Is Procrastination a Bad Thing?

Zoe Gleeson

As adapted from author’s article featured in the Australian Law Students’ Association’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Publication 2023

ISTRUGGLE with due dates. Was this article late for submission? Yes. Did I have plenty of time in which to write said article? Yes, I did. Am I attempting to smash this out whilst panicking at the time? Yes, yes I am.

I have always asked myself why my brain cannot fuse its neural pathways with my practicality. My brain WANTS to do all of the things. I have ‘to do’ lists; plans of attack in my head, but it is as though my body refuses to compute what I WANT to be done with what actually IS done. I have never started an assessment until the day of the due date. The deadline could be so close, and I would still flatly refuse to even open the document containing the assessment question in it, until the day of the due date. Alarming, right? Most first years have already keeled over and died from the shock of that confession. I see you. But fear not! I hold many qualifications and have an undergraduate degree which makes me feel like I have an idea of what I am doing by now. And somehow, it all comes together in the last possible moment, and I submit with minutes until Turnitin comes up with the red text of death saying the assessment is ‘overdue’. Even that sentence is enough to give anyone heart palpitations.

Procrastination is my best friend but I viewed it as my worst enemy in the past. I have wreaked havoc on my own life by riddling myself full of guilt that I am ‘different’ to most of my peers. My work colleagues consistently ask if the legal sector is where I belong, as I somehow do not fit into the typical ‘smash out all of the work all at once’ archetype, and have assessments completed in advance. Apparently, I am not an authentic ‘Type A’. I worry that I am not working the way everyone else is and fitting into the norm. However, to those naysayers, I raise the concept of ‘mulling’. No, I am unfortunately not talking about mulling a nice bevvie on a Saturday night, I am talking about thinking of anything profoundly and for a long duration of time.

In both my lives; my career and studying, I take the time needed to mull over questions and tasks needed to be completed. I often find myself staring into space postulating over anything from ethical quandaries to my next Remedies Essay question. My brain can somehow sit on these for weeks or even months and generate *insert keyboard smash of numbers here* ways to potentially solve the problem. This had led to (what my professors have stated) ‘seriously creative’ discourse. By giving myself the extra time that my peers do not require, I have created space for myself to think outside of the box. Most people would be given a question for a law assignment and trust their gut, pursuing their first idea on the matter. Sorry to break it to you, but this would typically generate an ‘average at best’ response. Yes, you might be able to spruce it up a bit by adding in fancy, big words, and spend the time interweaving your argument throughout, trying to make it flow and sound somewhat legible. Realistically, have you already done a disservice to yourself by not fully exploring the unknown? Going with whatever ‘fits’ or comes to you quickly is not necessarily the best way to move forward.

Procrastination has typically been viewed as a bad thing, a ‘…self-regulatory failure’; something to avoid at all costs. ‘Scholars across the globe lecturing on the complete opposite of procrastination; how to ‘stay on top of your workload’ and ‘produce more in less amounts of time’, however, is this simply leading into a capitalist ideal? Why is selfoptimisation such a goal? Why do we feel guilty when at rest? Why do we feel like we need to be working ourselves to the bone all the time? Are you asking yourself if there is another option that can allow for a better use of my time?

‘I believe procrastination is inherently a good thing; set aside for only the great thinkers of the world; the innovators. Using every last second up to a deadline is an efficient use of time. Having a question in my mind over the span of months before the deadline allows me to, again, mull. I could be driving to work and mindlessly singing along with whatever abhorrent Top 40 song is on the radio, but all that time I am constantly thinking about potential answers to the question at hand. I am generating and fusing potential options together to create a well-informed and educated answer. I may be physically writing the thing that is due mere minutes before the deadline, but I have already formed the response/s in my head throughout the last few weeks. It is at this point that my guilt started to diminish. Organisation and procrastination do not have to be incongruent. If I procrastinate, does it not mean I am disorganised? The answer is simply, no. My mind is organised – I am aware of every single deadline, my workspaces are tidy, my schedule is tightly structured. Procrastination has led to mental organisation where my thoughts are able to flow freely.

I am completely set in my ways. I have tried and tried to amend my habits for ones that are consistently fed to me; those ‘proved to work’ and studied by professionals. With 24 years of education under my belt, I have learned that I can type out a 3,000-word assessment in 7 hours with FULL AGLC4 referencing (does anyone else find AGLC4 referencing difficult?!). Could I have done this with less stress? Probably. Could I have completed work for deadlines earlier? Sure! If we all thought and completed tasks the same way, would we not live in a super boring world? Creativity and innovation exist for a reason! Taking a beat and just giving yourself the time to mull can be the idea-generating process we need to create something impactful.