Positive side of Procrastination?
Tags: productivity, mentalhealth, career
Published: 2020-07-05 13:34:27


Procrastination. What a difficult word to pronounce. It gives a weird vibe. Procrastination is often associated with "bad habits" or something which is not a good thing to do. Like when programming, we often get distracted when searching for a solution to our issues. I admit it. Do you?

But is it really bad? Why is it termed a bad thing?

Let us first talk about what is it, actually. As I do believe that the definition of Procrastination for you can differ than of mine. A simple google search gives me this answer:-

> Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain deadline. It could be further stated as a habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences.
> 

So, it is the **Avoidance** that takes place when we have to finish a task, or a job or anything which (may) has a deadline. Some sources even say that it is a mental illness at a certain extent. 

But I have this question, Why are we "avoiding" things in the first place? What led us to get distracted? What was the part that startled the procrastination zone?

There could be a number of reasons around that. It may be that:-
1. You received a Notification on your "Smartphone".
2. Someone called you for a minor work and after doing that, you zoned out.
3. There was an interesting link which took you to Twitter and then we all know what happened 🤷‍
4. Your cute dog nudged you because it wants to go on a walk.
5. Some XYZ reason.

First, You don't have to feel bad about it. It's okay, it happens to every one of us.

Now, think about it. What made you give priority to this distraction over your primary work?

If you notice, The point no. 4 in the list above is a bit different than the rest of the 3. You know, you might feel better after taking your dog for a walk! And that might help you solve that bug in your code. The repercussions are many.

Here is an interesting fact.
> Did you know? Alexander Graham Bell refused to have a telephone in his study, fearing it would distract him from his scientific work. [source](https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/alexander-graham-bell#section_3)

Even though he was the one who made it in the first place!

My point is that Procrastination does not have to be taken as bad thing, all the time. I believe that ***Situation Matters***, in almost all the cases.

Let me explain what I mean by that. Do you know what Daydreaming means?

Here is what our friends from Wikipedia says,
> Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction. This phenomenon is common in people's daily life shown by a large-scale study in which participants spend 47% of their waking time on average on daydreaming.

Isn't it somewhat similar to procrastination? As a kid, I used to daydream a lot. 

What did I dream about? You can guess it. Super fast cars, new computer games or meeting people in school (you know...).

I, also, used to imagine how I will one day become this rich guy who will own a large property and have a big garage with top racing cars standing on the front. It sounds funny but I want to tell how I used to feel AFTER doing that. I felt all positive, motivated, just because I visualized it!

That's what I want to highlight here. 

Visualizing your goals can help you get motivated and excited, bringing change in your mood. If you can acknowledge you are procrastinating at a given point of time, ask yourself. Is this really helping me at all? 

Acknowledging to yourself WHAT you are doing and WHY you are doing it, will help you get back to focus.

Unless hours have passed ,it is almost evening, sun is down, then you should really STOP.

# Update:-

The article I wrote on "[The power of not knowing](https://dev.to/thevediwho/the-power-of-not-knowing-1cil)" received a great response. I am thankful for all the positive comments!

Lastly, If you love what I write, [You can help me buy a book](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/vaibhavdwivedi). 

Thank you :)

Until next time!

-VD