We precrastinators don't put things off until the last minute (well, actually, in other moods, we do that, too, but never mind). Instead, we do things sooner than they really need to be done, even if it costs us more time and energy that way, simply for the feeling of having them over with.

I do almost everything before it needs to be done. I pull out my house keys 15 minutes before arriving home. At night, I turn off my car headlights long before my ride is over. I pack for trips a week before departing….

I’m more a pre-precrastinator, or a pro precrastinator, which await their definitions.

So we asked readers to invent words that we could use in a column, thus qualifying them for submission. Numerous ideas came in, including some from Whittier College English professor Joe Price, who turned our prank into a class assignment. Among the nominees: Amy Faucher's "precrastination" (getting work done ahead of time).