I was talking to my husband about procrastination and he suggested that sometimes procrastinating can be a good thing. Now as he’s a committed procrastinator, at first, I just gave him ‘the look’, but then I thought about it.
Are there times when procrastination can be a good thing?
Apparently, the Greeks and Romans thought so and they would sit around for many hours just thinking. Nancy Kline of ‘Time to Think’ is certainly an advocate of this.
What is Procrastination?
First, I think you need to be clear about what procrastination is.
The dictionary definition is “the action of delaying or postponing something”. However, Wikipedia describes it as “the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline.”
It’s also described as a “habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences”.
So, could procrastinating be a good thing?
I don’t think I’m a big procrastinator, but I think there are times when delaying or postponing something can be a good thing. However, I think there definitely needs to be a good reason for it and you need to be honest about that. It would be extremely easy to find justification for procrastinating, when the truth is you have no good reason for doing so.
Looking back at Wikipedia’s description, I think it depends on the implications of delaying or postponing an action. If the benefits of delaying or postponing an action are greater than the negatives of getting on and doing it, surely that’s a good thing?
What do you think?
5 Reasons when it’s good to procrastinate
1. You have actively decided to procrastinate
According to the psychological society, there are 2 types of procrastination: passive and active.
Passive procrastinators tend to be indecisive and disorganised, which leads to them putting things off or forgetting they need to do them.
Active procrastinators are those who have made a conscious decision to delay. They have a good reason for doing so and the benefits of delaying outweigh those for getting on with the task immediately.
2. You work better under pressure
Some people work better under pressure and when the deadline is close. I can remember helping my student housemates type assignments the night before they were due in. I preferred to allow myself plenty of time and contingency. Interestingly, the best mark I ever got for an assignment was when I lost the computer file and had to start from scratch and redo it through the night. I’m never letting that happen again though!
3. You want to make the best decision
Allowing yourself time to think it through thoroughly will usually lead to a better decision. If it’s a decision that’s causing you stress, a good walk in the fresh air will often help. It also gets the creative juices flowing and better ideas will form. Maybe you need more information or maybe it’s dependent on something else happening in the interim.
4. You want to be in the best frame of mind
Maybe you need to have a difficult conversation with someone. It’s much more likely to go well if you’ve carefully thought through how you’re going to approach it and you’re in the ‘right place’ mentally.
The chemicals in our brain have a big impact on this. For example, apparently, we have more cortisol in the mornings and it’s therefore not the best time to have these conversations.
5. You’re not sure what your priorities are
Most of us lead busy lives and have many conflicting priorities. Allowing yourself some time to work out what these are will help you to use your time where it’s most usefully spent. Doing this could actually make you more efficient in the long run. Think Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix, which gets you to consider your tasks in terms of importance and urgency. You may even decide that the task you’re procrastinating about is not important or urgent, which begs the question, do you even need to do it?
Questions to help if you’re struggling with procrastination
I recently read a useful article by Dan Beverley; ‘Two Insightful Self-Coaching Questions to Beat Procrastination’.
1. How am I doing the procrastination?
For example, not starting things, not finishing things, allowing yourself to be distracted, having a to do list that’s so long that you’ll never get around to doing the things you don’t want to do. I remember how important cleaning the bathroom was when I was supposed to be revising.
2. What am I getting from my procrastination?
Will procrastination help you avoid conflict or will it stop you having to make a decision? Are you afraid of failing? An interesting one that came up during a coaching session was that by procrastinating, my client had more power in their relationship.
Once you realise what you’re getting from the procrastination, you can challenge it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I think there are situations when procrastination is a good thing. However, the key things for me are to establish whether it is passive or active procrastination and that the benefits of procrastinating exceed those for not getting on with the task immediately.
Of course, the question I now need to ask myself is, did I have good reasons to delay writing and posting this blog?
If you procrastinate and would like to explore how coaching could help you with this or anything else you’d like to change, get in touch via lizgoddardcoaching@gmail.com and we can arrange a chat.
