Procrastination. It Works.

Is the dreaded P-word actually a super-power?

I should have written this post a few days ago.

But here we are. Last minute.

The issue here? I had two other projects I was sitting on.

Both of those projects were due this week.

One of the projects I had lying around was an assignment I have had since January.

That said, once I sat my keister down to work on these projects they came to life quickly and, dare I say, wonderfully.

Now, the neuroscientists have determined that procrastination is a brain thing. An epic battle between the limbic system (pleasure center) and the prefrontal cortex (executive function). Fun fact: the older, more evolved, more emotional limbic system usually wins out.

So even though we must do something, we tend not to.

We’re “not in the mood.”

And yet…something is going on.

We may be avoiding the task, but aren’t the wheels still turning?

All of which got me thinking: what if procrastination was the first step in the creative process?

A study was done at the University of Wisconsin that tasked people to come up with business ideas. Some in the cohort were asked to get started right away. Others were given a little time to play video games then submit. Based on the criteria of the survey, the procrastinators’ ideas were deemed 28% more creative.

In this sense, maybe procrastination has a branding problem. We look at the neglect to get to work as an act of laziness or denial. When in fact for some of us, not working on something is actually a form of working on something.

If you’re a procrastinator you’re in good company. Steve Jobs, Da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mozart and the Dalai Lama are apparently shoe-ins for the Procrastinators Hall of Fame.

Indeed, as Wharton professor Adam Grant writes, “…while procrastination is a vice for productivity…it’s a virtue for creativity.”

What does procrastination look like for you?

What if you stopped beating yourself up for blowing things off?

What if you reframed procrastination from a negative act to a positive one?

Try it today.

Or maybe tomorrow.