Why Procrastination is a Source of Wisdom

“Procrastination happens when society has convinced you to desire something you don’t really want.” — Sahil Lavingia

Hypothesis: Procrastination is a feature, not a bug 🧐

In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb makes the confession that he uses procrastination as a filter for his writing. If he feels strong resistance to writing a certain section, he leaves it out as a service to his readers: “Why should they read something that I didn’t want to write?”

Montaigne reportedly worked on polishing his most famous book, The Complete Essays, from 1570 until 1592. He was quick to start, but very slow to finish. His French comrade, Louis de Bonald, came up with a witty remark: “All that is to last is slow to grow.”

Bill Gates, it seems, is also a terrible procrastinator. He often found himself putting off his university assignments to work on his business. That’s how Microsoft was brought to life. He stopped completing his unnatural duties to work on more meaningful projects.

Even Michelangelo would have trouble getting out of bed if he had nothing but a day of spreadsheets ahead. It’s hard to imagine Leonardo da Vinci working for a corporation or being a government bureaucrat.

If your projects lack flavor and you have no skin in the game, your body won’t produce energy. You will procrastinate. This is the side-effect of too much safety & comfort. No one procrastinates if they see a lion entering their room 🦁

H/T Jash Dholani

Paul Graham breaks down procrastination into 3 variants, depending on what you do instead of the task at hand: You procrastinate by working on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. C-type procrastinators are the most imppressive 👑

Daniel Vassallo came up with a great remark: “Procrastination is information. It shows where your ambitions mismatch your true preferences. If you force yourself to create something you don’t feel like doing—it will show.”

Instead of fighting procrastination as though it were an illness, maybe we should learn to understand its utility. Procrastination is NOT a vice. This is a misconception that spoils creative thinking & intellectual serendipity. Procrastination is a source of wisdom.