I get the value of procrastinating; creativity can require the pressure of a looming deadline to flower. As Calvin tells Hobbes, “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. … Last-minute panic.”
The danger is that we all have decided to apply this same logic to non-creative work.
The deadline is looming for paperwork…tidying the living room…signing up…buying tickets to a concert.
Why am I waiting? What value is there in procrastinating this work? I won’t do it more creatively down the road. I will just do it with the added pressure of no wiggle room.
At this point in the school year, all the events have bunched up and there is no time left for anything but grabbing as fast as you can at spinning plates.
It’s about having the discipline in the downtime to work ahead on as many projects as you can. Pre-crastinate on the non-creative work, so you can be creative on creativity’s timeline without so many plates to spin.
Learn to differentiate between valuable procrastination and worthless delay.