Is there Any Positives in Being a Procrastinator? Mindset Dev

Procrastinationism

Procrastination is generally seen as a negative habit. However, there are a group of individuals that embrace it. Commonly referred to as “Procrastinationism”, these are those who are proud in their ability to leave thing to the last minute, yet be able to reach high levels of performance and focus under pressure. High pressure builds diamonds if you will. And meanwhile during the procrastination they would put their idea in a mental pressure cooker which as a result in a superior output. But because they are not forced to take action during these periods, they can get mental relaxations which can lead to better mental health.

Careful Consideration vs Reality Avoidance

From my prospective is very different from what is considered procrastination. When I procrastinate there is no consideration for better ideas or getting a mental break. Procrastination is reality avoidance, I would force myself to come up with some excuse not to work. Once it’s gets really close to the deadline I would sleep every night wishing it was a dream and when I wake up everything will be gone. So while I procrastinate the last thing is thinking about the work, and even though your trying to ignore it, you know that your fucking up so slowly it chips away your mental health too.

Pressure as a Performance Enhancer

Now it doesn’t mean that careful brain storming and putting yourself under pressure doesn’t work. Especially if your like a artist where your success is solely dependent on your individual output. And if your were to fail to meet the deadline, the only person you are hurting is yourself. Pressure can also help with perfectionists who never be quite ok with their work.

However, in reality, most jobs and projects are a collaborative effort. You work as a team and your have to be accountable to do your part. Therefore, your procrastination puts everyone under pressure, and it is much more common for people to perform worse under pressure than those who do well under pressure. Different from school, when your risking people’s livelihood, you will endanger yourself from being blamed.

From my experience, to have urgency is important in any work. It doesn’t mean that the work is “rushed”, but in the end what matters it execution rather than having a world changing idea. People will have no trust on people you can’t walk the walk.

To Procrastinate or Not To Procrastinate

So as aggregate, there are very limited positives to procrastinating. And I think it is important to clearly separate “deliberation” (careful consideration) and “procrastination” (reality avoidance). Using physical pressures such as time can be used to enhance performance. However, as you self develop, you must be able to use internal pressures such as ambition, discipline and accountability. When developed properly these can be as powerful tool as external pressures, without jeopardising your relationships.

Stop finding excuses to procrastinate, it has caused great pain to myself and others surrounding me. Don’t let it happen to you.

 

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Talent vs Hard Work: Mindset Dev

The debate between Talent vs Hard Work can be argued from numerous angles, and everyone has their own opinions. But I my mind this comparison can be seen in terms of singular short term output, and long term aggregate output. And ultimately, hard work is a greater force that increases your chance of you experiencing success.

Talent is Singular, Hard Work is Universal

In terms of purely a short term singular output, talent will always trumps hard work. We all know this feeling where no matter how hard you try, there will be some guy that just does it better. I remember on my maths class in high school there was a guy that could calculate in his head quicker than I could read the equation. We are given different hands in the game of life, and these natural abilities can dictate the probability of immediate success.

However, what defines a person’s achievement that truly has weight is determined through a longer term, multi-output. When talent is recognised from a young age, parents deprives the child of the chance of exploration in other interests. The child is taken to special classes after school, seek scholariships or even drop out to pursue their talent full time. This causes the their talent to become their entire identity. Any attention, praise or success leading to personal value will be attach to the talent.

Meanwhile the hard workers has been slowing moving forward even though they might not have enjoyed seeing their peers progress beyond their field of view. But their minds are sharpened as they grind though the rough experience of struggle. Because of this, hard workers has mental strength that can carry over to any career they choose. They know the feeling of being clueless, yet they tasted progress and development. As a result they acquired crucial skill; consistency, discipline and grit.

The Output

The difference in talent level paves a path that greatly shapes contrasting life experiences. To visualise the effect on success, lets use the talented basketball player vs a untalented hard working basketball player.

The chance of success is differentiated by two factor; relative probability and success subjectivity.

Relative Probability

The chance of the hard worker becoming successful is higher simply because of probability. The talented basketball player puts everything in his life to pursue the career in basketball which is a limited market with extreme levels of competition. Higher you climb the significance of the talent dilutes in correlation. A talented college player is a average player in the NBA. This can be devastating for the individual as you become a shadow in the arena that they were once the hero. And as he has been hyper focused in a singular skill, it is difficult to change careers especially when the skills are niche as Basketball. Moreover, because he has been talented since the beginning, he never had to blindly go into a area that he has no natural talent at. It becomes frustrating to experience embarrassment of inferiority which deters them to step into a completely new field.

Conversely the hard worker may only aspired to play on the college team. It may take him 4 years to get to play in the team. But once graduating, he will have a cognitive skill that will be transferable in any career he chooses. In his pursuit of making the team he tasted the joy of progress and accomplishing a goal that objectively may seem small but subjectively brings great satisfaction. That experience will give him the confidence to pursuing careers that he might not have the skill currently. He knows that as long as he keep at it, he will get better. Therefore, by having more options of careers that he can potentially be successful, and having the ability to adapt to new environments means he will have greater number of opportunities to become successful.

Success Subjectivity

Secondly the definition of success is subjectively different between the individual. For the talented, the more talent you have the higher you set your goals. For the talented his definition of success is playing in the NBA. This is means that anything other than reaching the NBA in his mind a failure. NCAA players have a 1.2% change of getting into the NBA, then their chances of “perceiving” as failure is 98.8%.

The hard worker is conservative in measuring his capability in Basketball He set his goals to represent the college team and with enough hard work there is a high likelihood he will make it. This humble mentality nurtures an important mindset of setting achievable goals. And as his definition of success is much realistic he gets to experience success periodically which drives a positive feedback loop. The type of success that society acknowledges is a built with series of small successes that people will never see. Yet becoming a serial mini achiever is what eventually builds permanent greatness.

To Clarify

I am not saying that hard work is superior, in the end it is not a black and white argument. Obviously the ideal is to have both talent and hard working mentality. What’s important here is that that even your hard work doesn’t take you far in a career, don’t feel that you wasted time. Your experience will equip you to find your passion and success. Do not value yourself in a singular output. Become a serial mini achiever, and you will be surprised how far that ride can take you.

My first step: Procrastinator to Productive

For my first post of the blog, I thought it will be fitting to tell you the story of what inspired my journey of micro self development. The first thing you need to know about me is that I’m a Youtube addict. Youtube has always been my drug of choice. It is a buffet for procrastinators, every time you tell yourself; “this is the last one!” then you see something mildly interesting then you immediately give in; “just one more clip”. I am Alice and Youtube is the Wonder Land. I have fallen into countless rabbit holes and 99% of the time it’s cat videos, but sometimes, you find a gem.

In the suggestion feed, there was man in the thumbnail dressed in a white military uniform. It was titled: If You Want to Change the World, Start Off by Making Your Bed – William McRaven, US Navy Admiral. Now I encourage you to watch this video, as it touches multiple topics that had been valuable for me, but lets focus his main case: “start of your day by making your bed”. He claims that by making your bed every morning, you have accomplished a task. And by doing so, you will be able to accomplish other tasks as it has a domino effect. Initially the make-your-bed part wasn’t particularly life changing, but I was mesmerised by McRaven and drunk from motivation. So I made my bed purely because McRaven told me to do so.

And that was it.

Honestly I did not know what I was hoping to feel. But the clouds did not open up or my consciousness did not reach enlightenment. It felt like nothing has changed. I was still me. Once the high had worn off, I went about my normal unproductive day and fell asleep. I woke up next morning as usual and went straight into the shower. Once I got out of the shower, I saw my bed, unmade. It was a weird feeling because I noticed that the bed was “unmade”. I never made my bed before and that “unmade” state was normal. Now it was …. not normal. So I made my bed for the second time. And the third time. And I continued to make my bed. McRaven talks about how making your bed is a visual representation of completing a task. Every time you come back home you see that you have accomplished something and that drives a positive reinforcement. And I believe it did jump start my productivity. After making the bed became my habit I moved on to laundry, then to cleaning the floor every 2 days and so on. It cascaded into series of habits that became essential tools for my productivity.

Im sure most of you guys have messy rooms, and you don’t give a shit if you room is clean or not. But when you are welcomed to a clean room after a long day there is something incredibly satisfying and rewarding. Even more so as you know that it was you that made the bed, did the laundry and cleaned the floors.

As procrastinators (PCTs) we try so hard to better ourselves, but we fail because we try to prove ourselves by aiming big. To write 5000 words on our essay, to go to the gym everyday for 1 month, learn how to code a website in 1 week. These goals if you achieve them will give you great sense of pride. But like mountain climbing, if you never climbed a mountain before and you see mount Everest in front of you, your not leaving base camp where theres warm food and a comfy bed. As any endeavour we have to progressive build our strength, endurance and technique to take on these big climbs.  And unfortunately for us PCTs, we lack all of it. So let start from treadmills out from other people’s sight. Making your bed is your first 10 minutes on the treadmill.

So go make your bed now.