Thursday, January 28, 2016

Why Procrastination Can Be A Gift


Procrastination is seen as the major enemy of creativity and accomplishment.  Just thinking of the word conjures images of white-knuckled students pulling all-nighters to finish their term paper or study for the finals exam.

And procrastination can be terrible - keeping us from realizing our dreams and reaching our goals.  But this occurs when procrastination is rooted in fear of failure (or success) or perfectionism.

However, many times, procrastination can be a gift.  It can be a GPS signal for us to switch directions when we are on the wrong path.

In this case, procrastination is rooted in as mismatch between our heart and our heads.  When our minds, trying to please someone else, or through over-thinking, chooses to do the wrong thing, and engage in activities we don't really care about.

It could be volunteering for a cause we don't believe in, or doing a dead-end job we hate because we're afraid to try something new.  In either case, we find ourselves procrastinating because there is no joy, no adrenaline rush in accomplishing it.

Then, when we switch to doing something we are passionate about, something we enjoy, we'll do it effortlessly (unless, of course, we start thinking about failure or perfection).