It’s not really a syndrome, but I am a procrastinator. I recently watched a Ted talk about being inside the mind of a procrastinator. I used to fight my nature of procrastination but have since embraced it. Rather than feeling bad about how I work, I ensure that when I procrastinate, I do a controlled procrastination and make sure that I have exactly the right amount of time to accomplish what I need to accomplish.
Case in point, writing a presentation and recording it all in one day. Because it’s due today. I don’t feel bad about this, and in fact I work my best when I am under the gun and have no time to accomplish what I need to accomplish. Back when I was in school I was able to pull out 3000 word, well-written essay in the matter of a couple hours.
That was obviously assuming I knew the topic I was writing about. The key to procrastination is you cannot procrastinate on figuring things out. Mostly because when you figure things out you don’t know exactly how long that’s going to take. You can’t procrastinate on learning your material and then ruminating on that material such that you’re able to come to conclusions and develop a certain level of expertise. You have to know yourself and how far you can push your procrastination. I know I can pull out a 45-minute presentation out of my sleeve at the drop of a hat.
I blame my mom for that. Since I was 12 I would participate in classes that she taught where she would train you to be given a speech topic, stand up from your chair, and while you are walking to the front of the class, develop your speech on the fly. And when you reach the front of the class you deliver that 5 minute speech.
Perhaps that’s why I’m confident in my procrastination ability; because she taught me how to think on the fly and be confident in my ability to go from zero to complete from the time I stand up to the time I get to the front of the class.
Now if you will excuse me, I have 2 hours to write and record a 45-minute presentation.
Wish me broken legs.
P.S. Here is the link to that TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU&ab_channel=TED
