Are you more likely to do something on your own terms rather than someone telling you?

I am definitely more likely to do something that I think of to do myself, it’s just my nature. So, sometimes you need to try and improvise a little and make it fun for yourself. If that doesn’t work, then you just have to buck up and do it!

Procrastination is a bitch.

Same here. I spend so much more time on things I think up. I almost never spend any time on homework.

Yup. I hate writing papers where the topic is assigned. If I’m going to have to do a project, I want to be able to decide at least some of the aspects of it.

@erichw1504 Procrastination is a bitch indeed.

@J0E I am a non-conformist. It drives my conformist husband insane. I despise being told what to do, and do not like following rules.

Yes, I’m the kind of infantile jerk that if you ask me to take out the garbage, I will wait a minute to do it on my own terms! Seriously, would anyone be rather told what to do, I guess it’s pretty stress free if you have a job like that, but other than that?

@J0E It happens to the best of us.
I hate follow others directions, but if I a b s o l u t e l y have to, then I will do what I was asked.

Yeah, it’s called being oppositional. :)

@markyy That could be another example. If I’m home alone and I see the trash needs to be taken out I’ll do it, but if someone tells me to do it suddenly it becomes a chore I want no part of.

But if your assignment is the wine label, you should do the wine label. But, yes, I would much rather design or write about what I am personally interested in. The thing is when you work to create logos and websites or whatever you might design in the future there will be times you might be designing for a product or service you are not interested in. You can’t just not do something because someone assigns it to you.

And yes, if my husband says to me, “why is this pile of papers still on the counter?” I feel less like cleaning it up…I don’t think anyone wants to be told what to do. But, I do my best to ignore that feeling and still clean up the pile, because the truth is I don’t want the pile of papers sitting there either. Not doing something out of spite that in truth you want to do means the other person is controlling you either way.

5 ways to look at something. One is mine.

I just want a solution.

@JLeslie I know that I should do it, but actually doing it requires motivation. Something I have very little of.

@J0E I feel you on the little motivation. It’s a problem. Also – if the dishwasher needs emptied, I will gladly empty it. But when someone instructs me to empty the dishwasher, I get annoyed.

@J0E be like nike, just do it. It sucks, and going to work sucks, but it has to be done. If I gave you a smile, would you do it?

@J0E I understand.

@shego It couldn’t hurt ;)

here you go :)

well let’s all just do what we want instead of what is expected of us. I’m all for nonconformity, but if you are required to do something, i.e. design a wine label, and you decide that isn’t good enough for you, so you are going to go off on your own, especially if your homework stated a specific design, and no free-for-all in ideas and the establishment be damned.

Nice attitude, thank Evelyn you aren’t in the military, because a direct refusal to do as ordered is subordination, and even treason. Doing stuff you don’t like to do builds character and makes you seem reliable. But hey, go your own way, just don’t enlist in the Marines, mmmkay?

Hey Joe, is it a cloudy cold day in MI today? That weather doesn’t help. Turn on all of the lights, blast some music and just do it.

@Psychedelic_Zebra This isn’t about being non-conformist, it’s about why when someone tells you to do something your attitude changes and suddenly it’s an undesirable task.

@JLeslie it’s like that here near Milwaukee today…candles lighted/lights on ;)

@JLeslie It’s a cloudy, cold, and rainy day.

@JOE, that’s called immaturity. I find it much more reasonable to do as I’m told, especially if it involves something as important as school or a job. sounds some people might be in need of an attitude adjustment.

@J0E Sucks.

@Psychedelic_Zebra Well, if that isn’t the pot calling the kettle black I don’t know what is.

Never said I didn’t do the tasks, just find it hard to.

I dislike being told what to do by a person who has no authority over me. I’m an adult and can easily see that the laundry needs to be done without being “reminded.” I have every intention of doing it when I have the time and don’t need to be told. When my husband tells me, I become obstinate about it. I either delay doing it or remind him he knows how to do it himself. I fully acknowledge that this is an immature reaction on my part.

When the direction comes from a teacher, supervisor or someone else in a position of authority, I readily comply. I may not enjoy it, but doing it isn’t optional. I signed up for the class or took the job, meaning I agreed to do the work.

If you are “learining” to market, or doing a marketing project, it might not be what you want, but it’s what is needed.

In the real business world, I don’t always “like” what I have to design for market, but it’s wht the client requires or would perfer. I do, however, put my personal style and charm in it, which makes the assignment not so bad.

I’m a real procrastinator. If I do things on my own, it takes forever, but I usually get around to it. If someone tells me to do something, I grumble about it and do a half-assed job. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation.

@J0E Designing a wine lable sounds like a lot of fun! I would do it.

At school you can enjoy the luxury of doing your own thing, but at work, you won’t always have the option to do whatever you want. Be ready for that.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic That’s sort of what i wanted to say, but I was a bit more in your face about it. That’s why I’m not a moderator. you can get away with doing your own thing in school; when did that start?

@J0E you are entitled to your opinion, but remember, opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink. ];^)

Well, I guess maybe this is your last chance to screw around since once you are in the real world you will have to do things you don’t want to, as others have pointed out. If you don’t care about getting a lower grade do what you want. I can’t imagine in college not doing an assignment, I’m thinking in the end you are going to do the assignment at the last minute.

I think actually it depends on who asks me to do something, how they ask it, and how exciting I find the actual task.

If a professor asks me to write a particular topic, and it’s a brilliant one, I’m excited. One of the hardest things in writing papers is coming up with a good topic, and to be handed a brilliant one… well, then it sort of writes itself.

Certainly there is fun is coming up with the idea yourself (and as a director/teacher I’m always thinking of ways to nudge the actors/my students in coming up with the ideas themselves in the direction I want), but conversely, I can also think of situations where people want to be told what to do. It’s relief, for example, to be an actor instead of a director sometimes—and to have the reassurance that someone is out looking at the bigger picture. In this situation, all I have to do is to figure out how to do my part the best I can. =) Phew!

i think it depends. if there is a due date, even if i like what i’m assigned, i definitely won’t do it until the night before.
if i just come up with an idea, i’ll get to it sooner (usually) because i guess i’m more intrinsically motivated from the get-go.

Yeppers. As long as I’m getting the same result, I’ll go off on a tangent. In the 90’s I took a hypercard class. JOE, I’m sure you know that hypercard was a pre hypertext and pre WWW linking program for the Mac. Well, he was learnin’ us about it, and we were supposed to do step A, step B, Step C. By step C I was down with it. So when everyone else ended up with identical boring links and end result, I wound up all over the world! Linking to animals in Africa, and ruins in Greece and stuff. It was fun, and my instructor appreciated it.

I resent being told what to do if I’ve made other plans, but on the other hand, I’ll often do nothing until someone comes up with a task for me.