Art of Procrastination

There are few such arts which can be tracked well into the history and are as well practiced throughout generations as the ancient art of procrastination. Procrastination is the wonderful capability of a skilled individual to deliberately delay the process of doing work by engaging in other random, time wasting activities. People of all age groups have practiced this prestigious art unknowingly or intentionally at least once in their life time. However, not everyone is capable of performing this art gracefully. Art of procrastination requires special skills which have to be developed with lots of practice and consistency. For example, a person who needs computer to procrastinate is actually an amateur procrastinator. Professional procrastinators do not need any such things to help them procrastinate.

Procrastination is a complex art. It involves certain capabilities that need to be fully understood in order to gain the full understanding of this art. Therefore, it is not surprising that certain misconceptions are associated with the art of procrastination. The greatest misconception is thinking of procrastination as slacking. Procrastination differs from slacking in the context that slacking can be done deliberately. The intention behind slacking is often, not wanting to do the work at all. Procrastination on the other hand, has intention of doing all the work at some point but after wasting time by doing random, distracting activities. For instance, a slacker would skip class altogether and would not do any of his academic work because he does not want to do so. Whereas, a procrastinator would attend all his classes and even do his work but only after he has procrastinated as long as he desired.

Another major misconceptions regarding procrastinating is that it is due to lack of motivation. This is simply not true. Procrastinators are generally motivated people. The only reason for such people to procrastinate is that the motivation of doing assigned tasks is not so appealing when compared to the delights of procrastination. Also note that, procrastinators constantly remind themselves of the tasks which need to b attended to, hence the motivation is there. The only trouble is that there is always something way more important and interesting than starting ‘that’ task. For instance, an author brain storming for the plot of his short story would start cleaning his refrigerator to procrastinate. But he would have all the intention of getting back to his work but only after he has done cleaning.

People often assume that unlike all other forms of art, procrastination does not involve any special skills. This is not true at all. Procrastinators are highly skilled individuals who put time and energy in developing tactics for procrastination. It is important to appreciate how procrastinators master this prestigious art by practicing it so much that it becomes their second nature. Not everyone is capable of practicing with a consistency to excel at such an art.  Procrastinators are also highly talented when it comes to dealing with the guilt feelings resulting from procrastination. Guilt feelings are strongly there, but it takes immense talent to ignore it and carry on merrily with procrastinating. It is amazing how skilled procrastinators develop varied techniques that help them to procrastinate. Procrastinating techniques vary among individuals and mature with the passage of time. For instance, a college student uses Facebook to procrastinate, whereas a housewife would watch a soap opera to put off her laundry chores. 

Anyone wishing to master the prestigious art of procrastination has to develop certain skills. Firstly, the skill that is immensely essential is developing a well aimed intention to procrastinate. Bear in mind that nobody can procrastinate unless they have a strong intention of doing so. This also means that one should be determined to do the work that has been put off, but only after finishing the wonderful procrastinating activity one is currently engaged in. However, after mastering this skill, procrastination can be done upon desire randomly.

Secondly, an ability to procrastinate without any fancy props must be fully developed. Amateur procrastinators require fancy distractions such as TV, computer, and cell phones to help them start procrastinating. But the professional procrastinators are highly skilled in procrastinating without any such props readily available to them. Well-skilled procrastinators master this art so well that they become independent of such distractions. For example, an amateur student procrastinator would have to find a distraction such as computer to put his school work. A true student procrastinator would sit down with homework and still manage to procrastinate by thinking about something amusing.

Another key skill that should be developed is the capability of avoiding guilt feelings. To procrastinate successfully, an important thing is to avoid exposure to every reminder of the task that needs to be done. Nothing kills the fun of procrastinating better than the guilt feeling that occurs when procrastinators fail to avoid reminders of the pending work. Skilled procrastinators do not worry too much about the task that needs to be done. Instead, they convince themselves that tomorrow ‘always’ comes. An example to do so is to start avoiding listening to that tiny voice in your head chirping, “dude! You need to finish that work first.” It can be calmed down by thinking how well that work would be done after procrastinating for another hour or so.

Lastly, the core skill needed to become a professional procrastinator is to procrastinate as much as per desired. Bear in mind that procrastinators deliberately and merrily enjoy the delights of procrastination. Nothing whatsoever can distract such skilled artists from happily carrying on with their procrastination. To become a successful procrastinator remember the golden motto, which is agreed upon by every professional procrastinator in this world. It is; “tomorrow ‘always’ comes.” This art can be successfully mastered if one pays attention to all the golden rules listed. The delights offered by procrastination are pretty priceless. Therefore, everyone should make an effort to start performing the prestigious art of procrastinating. Also learn to procrastinate joyfully, as there is always tomorrow.