March 2

We tend to think of procrastination as avoiding work so that we can enjoy something more pleasurable. However, there are actually good and bad forms of procrastination.

Obviously, bad procrastination is putting off what you should be doing now in order to avoid discomfort. In his bookFour Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman argues that we sometimesengage in this kind of procrastination to avoid having to confront our inevitable finitude. It’s much more comfortable to live with a perfect idea in your head than to bring it into the world and see its imperfections realized.

But there is also agoodkind of procrastination. This is when you allow an idea to incubate for a season, even though you could easily act on it now. You intentionally wait to see how the idea develops and if there are any environmental sparks that evolve it into something better. This kind of procrastination allows your creative intuition to develop into something more visible and tangible. Good procrastination isproductiveprocrastination. It compromises efficiency for a season for the sake of effectiveness in the end.

Be mindful of how bad procrastination robs your future self of time and energy, but also be mindful of how good procrastination can allow your ideas to fully develop.

Procrastination can be an effective creative strategy, butonlyif done properly.

Is there an idea or project that could benefit from a little productive procrastination?