We all deal with it. The anxiety of work buildup, and the more that seems to pile on, the less we want to do it all. We procrastinate. It’s what we are all told not to do, and we feel awful when doing it. The irony of it all is that I procrastinated writing this article.
It is the day before it is due and here I am, trying to tell whoever is reading this about how to avoid pushing things off when I literally did that with this piece. I’m the worst, I know, I know. So, instead of telling you how not to procrastinate, I’m going to tell you that it is okay to not do everything right away and that sometimes, the best ideas come when you literally have no time before something has to be done.
I want to first pull from a pretty amazing story that my dad told me about. The online prescription eyewear company Warby Parker was created out of pure procrastination. It was an idea that four college guys: Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa and Jeffrey Raider had in Philadelphia in 2010. Originally, one of their favorite professors was on board with them because he believed in the company, but for their first idea launch, the guys were not prepared what-so-ever. Once he found this out, he became angry and pulled himself from the company. The four were so pushed for time that they had to come up with an amazing idea launch, and so they did. They pushed themselves to stretch brain power, which ended up going very well for them, and today, the company makes millions of dollars.
Now, I want to pull from my own experiences. There are some days when I literally cannot do homework. My brain either doesn’t work, I can’t seem to get motivated or it takes me all day to try to get out of bed. These are the days I feel guilty about, but truly… should I? I mean I’m only human. I am allowed to have bad days, and so are you. So, please do not beat yourself up about not being on top of every single assignment you have. It is okay to not be motivated some days or push things off. As long as I know I can get something done on time, in the long run, I don’t stress too hard.
Not what you were expecting, huh? And yet, possibly my best work thus far. So go ahead you put-offers and low-time-thrivers, you never know when pushing yourself to do something last minute can challenge your brain to do something extraordinary.