Is Procrastination a Bad Thing?

What is procrastination?  Wikipedia gives us the following:

Procrastination refers to the counterproductive deferment of actions or tasks to a later time.

This implies that procrastination is a sign of laziness, something that serves no beneficial purpose other than short-term gratification.  People think of it as a demon they need to eradicate.

But what would happen if we never procrastinated, if we took immediate action on every important task whenever the opportunity came up?  Obviously, we wouldn’t last very long before succumbing to complete exhaustion. Procrastination is a perfectly natural habit that that exists to help us avert pain and conserve strength.  You can’t get rid of it completely, and it would be pretty detrimental if you did.

I believe procrastination is not something to be feared.  In fact, admitting that you’re procrastinating could very well be the key to living a fuller life!  Think of it as a call to action.  It’s a signal telling you that you value something and want to get it done.  We wouldn’t say we’re procrastinating about something if we didn’t give a hoot about it.

But if we truly care about what we’re doing, why do we keep putting it off?  The reason lies in a fundamental quality of human nature:  sloth.  Like it or not, everyone feels lazy at times.  This is usually direct result of lacking motivation and energy.  However, it is also dominant when we don’t know what to do.

Having all the vigour in the world is still utterly useless without a plan or strategy to turn it into something tangible.  This is why it’s so important to have an action plan and objective for whatever you do, even if it’s a seemingly straightforward task.  It’s been proven again and again that knowing what you’re going to do makes it considerably less likely for you to procrastinate.

In the end, it all boils down to fear; fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of pain.  Nobody is lazy because they want to be; they are simply afraid of taking action.  We’ve all made excuses to ourselves at one point or another, justifying our bad decisions.  I’m too busy, I’m not in the mood, I can do it later…I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.  It takes courage and persistence to delve inside yourself and come to face with the real reasons behind your actions, but only when you’ve freed yourself of these shackles can you truly break out the stranglehold and greet Procrastination as your friend.