Procrastination a way to be creative
By Paul Fugleberg
Ah, procrastination.
A few weeks ago, coffee time conversation items seemed to be new year’s resolutions. As usual, I couldn’t contribute to the topic. About ten years ago, I resolved to continue my procrastination habit. That’s the only one I’ve managed to keep.
A procrastinator’s guideline is “Never do anything today that can be put off until tomorrow.” Except to pay taxes, mortgages, utilities, rents and charge accounts when due.
The practice pays off more often than you might think. F’rinstance, I put off trading in my ’67 Ford Galaxie for so long that the trade-in value was worth considerably more than what I paid for the car in the first place.
Saved a bundle of money, too, when our seven-person household got by with one bathroom. We discussed about adding a second bathroom but never got around to it – and it was efficient in maintaining a morning schedule that helped get everyone up, fed and off to work or school on time.
Procrastination could play beneficial roles worldwide. Wars could be delayed, riots and revolutions avoided, tax hikes deferred, unqualified political candidates might not make up their mind soon enough to file office – some, however, fail to procrastinate when they really should.
You might think that procrastination is strange trait for anyone engaged in newspaper, broadcasting and television and news fields their deadlines. Not necessarily, though. Sometimes by waiting until the last minute to do a story, you could end up with late breaking development.
Some would call such practices rationalization. Others call it strategy – when it works. When it doesn’t … well, never mind.
Another thing: The more you put off doing something, the more time you have to do some of the other things that you’ve put off. Admittedly, some of those could be so enjoyable that secretly you wonder why you deferred them. Fishing, a train trip, an Alaskan cruise, stuff like that.
To write properly about the additional benefits of procrastination, you need to take a notebook and pen to the lakeshore, sit in the cool shade of a tall tree, and do considerable dreaming and philosophizing. But wait until the weather warms a bit more.
Fugleberg is the
former editor of the Polson Courier.