Louis Li “Just Do It Later”

JUST DO IT. LATER. ____________________________________________________________ by Louis Li, Grade 12

Shouts of “Do not procrastinate!” echo in every high school hallway. As students, we are frequently warned about the dangers of procrastination. The dreaded P-word always keeps us company, but only affects us when we need to complete an undesirable task. If you’re one of those few people who work at one hundred percent efficiency one hundred percent of the time, then I’m jealous. Great work on already getting your oil changed. I hope you, Dorothy and Scarecrow get to see the Wizard soon.

For most people, procrastination is a bad thing, but for others, it is the road to their best work. During that time of procrastination, we avoid negative emotions created by the required task. By procrastinating, our bodies facilely accomplish unnecessary—yet productive—tasks outside of daunting drudgery with detrimental deadlines:

Is procrastination as awful as the adults make it to be?

Do they procrastinate, too?

What if my room is dirty?

How can I do anything in this pigsty?

I really should clean my room first.

Procrastination is defined as “the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline” (Cherry), while also undertaking tasks that are lower on the list of priorities. It is not synonymous to laziness. Cleaning your room, folding your clothes or creating next week’s schedule (instead of doing a work or school project) are not lazy tasks. These actions of productive procrastination take effort and should be commended. If not for our dear friend procrastination, these tasks may never be completed at all, since there is no deadline for them. If these chores had one, I would bet my left pinky that we would procrastinate them, too. The deadline is the insurance that it gets done.

The unproductive procrastinators walk a thin tightrope. Nothing gets accomplished until they slip and fall into the valley of anxiety, stress and fear of failure. What saves them from hitting the ground is the safety gear: the deadline. Their methods of procrastination must change. Refresh your mind instead of your Instagram page. Check your emails instead of your TikTok. Recharge with a nap instead of the brain-candy on Netflix. Since procrastination is inevitable, we might as well do something productive while avoiding the task.

As due dates draw near, productivity increases. The mind that was filled with countless explorations (or no explorations at all) can now concentrate. The urgency to meet the deadline creates a state of panic and urgency. Keath Low, a therapist and clinical scientist who specializes in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), claims that some people with ADHD use this state of panic and urgency to “propel” forward and complete the assigned job. This strategy may be the only method for some to finishing a task, whether they have ADHD or not.

So is procrastination really as awful as adults make it out to be?

American writer and humourist, Mark Twain, said, “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” Putting it off until the day after tomorrow allows

JUST DO IT. LATER. ____________________________________________________________ by Louis Li, Grade 12

that much more time for ideas and information to formulate. When a task of upmost priority is assigned with a deadline, it makes us focus on said task only. Other thoughts become irrelevant. They do not help us escape the mental prison that we have been placed in. But the unrelated ideas are what drive innovation: creations in the face of procrastination. The pressure from a target date cannot create diamonds, but it can create other gems the likes of which haven’t been seen since Leonardo Da Vinci and Mozart.

Historically renowned artist and engineer, Leonardo Da Vinci, was guilty of procrastination. Da Vinci’s most famous works, The Mona Lisa and the Virgin of the Rocks, took him sixteen and thirteen years respectively to complete (Chegg). He is the definition of not rushing perfection. It was not as if he was free from the chains of a time limit; in fact, “(o)ne benefactor threatened to bankrupt him in order to get him to finish a commissioned piece of work” (Chegg). Da Vinci was not lazy. Instead of painting, he filled his notebooks with doodles of “inventions such as the helicopter, a metal-rolling mill, and the wheel-lock musket, plus sophisticated designs for bridges, a moveable dyke for Venice, and highly accurate maps” (Stodola). If he had heeded our teacher’s warnings and fought the urge to not doodle, the innovation and genius of Da Vinci would be limited only to his paintings.

The stigma that a rushed, last minute concoction cannot be a masterpiece is false. A more than sufficient product can be created. Classical composer, Mozart, wrote a first-rate overture for Don Giovanni the night before the premiere (Esposito). That feat seems reasonable for a sober mind. Except… he was not. According to Esposito, Mozart had gone out drinking with friends that night and hadn’t started composing until midnight. Sound familiar? I’d love to test Mozart’s method, but I’m underage. For those over 19, alcohol may be your potion to success.

Despite having an average over ninety percent during my high school tenure, I confess to being a chronic procrastinator. Let it be specified, however, that I am the productive kind. After the first time I tried it, I became unable to work under any other conditions. The closer the deadline approaches, the more my focus sharpens. Birthing my homework and assignments closer to when the teacher wants it is no different than choosing bread that is fresh out of the oven. When I procrastinate, my thoughts and ideas flow freely and unfiltered. My room is the cleanest when deadlines loom. Even as a procrastinator, I still produce work good enough to please my teachers. Sure, some hours of sleep were bargained. But the satisfaction of completing it in that short amount of time beats the long preparations.

Our teachers and parents often caution us away from this smelly, mole-like rodent. A pest digging through our time, its nose following the scent of productivity. They say we should avoid this creature and exterminate it if we can. But Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart and I have instead taken this mole and lovingly made it our pet.

JUST DO IT. LATER. ____________________________________________________________ by Louis Li, Grade 12

Works Cited Chegg. “Famous Procrastinators in History.” Chegg Play, www.chegg.com/play/life-hacks/productivity/famous-procrastinators-in-history/. Cherry, Kendra. “What Is Procrastination?” Verywell Mind, 30 May 2020, www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944. Conradt, Stacy. “8 Things Mark Twain Didn’t Really Say.” Mental Floss, 4 Sept. 2019, www.mentalfloss.com/article/29372/10-things-mark-twain-didnt-really-say. Esposito, Eric. “Mozart’s Midnight Masterpiece: The Composition of ‘Don Giovanni’s’ Overture.”

CMUSE, 27 Jan. 2015, www.cmuse.org/mozart-midnight-masterpiece-don-giovanni-overture/. Lieberman, Charlotte. “Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control).”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/ smarter-living/why-you-procrastinate-it-has-nothing-to-do-with-self-control.html. Low, Keath. “The Relationship Between ADHD and Chronic Procrastination.” Verywell Mind, 25 Aug. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/adhd-and-chronic-procrastination-20379. Stodola, Sarah. “Procrastination Through the Ages: A Brief History of Wasting Time.” Mental Floss, 11 May 2015, www.mentalfloss.com/article/63887/procrastination-through-ages-brief-history-wasting-time.

artwork by Helen Liu, Grade 10