As we’re running up against a book deadline this week (we’ll meet it, no problem!), we’re asking ourselves: how do you distinguish between a patient person and a procrastinator?
With chronic procrastinators, the difference is clear: putting off mundane everyday tasks does no good, and it’s not a sign of a patient person that they can manage to avoid doing the dishes for days.
As creative professionals, we often have milestones that need to be reached by certain dates. Deadlines force us to move forward and get things done that might not otherwise get done in a timely matter. But, the tendency exists, even with deadlines, to put things off for as long as possible. Is this delay an exercise in patience or is it procrastination?
A person who immediately sets to work on writing a paper or designing a website and beats their deadlines by days or weeks may actually be doing inferior work to someone who sits on the the assignment and doesn’t take any immediate physical action. Plus, the procrastinator usually finishes the job in less total time: both because they have less available time and because their subconscious mind has already been at work on the project while they’re doing the things they’d rather be doing.
Situational procrastinators often have no problem eventually completing tasks that need to get done, but our society values time management and “getting things done” above all else. Societal pressures to always be productive can create stress in a perfectly capable person who trusts their ability to put things off until they’re ready.
Whether the person who doesn’t take immediate action is actually patient or procrastinating doesn’t actually matter in this case. Is it better for creative procrastinators to simply reframe their delays as practicing patience in order to produce a better result in less time? Do creative and learning processes benefit from delays? Is there room in our busy culture for productivity through patient procrastination, or would your boss/editor/client flip out if you don’t feel inspired and would rather go to a movie today?