What Is Procrastination?

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Procrastination is usually portrayed as a sign of laziness, weakness, or other negative traits.

New views of procrastination as a valid approach to motivation are slowly gaining ground.

There are unique gifts and skills in procrastination, and they can be accessed intentionally.

Many of us have been taught that procrastination is a personal failing, and natural procrastinators are often invited to feel ashamed of themselves. Thankfully, a new understanding of procrastination is slowly gaining ground.

A new approach to procrastination

The old idea is that procrastinators have to improve themselves. It often assumes people who use procrastination as a tool aren't clever. Their natural way of getting things done is treated as a mistake, and they're continually told how to focus, organize themselves, make plans, write lists, and become skilled task masters.

Even today, endless books on organization and time management tell procrastinators how to stop procrastinating and get things done on an acceptable schedule.

Natural procrastinators are usually told that they need to become someone they're not in order to be seen as productive. The old idea is that procrastinators are not functional and need to be fixed.

Luckily for the natural procrastinators among us, that old idea is wrong.

Procrastination and motivation

In her book, What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success, Mary Lamia focuses on anxiety as our motivational emotion. Anxiety helps us look ahead and prepare ourselves for the future—and it helps us organize ourselves to arrive in that future with the skills and resources we need.

Lamia notes there are two main approaches we can use in our........

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