In my last blog I talked about creativity being an energy, and discussed how it has an ebb and flow. Wrapped up in that creative rhythm is procrastination. Everyone procrastinates, and it is given a very negative connotation. I feel that sometimes we need to procrastinate to work through blockages, before we move on. When I procrastinate I usually pick something that I really want to do as my escape from the responsible thing I am meant to be accomplishing. I enjoy my time working on a project that I may not otherwise do. During that time, I think about life, my other projects, and the thing I am "supposed" to be doing. I often come to a conclusion to why I am not working on my obligation. I can problem solve much more easily when I do not feel pressured to be doing something because I have to. By procrastinating, I am able to release myself from the restraints and the frustrations of duties and open my mind to flow without added burdens. I can then process many possibilities, decide the best approach. I am able get back to my obligation and plug along.
Life coaches, creative coaches, therapists and many other experts suggest it is beneficial to write goals in your calendar with a specific date, or time for completion, and be determined to make it happen. As much as I agree with this approach, and follow it for most things; I find having a procrastination project very helpful. I have stopped considering procrastination a bad thing. It's my brain telling me I need a break. I am not quite ready for the next step yet, for whatever reason. I just have to be aware of not to get too wrapped up in my procrastination project that I don't move on with my other tasks at hand.
You can follow my procrastination projects on my Instagram account: @andreabutlerdesigns.
Has anyone else considered why they procrastinate? Have you found it helpful, or do you still see it as a negative blockage keeping you from being productive? I always love to know your thoughts. Comment below!
1 comment
Ah, what to write in responsive to this thoughtful blog. I like the idea of putting something off until tomorrow, but I have to be careful because tomorrow is well always tomorrow. (I was curious as to the origin of the word “procrastination” …it goes back quite a way. It was Samuel Johnson and the Industrial Revolution that put a bad spin on it. In the late “16th century — deferred till the morning.” (Oxford Languages).
So back to procrastinating I have to be careful… for me I think what your idea expresses sounds like what I call putting something on the back burner and hope that over time the pot doesn’t go dry and burn. Yes, add broth and stir the pot from time to time.
Coincidentally in the book “Consolations” David Whyte writes about procrastination. “… helps us to be a student of our own reluctance, to understand the hidden darker side of the first enthusiastic idea, to learn what we are afraid of in the endeavour itself; to put an underbelly into the work itself so that is becomes a living, satisfying whole, not a surface trying to manipulate us in the moment.”
It seems what you wrote is sort of like what Whyte wrote.