Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something. It is a very bad habit. Or so we’ve been told. But we always hear stories about some of history’s most excellent work done by famous procrastinators. Among these legends are Hunter S. Thompson, Margaret Atwood, Herman Melville, Frank Lloyd Wright, and one college friend who has claimed to have done his thesis the night before it was due.

Procrastination is when you know you’re supposed to be doing something, but you choose not to do it for the moment until it gets down to the last minute – that last minute is when you’re panicky, anxious, and pressed for time. We all know that procrastinating isn’t good for us. The more we put something off, the more stressed we become in the long run. The task is like a knife hanging over your head until it gets completed. It puts us in an anxious state of mind and is like a running app at the back of our heads. This self-inflicted stress can be easily addressed if we just start on whatever task is looming over our heads, right? So why procrastinate?

We procrastinate because it feels good – in the meantime. Procrastinating decreases our stress levels at the beginning – when deadlines are far off and way into the future. We enjoy instant gratification and indulge in activities that are “of the moment”. We think that we’re always going to have time to do it later. Whatever “it” is. We only think about the task when the deadline is due.

Master procrastinators claim that procrastinating boosts their creativity. A book by University of Pennsylvania professor Adam Grant called Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World compiles research and examples supporting the theory that procrastination boosts creativity. There might be some truth to these claims after all. Professor Grant says “our first ideas are often our most conventional, and if we wait and give our ideas time to stew, we’ll come up with something truly original.”So, if we sit on our ideas for a bit and leave them to buzz around in our heads until the last minute, we MIGHT come up with something more original than our first idea.

Then there’s the matter of speed. Admittedly, procrastinating makes us work faster. Procrastinators are of the mindset that they can finish a task fast enough if they create a sense of urgency for themselves. Kind of like when your room is on fire and you’re able to lift a piano – the procrastinator gets a boost of adrenaline as they realize that the deadline gets closer and closer. Suddenly, they have more energy. Well, they’re also in panic but that’s beside the point. Procrastinating apparently makes you faster and more focused.

Lastly, procrastinating is said to help us make better decisions. How? Author Frank Portnoy, in his book Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, writes that “we generally should delay the moment of decision until the last possible instant.” Doing this, allows us the maximum amount of time to gather information and brainstorm possible outcomes.”

Are you a procrastinator? Do you work better after procrastinating for a while? Share your stories with us. Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help