How procrastination can help you cope with any task

Procrastination (or the desire to delay things and put things off for later) is today perceived by most of us as a disadvantage, although true procrastinators justify their behavior by saying that it is prioritizing, not laziness or postponing tasks.

By the way, is such a delay always bad? It turns out that it depends on why you are postponing everything, and whether you are deliberately doing it. If you sit for hours watching TV or reading news feeds (passive procrastination), you may need to reconsider your time. On the other hand, deliberately postponing the completion of a task (active procrastination) can work in your favor.

If a task, for example, requires creativity or thoughtful analysis, it is sometimes best to revisit the requirements, take a few notes, estimate how long it will take you to complete the task, and then postpone it until the deadline. This procrastination can have a very positive effect. What are the 9 hidden advantages of this phenomenon?

1. Procrastination makes you more creative.

Are you in dire need of creative inspiration? There is nothing like a time bomb in the form of a deadline or deadline. Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School of Business (PA), wrote in NewYorkTimes about a mini experiment from one of his former students.

Participants were asked to generate new business ideas. Some were instructed to immediately take on them, while others were given five minutes to play Solitaire. All ideas were then evaluated for originality. Paradoxically, procrastinators’ ideas were 28% more creative. It turned out that procrastination stimulates thinking.

Read also: How to stop procrastinating and learn to negotiate with yourself – instructions from psychologists

2. You have lower stress levels

Imagine, but procrastination makes you calmer. In a study published in TheJournalofSocialPsychology, procrastinators are said to experience less stress and better health. In other words, they are less nervous, worried, and anxious.

3. You have good time management skills

When you give yourself the minimum amount of time to complete a task, you will work faster. Therefore, if it took ten hours to stretch one task over a whole week, it would take five hours to complete it in one night. Since you have little time left, your brain works as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

4. Procrastination gives a burst of energy

You may even consider procrastination as your personal trainer. This is the same voice in the background that looms over you and makes you work faster and harder. You may hate this condition, but in the end it’s worth the candle.

Procrastination creates fear of breaking the deadline, and this fear, in turn, creates temporary anxiety. As the magazine says ScientificAmerican:

“When stressed, the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for active and energetic action. The adrenal glands release cortisol and adrenaline into the bloodstream. The rise in blood pressure and heart palpitations deliver oxygen and energy to the muscles. It’s the biological equivalent of opening the engine’s throttle. “

5. You are not subject to doubt and hesitation

Again, since you are limited in time, you will not ask yourself a lot of questions, reflect and doubt. In such a situation, you are more confident in yourself and in what you are doing. By putting things off until later, you are less likely to waste your time worrying and worrying, and the fear of missing a deadline will allow you to get things done right.

6. You don’t make life difficult for yourself.

Chances are, you’re delaying some tasks because you really don’t want to do them. You put off those unpleasant tasks and do more enjoyable things, even if it’s washing, cleaning, or other household chores. And this, as you know, is a great way to quickly get rid of stress.

7. Procrastination forces you to focus on the task at hand

Working on a lot of things at the same time leads to the fact that you are constantly distracted, and your thoughts wander. Procrastination forces you to focus on a single task when the deadline is tight. And multitasking has long been considered a performance improvement strategy.

Recent article published in the journal PNAS (ProceedingsoftheNationalAcademyofSciences), confirms that people who take on several tasks make more mistakes, memorize nuances worse and take longer to complete these tasks.

8. You work anyway without even realizing it.

If you postpone a task, you still don’t get it completely out of your head. Your brain knows that a task needs to be done. Chances are, you are contemplating ways to complete it, even when you are busy with other work.

Frank Partnoy, in his book Wait: The Useful Art of Procrastination, claims that procrastination gives you time to “digest” thoughts and ideas, and then you get down to business when your subconscious has already processed all the information. This approach may well be the key to success.

9. The task can be canceled or changed by the time you decide to start it.

Remember, sometimes you spend a lot of time and effort just to find out later that the instructions have changed or that the job is “no longer needed.” The days of hard work were in vain.

The fact is that if you grab onto a task immediately after it appears, such frustration is likely. Procrastination eliminates this risk. It can even save you more time (and unnecessary effort) than if you tried to get everything done instantly and ahead of schedule.