Meaning

Benchley is describing a very specific and widely shared form of procrastination: the way a person can become remarkably productive at almost any task as long as it is not the one they are actually supposed to be doing. The observation captures the psychology of avoidance with comic precision. Facing a deadline or an obligation, the mind suddenly finds energy for every surrounding task, turning procrastination itself into a kind of perverse industriousness.

Context

The line appeared in one of Benchley's essay collections and is characteristic of his humor, which found its material in the small absurdities of modern professional and domestic life. His essays often took a single comic observation about human behavior and extended it with a straight face, as though offering genuine advice or analysis. This particular insight has proven remarkably durable because it describes a pattern of behavior that has become even more recognizable in the age of email, social media, and open-plan offices.

About the author

Robert Benchley was an American humorist, critic, and actor who was prominent in the early twentieth century. He was associated with the Algonquin Round Table, the famous informal gathering of New York writers and wits. He wrote regularly for magazines and was known for a self-deprecating, bemused style that made ordinary frustration feel universally funny. He also appeared in short comic films and was widely admired by contemporaries and later writers as one of the defining voices of American humor in his era.