Procrastination.

Procrastination has been the enemy of man for many years. We have been taught it is a bad thing. We have been taught it is evil. We have been taught we must never procrastinate.

But is it really bad?

What if we could find a good use for procrastination? What if we could use it in the correct context and make it work for us?

What are the reasons that procrastination got such a bad name? It is my opinion that the blame must be placed at the feet of incompetent managers in the wonderful corporate world.
Many managers have been promoted to the position of incompetence. They are now under pressure to perform and uphold the illusion that they themselves have created. One has to remember that most people are not completely honest when it comes to their abilities in the workplace. It is an unfortunate truth that many people when applying for a position either blatantly lie about their abilities or omit to mention their past failures.

It is because of this world of smoke and mirrors that very often people are forced to rely on team members to reach the targets they have committed to.

Let’s look at this from a practical point of view. If I was a manager, placed in a position that I am not completely competent to manage I would have to make use of members of the team to ensure that I look good and reach the financial targets I desire and that have been placed on me by senior management.

It is therefore quite understanding that should any of my team members procrastinate I would have toeither  discipline or incentivise them to focus on the task at hand. Procrastination by any of my team members would become my enemy. (Maybe I would even make the team member my enemy)

Now let us assume that one of these managers needs to transfer the skills to a new manager. It is obvious that they will teach them that procrastination is one of the big enemies.

I have found myself being one of the above-mentioned managers before. I have therefore given myself licence to speak about procrastination openly. It is only because I have misunderstood it for so many years that I feel it is important to shed light on the relevance of procrastination and allow people to consider it from a different perspective.

I no longer favour managers, teams or even companies. These are merely abstract concepts to describe groups. I have learnt that by favouring the individual everybody wins and gains. If we focus on the needs and the requirements of the individual we will find ourselves in a win-win situation.

Let us re-look at the situation from
a different perspective.

Simply put it is that which needs to be done but you seem to put off by replacing it with something else.
You are aware that something must be done, but you replace what MUST be done with a different action you PREFER doing.

Some people just don’t do anything. The mind imagined doing something else, but I feel so guilty about it that I end up doing nothing.

It is interesting question to ask “what would happen if we set the guilt aside and acted on these impulses. What might be the
consequences?”

Perhaps the consequences of procrastination are not as bad as they initially seem. When we are faced with the pressure of making a decision we tend to distort, delete and generalise the facts.

So what would be the solution?

I am a firm believer that we should follow our passion. We should follow a career path doing what we enjoy. Should we earn our living by doing what we enjoy doing, we will naturally do it well. Should we do it well, money will follow. There are so many people that I know that are accepting jobs they hate, working for money they don’t need, to buy things they don’t require, to compete with people they don’t like.

Just maybe, if they procrastinated doing what they don’t like and did what they do like maybe, just
maybe, they would have found out they are actually good at doing what they like doing.

Once they found out that they are good they might have followed it as a career and quite possibly would have been very successful. Okay, so maybe, they would not have had that big house, the fancy car, the snobbish friends, the bad habits and the inner unhappiness. Maybe, just maybe, they could have been doing something they enjoyed and would be good at it and made lots and lots of money.

Oops, did I just put that on paper?

How often do you find yourself chasing someone else’s deadline? Chasing someone else’s dream? Chasing someone else’s goal?

If you are you might have noticed how often you either procrastinate or desperately wanted to procrastinate.

Maybe procrastination is your subconscious mind desperately trying to tell you something.

If you are very clear of what you wanted to do and you did what you enjoy, I have to ask the question “would you procrastinate”?

This is a practical example. If you like playing computer games. Isn’t it fascinating how often you find time to play? Or if you like reading, it’s amazing how much time you find for reading.

The things we like to do we always find time for. So if you find yourself procrastinating often, then maybe it’s a sign that you’re not doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Please understand me clearly. Just because you procrastinated once in the last year it does not mean you have to resign tomorrow. I trust that those people reading this are emotionally mature enough to put what I’ve said in the correct context.

We have been taught that procrastination is a form of failure. In my world there is no such thing as failure there is only feedback. We learn when things don’t happen the way we plan. It makes us better people. It makes us do things better. Feedback is a fantastic tool for self-improvement. So the next time if you feel like procrastinating. Stop and think. Find the reason why. Find what you would rather be doing instead. Weigh the consequences.

Sometimes we procrastinate because we are on the wrong path. Sometimes we procrastinate because we are in the wrong place. Sometimes we procrastinate because it is the wrong time.

Procrastination on its own is not a bad thing, it is not evil. For a smoker it is healthy to procrastinate. For someone that is overweight it is healthy to procrastinate before eating a burger. For a person with an anger problem it is healthy to procrastinate before allowing the emotions to take control. For the alcoholic it is good to procrastinate before taking the next drink. For the drug addict procrastination could save his life.

We live in a world where we are under so much pressure from social groups, family members, friends, bosses and even the media that we struggle to live up to everybody’s expectation. The worst of it is that often it is our own expectation of us that creates the most pressure. In what book is it written that we constantly have to perform to meet everybody’s expectations of us? We are constantly punishing ourselves for not being the person we are “supposed” to be. So stop.
Think, just for a moment.

Just for fun the next time you feel like procrastinating and push that “other action” aside. Dive in headfirst. Do what it is you want to do instead. But don’t just do it for half an hour, do it for a full day. You might be surprised to notice that the world has not ended. You might also be surprised to notice that you are much more inspired and motivated to do what you really need and want to do. Maybe your
mind is even clearer now about what you should have been doing in the first place.

Stop the lie of believing that you fear failure, you don’t. You fear personal achievement. Yes that’s right. If you’re not doing what you are supposed to be doing it only means that you fear the possible result of following your true passion. It must be scary to fear true happiness and success.

Start listening to the voice of procrastination and start living life the way you should.

Deon Groenewald

2011-09-06