After downing three cups of coffee, only eight pages of empty space are left – at midnight, when the report is due at 9 a.m. – damn it, why did I wait this long?
Apparently, up to 95 percent of college students procrastinate, but I’m guessing it’s closer to 110 percent. It’s mostly because we fear failure — or we’re too busy exercising our newly found freedom. But what if I told you that there’s nothing wrong with procrastinating? All you need to do is change how you think about procrastinating.
First, we need to ask the question, what benefits one by procrastinating instead of actually being on top of things? The truth of the matter is that procrastinators, on average, produce more creative work. When thinking about our work, we can cross out overdone or generic topics and dive deeper into our thoughts for something more personal and unique.
Dr. Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, is a self-described pre-crastinator (which is exactly how it sounds) and his new resolution was to start projects later. This goal was set after one of his former students and current professor at the University of Wisconsin, Jihae Shin, challenged his work habits. They set up several surveys and tests, and Shin proved to be victorious – procrastinators were far more creative than pre-crastinators.
We’ve been lectured by professors and parents alike to start projects, essays and assignments well before the dreaded due date to ensure our highest grade and lowest stress level possible. However, we must address the underlying fact that we simply don’t always perform to these expectations.
Our only mistake (despite our professors’ opinions) was the lack of mental preparation, not the delay. Procrastinators’ biggest vice can suddenly become a virtue when they rehearse their work. Every project, every paper, every article begins with a thought and the physical action follows second.
For example, I am a bit of a perfectionist. I set high expectations for myself because I know I have the ability to achieve them. But I am terrified of producing underwhelming work, so I wait and wait until I feel the crushing pressures of reality over failing an assignment to actually begin.
I didn’t begin to change my habits until I read a certain chapter in Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. Tool #41, to be exact, “Turn procrastination into rehearsal. Plan and write it first in your head.” He advises students and writers to mentally think about the assignment before they actually begin writing it. Some of the most well-known journalists and authors describe their “rehearsing period” or thinking period as one of the most important part of the creative process. You could be waiting in line for coffee and just thinking about what you’re going to write about. Yes, you can come up with the first couple lines of an article or your thesis in time for your mocha latte.
Only recently have I been trying to really perform Clark’s advice, a concept so simple I feel juvenile for just now realizing it. I can admit it’s a lot more difficult than it sounds; you have to think about that thing that’s stressing you the most, and you have to think about actually doing it. Sometimes I find that when I’m assigned something more difficult, I subconsciously chose to ignore it.
But now that I have actually grasped this concept, I can rehearse my way of thinking. I may not be able to memorize an entire essay, but I can come up with topic ideas, paragraph structure and tone just during my ten minute drive to work and back home. And thus, my paper begins itself without a single word written.
But don’t fool yourself. I’m not suggesting that waiting till the last minute is always the best plan. There’s a fine line between creativity and extreme pressure. You still need to give yourself some time to begin your work because otherwise too much anxiety could hinder your creativity. But if you actually have your planned mentally mapped out, the assignment shouldn’t take nearly as long to finish.
If you still have a tough time getting started, lower your standards, forget your thoughts and just type. Creating a sloppy draft will help you. If your work completely sucks, kill it and start over. Only during your editing period, raise your standards to what you hope to achieve and then criticize your work.
But if you’re still struggling to put words to paper, remember the wise (and misattributed) words of Ernest Hemmingway, “Write drunk, edit sober.”
