Many of us can identify with that. It is a undeniable that procrastination drastically affects productivity. But when it comes to the creative process, it has been found that procrastination may have a few advantages. This post explores the relationship between performance and procrastination habits.
An experiment was performed by a professor at the University of Wisconsin. He asked participants to generate new business ideas. Some of the participants were randomly assigned to start immediately. Others were given few minutes to play a game first. When everyone submitted their ideas, independent evaluations was made and the entries were rated by how original they were.
The business ideas the procrastinators came up with turned out to be 28 percent more creative!
When the participants played games before being told about the task, no increase in creativity was noticed.
But when they first learned about the task and then put it off for a while, they considered more creative and new ideas. It can be said then, that procrastination encouraged divergent thinking.
What procrastinators are doing, when they're not working on the project (not working on a project does not mean they're not doing any other thing), is letting the universe manipulate them.
Indian philosophy also gives equal weight to the paths of action and inaction. The right timing, can be just as productive as effort and sweat
How can you turn procrastination into a tool that will surface your best ideas?
This depends on the category of people you find yourself in.
There are basically two kinds of people - The Procrastinators and the Precrastinators.
THE PRECRASTINATORS
These are the kind of persons who dive immediately into a new project and finish it way ahead of schedule. If you find yourself in this category, you might consider forcing yourself to wait.
Procrastination gives you time to consider divergent ideas, to think in nonlinear ways, and to make unexpected leaps.
You can try to figure out ways to prevent yourself from completing creative projects before you've had the time to think about them in depth.
If you're writing an article, jotting down a few sentences, then leave it unfinished while you take a walk or grab lunch or attend to your niece :)
Or write a first draft, sketch an outline,, but hold off on reviewing until days or a week later.
For the precrastinators, their hyperactive approach is induced by the unglamorous and less worthy-sounding "time is money" cliche.
Lou Marinoff, a philosopher and the founding president of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, advises, to remember that time is our most valuable resource and that no amount of money will buy more of it.
He says, "If you never let your children out of your sight, never miss a deadline, and try to be on top of everything all the time, you're doing more harm than good."
He suggested a technique. "Think about one of the many things that you're worried about, that you think you have to do, and try just not doing it. And see if the world comes to an end."
Usually, it doesn't.
THE PROCRASTINATORS
This set of people wait until the last minute to look at an assignment. If you fall into this category, make it a habit to review an assignment on the first day it’s assigned to you.
Spend at least one hour with it, and jot down some initial notes.
Even if you are not actively working on the assignment at the moment, the assignment is now in your mind, where you can get a blurred image of how you want it to turn out. Engaging in some creative exercises can also help you overcome the paralysis that can set in during the creative process.
Creative exercises and discussions can relieve pressure and jumpstart creative thinking.
Outlined Benefits of Procrastination
- You get to avoid most of the mistakes that overeager early doers usually make. It highlights the difference between working to be first andvworking to be the best.
- You master the art of working smarter, not harder. Being under pressure sometimes helps to figure out better creative ways of doing things that may have been overlooked by someone who started early and had a lot of time
- While some people allow their worries about meeting deadlines to keep them up at night, and wake up tired. Procrastinators go to bed, sleep, and wake up early (more relaxed and poised for work) to finish that project that’s due the same morning.
- Procrastinators tend to make better decisions because they come after musing over an idea, and then making a decision at the eleventh hour.
- When it comes to problem solving, people who procrastinate often solve problems by not thinking about the problem. While it seems like the human condition to focus on the problem thereby stressing one’s self out, procrastinators often forget about the problem entirely. While the subconscious mind works on finding a solution.
- Lastly, as funny as it may sound, no one tries to burden you with any last-minute work because they know very well that you usually use your last-minute for general work. Therefore, the extra job goes to the fast performers who finish everything first.
So, there it is. Procrastination is not entirely a bad habit. And what's more, It can even be used as a tool when it comes to productivity.
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