The Surprising Upside of Procrastination

The world as I see it is made up of two kinds of people: those who make their beds every day, and those who laugh at the bedmakers because why bother.

I’ve always been a bedmaker. I like the feeling of a tiny accomplishment early in my day. I’ve also always been a bit self-righteous about it. Bedmaking requires a sense of discipline. So obviously, making your bed is just better, right?

Sometimes, under the right circumstances, procrastinating feels good. And it also delivers a different kind of result.

Like making a bed, I’ve always defaulted to assuming that planning takes discipline. So that must mean planning is always better than procrastinating. But what if my logic is wrong? This pandemic has me calling a lot of old assumptions into question. And while I’m still largely a planner, I’m finding myself dallying with procrastination in small doses.

And you know what? Sometimes, under the right circumstances, procrastinating feels good. And it also delivers a different kind of result. So let’s talk today about when and why it’s OK to let procrastination take the wheel.

Is my procrastination helping me or holding me back?

If procrastination tends to be how you roll, start by asking yourself whether it’s serving you or holding you back.

Here are a few questions for you to sit with:

• Am I scrambling but making things happen, or am I dropping balls or missing deadlines?
• Do I feel like my work product suffers from the rush?
• Is my procrastination negatively impacting anyone other than myself ?
• Would something in my life improve if I put more effort into planning?

Be honest with yourself. Let your answers inform the approach you take.

If your procrastination is either impacting someone else or holding you back in any way, it may be time to strive to overcome it. But if your answers leave you feeling OK, then let’s talk about why procrastinating can be a useful thing.

Procrastination can inspire creativity

Wharton professor Adam Grant describes an experiment to explore the relationship between performance and procrastination. In it, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Each participant was asked to think of a new business idea. In one group, the instruction was to pitch the idea immediately. The other group spent a few minutes playing a game before pitching their ideas.

The result? Ideas pitched by those who...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips