From the time I joined college, I have mastered the art of
procrastination bit by bit. Of course it wouldn't have been possible without
the help of my college mates. Small motivational speeches like 'lite lena yaar' and 'chill maar', have
strengthened my resolve to postpone work from time to time. I've perfected
the art of working just before the deadline, however complex the job at hand
may be.
Now that, I am now out of college and have started working, I have started understanding how this habit can be a real pain in the ass. 'Deadlines are sacrosanct’ takes a whole new meaning at work. Not
turning in work in time, can lead to embarrassing situations and frustration. Even if you manage to complete the work before the deadline, the quality of work is nowhere close to the expectation. Thanks to
all the free time I get as a result of procrastination, I have been thinking
why do I really procrastinate?
1. There is a lot of time on hand
2. The task is too mechanical/boring
3. There is lack of clarity in the
task to be done
4. There is shared responsibility on
this job and no one is working
Case 1 & 2 are the easiest to tackle. In fact, I realised procrastinating here actually helps. If you know, what is to be done exactly, it's best to just leave it till the end. We all know, how our efficiency levels shoot up just before the deadline. The mundane jobs are best done under the pressure of a deadline. In the pressure might make you think out of the box and you may find an efficient way of doing it. That said, a quick estimate of the time required for the job doesn't hurt and you can plan it accordingly.
Case 3 is a real problem. I have
been struggling to do one such task from quite some time now. I have made many half-hearted attempts to do it but to no avail. Asking your boss/colleague might seem like a good idea here. But as in my case, this is not always possible. My boss wanted me to figure out how to do it, since he didn't know it! After almost a
month of squandering away my time aimlessly, I resolved to give two
hours of my undivided attention to the task, before completely giving up. And voila, it
worked! Even if I don't have a complete solution, I have an idea which can be bounced off.
Case 4 is not less problematic either. Here, your
managerial and people skills are put to real test. Sometimes, just a small push is required
to get the work rolling! But, we are scared to initiate, lest the
entire burden falls onto us. Either way, I think it's best to take the
plunge. If the team catches up, well and good. If they don't, then you can
still take some credit for having tried at least. That's still better than not doing anything at all.
All this idle rambling (or shall I call it brainstorming?) brings me to the conclusion that procrastination isn't all that bad after all! If I tackle the tricky one's on time, I am in safe zone :)
