We all know that person who claims that they work best under pressure. Call it what you will; “Last-Minute Panic,” “Waiting For the Muse,” “Deferring Action,” it all comes down the same concept in the end – procrastination.
The awful truth of it is that it’s all too easy to wait and keep putting things off. The threat of stressful workloads and timetables rear their heads, and suddenly the motivation that was there only a second ago has taken an elusive holiday elsewhere. A myriad distractions fight for our attention, from checking sports scores online to browsing a favorite blog (or two, or three), to catching up with coworkers and friends during the day. The future – even the near future – can often feel like a magical far-away place that is of no concern to the present. Things will happen in their own due time, and that’s just a problem for another day.
I myself admittedly lump more things in my life into this category than I should, labeling them as an F.P.P. (Future-Perry’s Problem) before simply moving on with my day. How quickly we forget that we will, of course, become that future person before long.
True, working under pressure can do the trick from time to time, when it comes down the wire and something has to get done now or not at all. Besides, how many of us can honestly say that we never stayed up all night in college back in the day finishing a paper after waiting just a bit too long? Who among us has never said to ourselves “I’ll get right to it after a quick break to refresh my head,” only to lose an entire hour (or more) in the process?
For pure adrenaline-fueled motivation, there’s nothing like playing the all-or-nothing game. Of course, it’s not without certain risks. A sloppy finished product put together in a rushed and careless mentality is hardly something to be proud of, and when working under the strain of procrastination’s knife, such a result is more often the rule rather than the exception.
While the tactic has its uses on rare occasions, we absolutely should not rely on the method as creative and motivational fuel. It’s how bad habits are first cultivated, and turn into an endless cycle that becomes harder and harder to shake off the longer it goes. Breaking such simple bad habits can do wonders in the short and long run alike, both in helping produce results and achieve goals in which we take true price, to say nothing of the effects of lowering stress and boosting personal mental health. I know in the recent past I talked on my views surrounding the News Year’s Resolution mentality, but if ever there was a goal to make for the coming year, this would rank high on my own list of priorities to consider.
