Church Production Magazine: We’ve all experienced times when procrastinating on a task came back to bite us. (That term paper back in the day comes to mind.) Scrambling to make a deadline causes us to berate ourselves with recriminations. Everyone knows we shouldn’t procrastinate. Right?
5 comments:
Reading this article made me happy. I personally am not the worst procrastinator, but I do occasionally find myself working on projects the night before they are due or printing out papers the morning of the deadline to do one last revision. However, I do think that there are definitely good and bad types of procrastination. For example, on assignments where not much creativity is involved, I think that getting them done and out of the way as soon as possible is better. However, when it comes to the creative process, I do think that procrastination can often help. For example, some of my best ideas have come when I have been walking my dog to avoid doing work. I think that this is because although we may not be physically working on the project, it is still in our brain and our brain still wants to find a solution in order to move onto something else. Therefore, if we rush the process, our brain hasn’t really had enough time to both consciously and unconsciously sort through all of the ideas that may relate. Unfortunately, in many disciplines, such as theater, procrastination and ruminating time isn’t really worked into the schedule. Because of this, I think it is vital for people, especially with creative jobs, to find quiet and relaxed moments to just think about their projects. This way, even if it is just a few extra seconds, the brain has time to realize its ideas when they aren’t restricted by stress.
Reading this article made me happy. I personally am not the worst procrastinator, but I do occasionally find myself working on projects the night before they are due or printing out papers the morning of the deadline to do one last revision. However, I do think that there are definitely good and bad types of procrastination. For example, on assignments where not much creativity is involved, I think that getting them done and out of the way as soon as possible is better. However, when it comes to the creative process, I do think that procrastination can often help. For example, some of my best ideas have come when I have been walking my dog to avoid doing work. I think that this is because although we may not be physically working on the project, it is still in our brain and our brain still wants to find a solution in order to move onto something else. Therefore, if we rush the process, our brain hasn’t really had enough time to both consciously and unconsciously sort through all of the ideas that may relate. Unfortunately, in many disciplines, such as theater, procrastination and ruminating time isn’t really worked into the schedule. Because of this, I think it is vital for people, especially with creative jobs, to find quiet and relaxed moments to just think about their projects. This way, even if it is just a few extra seconds, the brain has time to realize its ideas when they aren’t restricted by stress.
I can understand where this writer is coming from when she defends procrastination although I do not agree with everything she is saying. Some of the examples that she mentions I would not consider procrastination. When she speaks of the productivity that can come out of thinking on a particular subject for a moment before starting the working process I do not see that as procrastinating. I consider being productive, doing or thinking on your assigned work, and even just letting your creativity flow is working. What I consider procrastinating is having your mind on a different task or not on any particular task at all. Although I do agree with some of the points in this article and most of them have made me feel like I’m on task more often than I thought. I agree with Hutchison’s third point that pressure can spark creativity. When your under pressure because of time limits you are forced to focus on only the task at hand which more likely than not will give you a descent end product.
I can understand where this writer is coming from when she defends procrastination although I do not agree with everything she is saying. Some of the examples that she mentions I would not consider procrastination. When she speaks of the productivity that can come out of thinking on a particular subject for a moment before starting the working process I do not see that as procrastinating. I consider being productive, doing or thinking on your assigned work, and even just letting your creativity flow is working. What I consider procrastinating is having your mind on a different task or not on any particular task at all. Although I do agree with some of the points in this article and most of them have made me feel like I’m on task more often than I thought. I agree with Hutchison’s third point that pressure can spark creativity. When your under pressure because of time limits you are forced to focus on only the task at hand which more likely than not will give you a decent end product.
I will admit I procrastinate but sometimes I feel like the only way for me to produce good work is to have the pressure of an impending due date. Although, I didn't realize it until reading this article but my brain had been thinking about the projects all along while doing other tasks. However, some of the writer's other points were not quite about procrastination. For example the first point about pausing and not responding first I would consider gathering your thoughts and listening to others and not procrastinating. Another example is the second reason which is that it is more advantageous to be the second mover and the writer cites findings about new to market products success in business which I felt wasn’t very relevant to the article. This point could make you afraid to put your own idea out there and be afraid to fail which can be where lots of great ideas and learning comes from. I do agree with the last point that you should stick to your gut for simpler decisions and take your time to make more complex decisions however I don't think that that is really procrastinating as much as taking your time. In conclusion, I think this article was not really about procrastination and might more appropriately titled "6 times when procrastinating and thinking through things pays off."
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