fact been completely correct when I thought to myself that I can't do this right now. It wasn't an excuse.

But also it made me reflect on my "a-game". It's simply not possible to always be on your a-agame, and you have to plan around that. Somethings are acceptable to do at a lower standard. Maybe it's okay having half-understood the book? Also doing things at your "b-game" is still practice even if the work is garbage.