Laziness vs Procrastination

‘Rahul,’ said Rinku. ‘The deadline for submitting Priyanka maam’s assignment is almost over. Why haven’t you started on it?’

‘’I’ll start today Rinku,’ said Rahul. ‘Why are you so lazy?’ said Rinku. ‘Bhaiyya is there a cure for laziness?’

‘I don’t know about curing laziness,’ said Rakesh. ‘But I do know that Rahul’s not lazy. In fact he’s very busy and active - doing odd jobs, workouts, on social media. He’s not lazy for sure. But yes, he’s putting off doing his assignment, which is procrastination.’

 ‘What’s the difference bhaiyya?’ asked Rahul.

‘Laziness is a personal attribute, of not doing an activity because you’re not inclined to, whatever the cost,’ said Rakesh. ‘Whereas, in procrastination we postpone important jobs and get busy doing less important, seemingly urgent jobs. Though we finally end up doing the important work, like your assignment, by doing it at the last minute, we do it less efficiently and at greater cost.’

‘But why do we do that?’ asked Rinku.

‘One reason could be the fear of going out of our comfort zone,’ said Rakesh. ‘Doing important jobs well, directly impacts our progress which is sometimes scary. So, we get overwhelmed, or approach the tasks in a disorganized manner. If we’re perfectionists, we postpone the task fearing imperfection. Fear of failure or the fear of success makes us distract ourselves, wait for the right mood etc making it difficult for ourselves to do a good job. Work quality suffers, deadlines get missed and we lose our confidence and reputation. What started as a small habit of postponing important jobs grows into a big pitfall that compromises our progress.’

‘Whoa,’ said Rahul. ‘How can I stop procrastinating bhaiyya?’

‘By first becoming aware that you’re procrastinating i.e. postponing important work,’ smiled Rakesh. ‘If you’re overwhelmed, break the task down to bite-sized versions and get started. If you’re disorganized, organise yourself better. If you’re a perfectionist, realise that some things need several iterations. Whatever it is, get started on the important things otherwise you’ll be running in the same place without making progress. The cost involved in postponing important things is huge.’

‘Any tips to get started bhaiyya?’ asked Rinku.

‘A well-known practice is making a To-Do list with six most important tasks for the next day in order of priority,’ said Rakesh. ‘Start with the first task first thing next day and don’t go to the second until you finish the first. That way you make definite progress on your most important tasks first thing every day before other tasks take over.’

 ‘Thanks bhaiyya,’ said Rahul. ‘Didn’t realise procrastinating had such huge costs. Now that I know, I’ll act decisively.’

Pro Tip: For efficient completion of work, don’t postpone important tasks. Make it a habit to complete them first. Focus on progress, not merely activity.