A Case for Procrastination
From my brain
Author Douglas Adams is quoted to have stated, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” There are some who would say that when you’re given a task to accomplish, you should tackle the assignment head on, throwing yourself into it wholeheartedly in order to accomplish it as expediently as possible. This way, any deadline given will be reached well in advance, avoiding the pitfalls of exterior delays or potentially a change in that final deadline. For others, the tendency to procrastinate to the dead-last minute wins every time.
Does this mean that they are lazy? Does this mean they are incompetent? Does this mean they have a poor work ethic? Perhaps it just means that they think and work in a different fashion to accomplish their tasks. One potential source of the tendency to procrastinate can be lack of motivation, eloquently wrapped in a psychological term that is the opposite of “hyperstress,” called “hypostress .” In essence, it means that an individual stresses out over a situation when they are bored or unchallenged, often resulting in delays and diminished productivity. My earliest elementary school report cards state something in the way of, “Anthony will often daydream rather than accomplishing given tasks.” As I’ve progressed though life, I’ve grown accustomed to procrastination and learned to use it as a tool to help me accomplish some remarkable achievements in my life and career.
Procrastination can often have its own benefits. Delaying working on a project could enable clarity of thought. In the sense of “a watched pot never boils,” taking a step back from an assigned topic may unlock a mental block on creativity. Similarly, a task may need a certain amount of energy to get the job done. Procrastinating on doing your laundry until you have no clothes to wear tomorrow may push you to sort and wash every item you have before you go to bed that evening. Up until that point, you might not have had the energy and motivation to complete the task.
This may come as a surprise, but one of the greatest procrastinators in history was Leonardo da Vinci. Few could argue his genius, but more amazing still was the fact that throughout his entire life, Leondardo was known to half-complete projects. “Mona Lisa” took over fifteen years to complete, completing it only just before his death in 1519 . While taking a far shorter time to complete, “The Last Supper” is said to have only been completed when the king sought to cancel Leonardo’s funding . Great results can come from painstaking hours in the lab, the kitchen, or even the boardroom, however, a threat of being fired might just be that inspirational push necessary to finish the task at hand.
One could argue that the procrastinator is engaging in rationalization to make an excuse for their behavior. That immediate gratification of doing something “fun” is far more tantalizing; the feeling of unfairness, of so much burden being placed on them (when they have so much already on their plate); and/or feelings of just being overwhelmed are all excuses the procrastinator uses to delay the completion of a project. These viewpoints are too narrow of a perspective on the procrastinator’s behavior. Distractions of “fun” things may simply be irremovable environmental catalysts for the procrastinator; roommates, coworkers, and family schedules are notorious magnets that draw someone from the task at hand. Feelings of a lack of fairness simply may be a maturity issue; a college freshman just may not be prepared for the transition from a high school workload to that of college . Perhaps (again in a student’s case), poor study habits in youth have contributed to the feeling of being overwhelmed. A lack of prioritization skills to effectively manage their time could negate the belief that a project could be accomplished in a timely manner.
A harsher viewpoint is that a procrastinator is lazy, and quite possibly, unwilling to change their behaviors. The environment is no longer to blame, but instead the procrastinator has made the conscious choice to continue in their behavior. Apathy and excuses enter in at this point, and only cause to impact those around them further. Is the procrastinator blind to the effect? In some cases, this may be true, and they are ignoring the effects they have on others. In other cases, they may realize the impact they have, but having been a procrastinator for so long, they’ve simply become accustomed to their own delay tactics. They may see that their behavior is detrimental to those around them that love them and that change is necessary, but see no way to adequately make that change.
What of the impact to others? Surely in business the procrastinator causes the most damage. There is the guy who takes on assignments, never getting them done prior to the deadline because he daydreams throughout the afternoon; the perfectionist who combs over every document for minute, insignificant errors, causing delays in submission; and finally there is the employee who comes off as incompetent, coworkers often being forced to take things off of their hands. Someone usually has to pick up the slack for all of these people. For all three of these individuals, perhaps the issue is deeper. Perhaps for each – the daydreamer, perfectionist, and even our third individual – they are simply in the wrong career, falling victim to the “hypostress” noted earlier. A change of pace – whether in another job function or career altogether – may be necessary to rekindle a passion that they may have lost altogether.
Two snow days and a weekend have passed since this assignment was originally given. Here I sit, on the Wednesday before the Friday it’s due, granting me only one additional evening to proof and edit the to-be-submitted copy. I have seen myself in many of the research articles I perused throughout its generation, reading excuses that I’ve uttered from my own mouth. I have to admit, it’s given me pause. Do I want to change from being a procrastinator? Yes, I think I do. The tongue-in-cheek closing here could be, “But I’ll work on it tomorrow,” but that really doesn’t do justice to what I’ve read and felt. I know the behaviors I engage in are wrong. I know that that they routinely negatively impact those around me, and have negatively affected many aspects of my life.
I have grown accustomed to my behaviors, regularly rationalize them, and despite realizing all the negative impact on those around me, I still find myself unable to change. I’d like to change, but while I might not get to it “tomorrow”, I hope one day to find the drive and determination to correct these flaws in myself. For all I know, that day may never come, so I just hope that those around me can tolerate it…almost as much as I’ll have to try to tolerate it in myself.
