I Procrastinate, but in my Defense..
I’m not a person who can use time well.
I have things I have to do in front of me, but I end up daydreaming.
I have other things to do, and I tend to put off the hard tasks until later.
In short, I like to procrastinate.
But in my defense, procrastination is not always the enemy. I feel that it can be helpful at times.
What is Procrastination?
In essence, procrastination is leaving today’s work for tomorrow when it comes to dealing with something we don’t want to deal. Most people would probably feel guilt and frustration, not enjoyment.
The problem with procrastination is not just that you miss deadlines, it is that you feel frustration and it leads to stress.
In the 2000s, researchers at a university in Ohio studied the causes of procrastination.
Participants in the experiment were students who had to study for a test. Before studying, they were asked to read a sad story. They then procrastinated studying for the test and started doing puzzles and playing video games.
The students’ desire to “change a sad feeling into a pleasant one” caused them to procrastinate.
This was only the case when the participants thought that doing something fun would change their mood. When participants were made to believe that doing something fun would not change their mood, no procrastination symptoms were observed.
They deemed that the cause of procrastination was all about “emotional control”.
Take A Break
My experience has shown me numerous times that sometimes procrastination is the first sign of burnout approaching.
If you really love what you do, then most likely you’d focus all your vital energy on executing more and more tasks daily. Just think about your favorite hobby or book, you may probably feel unstoppable. You possibly won’t feel the need to take a break.
But, as tasks, duties, and responsibilities begin to build up, there’s a possibility for your brain to begin procrastinating here and tell you that it is time you need to take step back.
There was a period when I feel miserable, undervalued, and discontent, it was then that I procrastinate the most and only perform the minimum essentials. It feels like you are this irresponsible lazy individual but the truth is, I think that it may be just a way for your subconscious to sneak in and ask you what the hell are you doing with your life.
Take a break, get some fresh perspective of your works. Come back only when you are ready.
Procrastination Helps with Decisions
Decision-making is an important part of my job. However, I tend to ponder over questions. Overthinking is a bad habit of mine. But it helps me with making better decisions to a certain extent.
I would say that procrastination allows to buy me time to look at problems from another perspective could allow me to make better decisions instead of relying on the first order of thinking and intuition eg buying/selling stocks.
Piers Steel wrote in his book that people who tend to delay decisions or put off action are generally less successful. David De Cremer also mentioned about the consequences of delaying decisions in “The Proactive Leader”
To overcome this problem of mine, I would always ask myself this question regarding decisions I have to make.
“Would putting it off for a week affect the outcome of my decision?” If it would not, I would then make it right away.
In this case, procrastination could be both detrimental and beneficial to me, depending on the situation.
Conclusion
I opined that procrastination is not always the enemy, especially when it takes the form of active procrastination. Sometimes procrastination is your mind and intuition trying to tell you that you shouldn’t be doing something — or telling you to process something before making a rushed decision.
If you’re a procrastinator (like me), embrace it. Embrace it so you can start listening to what your intuition is trying to tell you. Embrace it so that you can view the world from different perspectives.
