Lara Meade

I have a confession to make...I’m a procrastinator. It took me years to not be ashamed of it. I’ve been this way my whole life. Even when I was in school, I can remember staying up, more nights than I can count, working on projects or studying for tests until the early morning hours. I remember how my teachers and professors lectured me about the perils of waiting to study or finish projects. When I got to college I would do an epic FLOTUS eye roll when I heard this lecture. By then I was over it.

Now not only do I accept my procrastinating ways, I embrace them as a part of personality and work style. Many people think all procrastinators lay around on the couch, watch tv, or play video games, and wait until the last minute to do something-these people don’t know what they’re talking about.

If I delay my work, I find that I’m more creative and the work flows naturally. But if I start early, I’m easily distracted and can’t focus. This is a personal choice and I don’t recommend it for everyone, a lot of people are planners who pride themselves on a well-regimented workflow. I’m an odd duck who gets high of stress.

Recently I read about something called managed delay. Managed delay is fancy phrase for procrastination, and it’s an art form. Only experienced procrastinators should practice this, because you have to know how fast you can realistically finish a project, with a high degree of quality and accuracy.

There are also two different forms of procrastination, active and passive. Most of the time when I procrastinate, especially at work, it’s because I’m working on something that’s a higher priority or time-sensitive. In other cases I’ll take a break to work on another project, or just take a much-needed breather (even then I’m thinking about the other items on my to-do list and the best way to finish them). This is active procrastination. Passive procrastination is when your husband is sitting on the couch watching the game and avoiding his “honey do” list. Active procrastination requires forethought and critical-thinking. Passive procrastination involves a bag of Doritos and a nap.

So I get annoyed when I read articles on careers sites about the perils of procrastination and ways to minimize it. Procrastination is not a disease that needs to be cured, but a way of working that has many advantages. So to all of my budding procrastinators, next time you hear a lecture, tell your instructor or boss to suck it (under your breath). Procrastination is awesome!