I can still recall the glorious days when I thought procrastination was, for me, impossible. How naive I was back then…
I remember, once, when my Grade 9 teacher assigned us an essay to be handed in a week later, and also gave us in-class time to work on it. I remember my friends exchanging grins with one another, all sharing in the same not-so-secret joke that they hadn’t been given a week to write the essay, but only the night before. I remember working hard in class that first day to finish the essay, while my friends guiltily enjoyed the ‘free time’ they had been given by opening a word doc, saving it, and pushing their laptops aside so as not to disturb the circle they sat in, on the fluffy carpet we used to have in our class. Flash-forward to the next day — I came into class with a finished essay, and without looking at it again, I joined my ring of friends, telling them, to their surprise, that I was done. Thus I, too, was able to enjoy time with friends after getting my work over and done with, and I’ll confess I did find it amusing when the night before it was due, they came to me to proofread their papers.
The thing is, my essay wasn’t the best either. I wanted to finish too quickly, and thus used the first ideas that came to mind, rather than reflecting and structuring the best ideas before writing the essay. But in any case, I was done, and at the time I thought reaching this finish line, and getting there first, was all that mattered. Quality? Nah, and not quantity either- just to be done was what I thought of as good.
So it’s funny that while extreme procrastination led to a bad essay, as expected, the other extreme of rushing to finish my work ASAP also stopped me from writing the best essay. I’m not here to tell you extreme procrastination is good — all of us are familiar with the failure of last-second attempts to do anything. Especially since beginning high school, especially over this past year, I’ve begun to fall for procrastination again and again, to my enormous shame, and I would never go about promoting the misery I feel every time I procrastinate.
It’s not just me (and I’m not sure if this is a comfort), but procrastination appears to simply be a part of human nature. No matter what, there will always be something we leave to do later. But I want to ask: is it so bad?
To what extent (pardon the use of this generic social studies phrase) do our procrastinatory tendencies actually allow us to later excel?
There has actually been research to indicate the most successful of us tend to procrastinate a little (definitely watch this TED Talk below!) while others with zero or extreme procrastination tend not to be as successful… So there’s hope for we who procrastinate! This is in part due to moderate procrastination leaving a bit of time between receiving and doing a task, and allowing an idea to ‘settle’ a little in your mind before taking action can result in these ideas maturing and gaining more potential in this time. Hesitating a bit and leaving some work for later actually leaves room for inspiration, and so procrastinating a little and allowing for there to be time to reflect really can help with developing the best ideas.
Procrastination doesn’t have to be extreme to be considered procrastination- it’s just that extreme procrastination has grown to be the most famous, as it is often seen as ‘relatable’ and ’tis quite amusing to think others are in the same or worse situation than ourselves. Moderate procrastination is kind of like procrastination’s half-brother — the one who works more behind-the-scenes while the famous sibling gets all the attention.
Funny then, that though I used to think getting work done as early as possible was best, this isn’t exactly the case. What happened in Grade 9 reflects the two extremes — no procrastination on my part, and extreme procrastination on my friend’s part. Perhaps the best thing for all of us to have done was to let the topic of the essay sink in for a day and then to finish it in the next couple days. My wanting to finish it immediately left me no room for creative thought; my friends’ leaving the essay to the last minute left them no room for creative thought either. Rather, the most successful students with the best essays aren’t those who rush to finish or leave it to the last minute — they’re actually the ones who first take a moment to think, then write in good time. Thus, one may call this ‘limited’ or ‘moderate’ procrastination, and in any case, it’s been the method that yields the most success in my experience.
Procrastination is inevitable — that, we know. However, we can all work to limit the extreme version of procrastination by planning out our work, while at the same time realizing that there is value to be found in procrastinating a little. That being said, don’t procrastinate too much — trying to find inspiration at 3:00 AM doesn’t work out well, trust me!