The Secret Benefits of Procrastination.
From AlterNet:
“Our society is obsessed with productivity and efficiency, and we despise procrastination. The early Americans imported the Earl of Chesterfield’s admonition: “No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” They read Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Procrastination, or The Sin and Folly of Depending on Future Time.” They built on the Puritan work ethic, which wasn’t much fun, but became a major part of American culture. Over time, the admonitions from Chesterfield and Edwards seeped into everyday life, along with the biblical references that Edwards peppered throughout his speech, especially Proverbs 27:1, which advises, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”
“And then, beginning in the 1970s, the do-it-now anti-procrastination industry burst onto the scene. Managers began following Peter Drucker, the consultant, who advised, “First things first; second things not at all.” Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen wrote a best seller about how to avoid procrastinating, and their “Procrastination Workshops” became popular. Self-help guru Stephen Covey told us that highly effective people do “first things first.” David Allen coached us to “Get Things Done.”
“Over time we began to feel terribly guilty about procrastinating, yet we did it even more.”
Read the rest here: AlterNet
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I would take anything from an Alternet source with two or three pounds of salt. Here’s one of their hottest articles at the moment: http://www.alternet.org/drugs/156102/Why_Smoking_Pot_Makes_Me_a_Better_Mom/
Why smoking pot makes her a better mom. Now there’s a quality statement, right there.
Thanks. Two different authors discussing completely different topics citing completely different sources, but I appreciate the heads up.
I find some value in the article.
Never put off until tomorrow what you could have done yesterday to give yourself today off.
When I looked further into the article, I found he wasn’t really talking about procrastination, he was talking about cultures which don’t rush.
Procrastination is a different phenomenon than simply taking your time, IMHO. The first is destructive and paralyzing (just like rushing is), the second is just wise.
Hi Camille – I actually see the value in both – procrastination as a means of taking your time to consider all sides of an issue. Procrastination for its own sake can be quite annoying to say the least.
But just like the next person I am sometimes guilty of it.
Very definitely! I get frustrated when I am procrastinating. It seems that if I would just exercise some self-discipline we (the work and I) could get moving in the forward direction again, and git-r-done!
But it isn’t happening. And I feel I’m wasting time, time that is very hard to get.
Then brain finally pops out what it has been mulling, and some major issue has to be dealt with, now, before it affects where things are going even more.
Now, if I can just get the major issues to emerge from the woodwork sooner and more easily, we could solve them more efficiently?
Nope – the brain takes the time it needs.
But I’ve taken this post as permission to procrastinate without self-flagellation. Time will tell if the time was wasted or invested.
So far, when I look back, I have been quite satisfied: the thrashing about over some issue has actually resulted in something I like better. Whether or not it improves the final product will only be decided when there IS a final product – and not by me.
Lovely, ABE!
Sometimes, “procrastination” is simply caution. It may or may not be justified in the situation.
The original article does mention fear of being evaluated. I let that fear keep me from writing for nearly 13 years. I collected ideas, filled notebooks, spun out ideas for different series, read writing books, analyzed novels to understand why they work, but never once did any actual writing.
Procrastination and paralysis can be the same thing.
Procrastination out of fear is the one to avoid. Procrastination – in publishing – in order to build a better overall product can be a good thing, so long as we don’t allow “perfect” to become the enemy of “good.”
Yes.
I agree with you as well, RD. Everyone has his or her own reason for procrastinating.
Thinking time is always useful.
I do find I need time to flesh out my thoughts.
But thinking time is not procrastination. That’s getting on with the job.
I’m not against procrastination per se — I do plenty of cat vacuuming myself. (Hey my cat LIKES to be vacuumed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElQ_d7SXyiQ )
I just think that article isn’t actually talking about procrastination at all.
I wish my cat liked to be vacuumed!