4 reasons to consider procrastination a positive quality
Procrastination is a well-known phenomenon in modern society, even if you have never heard the term. Simply put, procrastination is putting off things, usually important and urgent, for later, which sometimes leads to problems and negative psychological effects. In general, procrastination has more disadvantages than advantages, but the latter should not be forgotten either.
It may sound ridiculous, but procrastination can also have virtues, which are usually omitted, preferring to talk about why people should eliminate this phenomenon and how to overcome it.
1. Putting things off can serve as a powerful motivation
Let’s be honest: starting something, even if you are a collected person, is difficult, especially if the task is not a pleasant one. Motivation is usually non-existent or minimal, and you must overpower yourself to start. And this, again, leads to stress. And in general, the brain, realizing there is still a lot of time, does not try to motivate you with a hormonal surge.
There’s no such thing with procrastination because you’re already past the start date for the task and realize that the clock is ticking steadily by the time it needs to be completed. So you’re much more motivated to get things done in a short time and as close to the task as possible than a person who realizes they still have plenty of time to work.
2. Procrastination helps you get your priorities right
What does a person who gets to work on time do when they have several tasks to complete? Usually, does them in order. It’s the right thing to do, mainly if you divide up the tasks as you simplify them, starting with the difficult ones. However, there’s a peculiarity here, too.
People who sometimes deliberately put things off get a head start over the mandatory ones. It’s all about priorities. Looking back, you realize that not every task was worth the attention it received during normal times. When there is a lack of time because of procrastination, people choose the highest priority tasks and solve them. And in some cases, this yields results because sometimes the secondary tasks could not even begin to do since their requirements have changed. You may be given a task, and you don’t start doing it, and later the task changes, but you continue to sit still, and then you are asked to return it to the way it was. And then it’s as if you’ve done the hard work
3. It will cut down on your time spent redoing
Getting started on a task sooner than later is better, but there’s a catch. The fact is that many people, realizing that they have finished the work before the deadline, begin to doubt themselves and what they have done. They keep trying to find mistakes in the actions and revise them repeatedly, constantly running negative scenarios in their heads. This is how our brain is built, it strives for perfection, but at the same time, it understands that it is impossible to achieve it, and this cognitive dissonance occurs.
It limits your time if you’re used to putting things off and taking on work closer to the deadline. What good is that? It reduces the time you have to rethink and redo already completed tasks. Since overthinking and redoing often doesn’t result in much improvement and sometimes even harms it, your procrastination seems like a wise move that saves effort and time.
4. Procrastination helps get rid of emotional overload and boredom
When people talk about procrastination, it is not uncommon to hear that it overloads the psyche because one understands that the deadline is approaching. Still, the task is not only not done but not even started. This is indeed true, but there are also nuances.
The fact is that most tasks are difficult for the psyche. The brain loves to be lazy. And when it is forced to do something that not only does not bring pleasure but breaks habitual patterns, it begins to actively evade tasks, reacting to the challenges by emitting stress hormones. The sooner you start a difficult task that only discourages you, the sooner that hormonal surge with psychological torment will come.
In this regard, procrastination helps minimize the time spent on emotional overload and boredom overall; if you look at it adequately, rather than from the position of condemnation, as if procrastination were laziness, this mechanism of minimizing anxiety looks like a very effective means of protecting the psyche.
