It’s exam time again, and that can mean only one thing: I suddenly have an overwhelming, irreversible obsession with procrastination. Whether it’s online shopping, watching a movie, or reading endless Daily Mail articles online, I just can’t seem to concentrate on revision. And I’m sure I’m not the only one – if you’re reading this, it’s probably because you are procrastinating.
If you are meant to be revising or writing an essay right now, don’t worry – I’m not going to tell you to stop reading and start working. Quite the opposite; I’m going to tell you why procrastination might actually be really helpful. But before I do that, here are some fun but completely useless facts just to make this look even more like procrastination.
Did you know any of these facts?
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Shakespeare invented the word “assassination” and “bump.”
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For every 230 cars that are made, 1 will be stolen.
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The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Libraries.
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One in eight million people has progeria, a disease that causes people to grow faster than they age.
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All polar bears are left-handed.
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Bulgarians are known to be the biggest yogurt eaters in the world.
Anyway, back to the point: procrastination can be beneficial. Often we procrastinate because we are unsure of how to start a task, or we are avoiding something we think will be hard or take a long time. For example, when I sat down to write this post, I had no idea what to write – so I found myself on the internet, procrastinating. Having bought two new dresses online and checked Facebook and Twitter countless times, I found myself googling ‘random facts’ – and hopefully you like the ones that I found.
This search led me to a post on www.psychologytoday.com, entitled ‘Can Procrastination Ever Be a Good Thing?’ My instant reaction was, I hope so! The author of the post, Pamela Wiegartz, has a PhD, so she must know what she is talking about. Here is what she had to say:
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Procrastination has its benefits.
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Some procrastinators delay tasks deliberately, because they prefer to work under pressure. These people are called active procrastinators.
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Procrastinating can help people feel in control of their time, and use it better.
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Others, referred to as passive procrastinators, let their procrastination tasks dominate their day and have no control over their procrastination.
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Active procrastinators are less avoidant, have lower stress levels, and higher self-efficacy than passive procrastinators.
It is better, then, to actively procrastinate. This allows us to cope with our tasks, but also manage our time effectively and not allow the procrastination to dominate the majority of our time. Procrastination gives us a break from the anxiety felt about the task, and, in my case, make the task a lot easier to handle, since my procrastination gave me the idea for my post!
On the other hand, uncovering your old Nintendo DS while unpacking your uni stuff and playing Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros. for the next five hours probably isn’t that helpful. (Though I did manage to finally conquer Level 7 of Super Mario Bros. after what has been a particularly long break from the game!)
Just don’t forget to be an active, not a passive, procrastinator. As long as you are careful not to let procrastination tasks dominate your day, you can successfully revise and have a bit of fun at the same time!
Now, I must go – I’ve scheduled myself another procrastination break. Now I’ve completed Level 7 of Super Mario Bros., I think it’s about time I challenged myself to complete Level 8, don’t you?
Edited by Luisa Parnell