Greeks and Romans regarded procrastination very highly. The wisest leaders were expected to procrastinate, sit and think unless they had to make pronto important decisions. Well, does that give you any consolation as to why you should embrace procrastination?

Then how did the paradigm shift happen? How is it that the word procrastination get a negative connotation?

 

Well, we only have this man to blame…. 

Preacher Jonathan Edwards spoke of procrastination during the Puritanical era, citing it to be a sin! Edwards delivered a sermon against the act of leaving things for later, trying to promote the ‘prompt work ethic’ notion. Ever since, his word has been taken at face value. (Damn you, Jonathan)

But the purpose of this article is to make you realize that procrastination isn’t wrong. It is associated with numerous benefits that people fail to realize, courtesy the tainted glass of conscience that blinds them.

Not many realize that procrastination is actually healthy!

It allows the brain to unwind and mull things over subconsciously…. and we know how well we’re able to deal with problems in our subconscious! If you keep going back to things without giving time to the brain, you end up mentally fatigued and overworked. The National Sleep Foundation states that overwork ultimately makes people less efficient.

It helps us get more work done

Well, let’s face it; active procrastination helps us get more things done. So while you’re racking your brains on that dissertation (and not actually working on it), you get time to tend to your garden, or clean your room or organize files on the computer… things you would never have done, had you not procrastinated! 

It breeds creativity

Yes, because working under pressure makes all of your pre-conceived ideas go out of the door, leaving you with the creative fuel to come up with new ideas! 

Procrastination also helps you defeat your toughest enemy…. You

You know not how much you have it in you till you’re faced with a problem that is worked out at the 11th hour. A great person is someone who can work against the clock and that’s what procrastination helps you become!

Also, to conclude, some of the greatest people in the world have been big time procrastinators

Steve Jobs procrastinated, practising unrelated things like “calligraphy” which ultimately gave a distinct identity to Apple products. Bill Clinton waited until the last minute to practice his speeches and Abraham Lincoln is rumoured to have written his most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, on a napkin while he was on the way to deliver it!

 

So, don’t shy away from keeping things for later. Go laze around and scale great heights!