Inside The Mind of A Master Procrastinator

This article is a brief commentary on the ted talk by Tim Urban about – Inside the mind of a master procrastinator which talks about the benefits of procrastination and its challenges. We all procrastinate for different reasons, sometimes these serve us and others haunt us.

In this article, we talk about why we procrastinate and explore the advantages. While exploring the same, we talk about how to stop procrastinating from hurting progress.

Why do we procrastinate even though it is bad?

It had been quite some time since we talked about a Ted Talk video and I am very happy that we came across the one today, the mind of a master procrastinator.

We all know that procrastination is not the most friendly thing considering our goals and ambitions, yet we all do it at some level. There is a great inspiration in the last moment of the deadline which brings out the adrenaline rush in us which makes us concentrate better and astound ourselves with results that we had not thought about.

That’s quite simply the beauty of a procrastinator or that is what I believe when I am doing a project close to the deadline. Although I thoroughly enjoy the last-minute rush, over time I realise that I have shot myself in the foot more than once with that approach.

Related Posts: 10 Tips to Manage time to suit your needs

Problem with finishing close to a Deadline

Although it feels that things are working great and I am going good, it still gives me very little time to actually read through what report I have made and check any errors. Granted that I would have done the work in less effective time in total, I would have still put myself through all those unnecessary pressures and stress which might not have helped the process of getting the work done.

In that sense, we would love to share this video with you where Tim Urban talks about how the mind of a master procrastinator works and why we do what we do.

After a brief look at the video,I really enjoy the science behind it – makes me really understand how my brain works. I understand why I push away certain things and wait for the last minute

  • The feeling that it is easy and can do it faster later.
  • It is too difficult and things might get easier with time.
  • Because I am just damn lazy to do anything of it.

I think no matter what the reasons are, the end result is pretty much the same in the essence that the mind of a master procrastinator has effectively contributed to reducing my efficiency. (Source)



Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator: It Makes Sense But…

Thing is although I understand these and these things make sense to me, there is something within which holds me back from jumping to my work desk and getting things done. Maybe it is the fact that I haven’t understood the joy in completing things before hand, maybe I have missed out on the fun of being on top of things – well there is an incentive.

I think most times as Tony Robbins says, there are two things that motivate us – Pain and Pleasure. For some reason, at some level, there is an association of pain of having to do something right away and the pleasure of postponing it. The simple reason being that we can use the same time to have fun and do something we really enjoy. Maybe we don’t have enough reasons to enjoy the act of completing a task on time.

Somewhere it makes me believe that the answer is in an intelligent and conscious mix of the two to bring in a sense of urgency within us to attain our goals. It is not the easiest thing on earth, but it is a much better feeling being in control of things and do a great job at what we are working on.

10 thoughts on “Inside The Mind of A Master Procrastinator”

  1. He he so am I Lata. I think procrastination also has its base in motivation somewhere, the motivation which makes us push hard and everything else becomes secondary. I guess we could seal the difference when we build enough reasons to do something which we would like to :)

  2. Ha ha ha :D .. Now that’s a memory to have, I remember the flop sweat during the exams where I used to go into a phase of complaining as to why I didn’t prioritise and study properly. I guess it was possibly a way to vent out the tension and would come back to the good old nature of procrastination :D .

    I think being an entrepreneur is an amazing challenge, especially when you have to be self driven and the entire company draws from the energy of its creator. And it is so easy to slip back to the zone of comfort. I guess that is what makes a difference between an entrepreneur and someone else, most of it is self driven and extremely inspirational to say the least.

  3. Oh boy! One thing that always comes in my mind related to procrastination is that, when in my school days, my mother used to tell me to arrange the books in the bag according to the school time-table. I never did it. Panic arrives at the morning time, keeping the rickshawala on wait and end up messing my time-table and getting alternate day scolds from teacher on not bringing a particular copy or a book. It seems that delaying work is in my veins and the video is bang on. Especially when he mentioned about the second type of procrastinator who doesn’t have any deadlines (in my case entrepreneurship in art and design), I screw up my life in a larger picture. Man… the 90 years of weekly small box, was a big-time ringer. Also the points that you have mentioned on reasons are also gel up so well with my mind games. Thanks a lot Vinay for sharing this info. It was fun and very valuable.

  4. I procrastinate because I am lazy till I can’t be any more because time is running out. I accept that focus and dedication would probably have delivered a better outcome if one hadn’t procrastinated. Funny thing is as I aged, I stopped procrastinating because I was no longer able to pull all nighters. One had to plan ahead with that knowledge in mind:)

  5. Maniparna Sengupta Majumder

    Yeah..now, I’m getting it too, my procrastination :-D Thanks for the video, Vinay…

  6. I liked the term Master Procrastinator. We all procrastinate at times. Don’t we? Well I think a way to ward off procrastination is to make break tasks into parts that are smaller, simpler and more interesting, so that the mind is not put off merely by the thought of doing the task.

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