It is no secret that procrastination can lead to higher levels of stress and anxiety, so why do so many people continue to procrastinate? With this question in mind, I decided to do some research on the topic and found that while procrastination can be harmful, perhaps it can be helpful as well. 

 

The Pros of Procrastination 

 

     Many people view procrastination as a bad habit, and it makes sense why. However, In the article “Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate” by Adam Grant, he describes procrastination can actually be a good thing in certain cases. This is because procrastination can actually lead to an increase in creativity. 

 

     Grant talks about an experiment done by a professor at the University of Wisconsin named Jihae Shin and her experiment on procrastination vs creativity. According to Grant, in the experiment, “She asked people to come up with new business ideas. Some were randomly assigned to start right away. Others were given five minutes to first play Minesweeper or Solitaire”. If they weren’t told about the task before playing these games, there was no real increase in creativity; however, if individuals were told the task before starting to play, creativity was actually measured to go up 28%. 

 

     Of course, too much procrastination can end up hurting the creative process as stress and anxiety can inhibit our thinking, but with the right balance, procrastination can be a helpful tool in boosting our brain. 

 

The Cons of Procrastination 

 

     These positive attributes of procrastination may have people thinking that procrastination is no big deal; however, we have to remember that there are downsides to this action as well. As mentioned before, procrastination causes a drastic increase in stress levels, causing both short term and long term problems. High levels of stress are known to cause stomach and head pain as well as high levels or sadness or irritability. Not only that, but according to PsychCentral’s article “Effects of Procrastination: The Good and the Bad” by Julie Marks, “people who chronically procrastinate have higher levels of stress and are more likely to experience acute health problems, such as: insomnia, digestive problems, [and] muscle tension and pain”. 

 

     Procrastination also can lead to an increase in mistakes. This is because waiting until the last minute can prevent individuals from properly checking their work, leading them to be unable to fix easily repairable mistakes. While they may be smaller mistakes, these mistakes add up overtime and can cause drops in grades and GPAs in the future. 

 

     The dangers of waiting can differ between types of procrastination as well. According to the Ted talk “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator” by Tim Urban (A very entertaining video in my opinion), there can be two types of procrastination: Short term and Long term. While short term isn’t as dangerous due to the knowledge of a pressing deadline, long term procrastination has no deadline, yet is something the individual must do. Tim Urban gives some examples of this like “being a self starter, something in the arts, [and] something entrepreneurial”. As important as these things are to a career, their lack of deadline can cause people to never begin, ruining careers before they can even start. 

(The Procrastination Cycle)

     So in the end, is procrastination more of a positive habit or a negative one? In my opinion, it’s both. With moderation and balance, procrastination can be a useful tool for fueling creativity and one’s mindset; however taken too far, procrastination can have extreme consequences for the future. In the end, I believe that the helpfulness of procrastination really depends on the individual procrastinating.