Doing Nothing & Procrastinating Aren’t the Same Thing
You sit down to write a paper. You’ve done all the research you could possibly need to do, but for some reason, you just can’t get started.
Does this mean you’re procrastinating? Ask most anyone and they’ll tell you that you are, but it’s not necessarily true. The things we write aren’t simply a culmination of the research we’ve done into a topic. The mind needs to process new information before it can work with it, and even then, there’s still the matter of what you are going to write about it.
You might think you just need to do some research and get writing, and this is why you sit at the screen unsure of where to start. You haven’t let the project germinate, and it’s like trying to harvest the fruit from a tree while it’s still a seed in the ground. Your brain needs to process that research before it can work with it.
Now, I’ll add a disclaimer here because statements like these often become excuses for those who are truly procrastinators. Just because you sit down and can’t get started writing doesn’t necessarily mean you need more germination time. It may just mean you’re plain lazy. If you’ve been sitting on that 500 word article for a month and haven’t started writing yet, I’d put a bet on the fact that you’ve had enough time to incubate your ideas. But this is all relative to the size of the task and, continuing with writing as our analogy since that’s what I do all day every day, a month’s germination time won’t be anywhere near enough time to mentally flesh out a twelve-book fantasy saga.
I’ve spoken to computer programmers in the past who have found the same thing; if they run head first into coding, they hit walls, even if they’ve sketched out some diagrams that look workable. On the other hand, if they spend the afternoon washing dishes while the programming is relegated to the back of their mind, or they sleep on it, the subconscious gets the time to process all the information and goals and feed the mind with ideas.
Allowing a germination period works so well that programmers, writers and other creators alike can often end up spending just hours or days tackling a project that would’ve taken weeks or months had they rushed in.
Not Just for Creatives and Problem-Solvers
This principle doesn’t just apply to those who produce the written word or computer software or works of art for a living. It applies to everyone who has to do something that doesn’t come with an instruction book.
For instance, if you know you’re moving house in a month but you’ll only have a weekend between the time you get your new keys and the time you give the old ones back, the best thing you can do is let that problem sit in the back of your mind unattended for a few days, maybe a week. The first instinct most of us might have is to panic. This interferes with problem-solving, whether it’s conscious problem-solving or background problem-solving.
Once you return the problem to conscious thought, you may find you’ve got a good idea of how to prepare things in advance so that your move only takes a weekend (even though it’ll probably involve hiring a removalist and a cleaner!).
No Manual Required, But it’s Not Easy
This is such a simple concept. How is it that we miss the signs that we’re simply not ready to get started on the production phase of a project?
I recently read somewhere that many Westerners confuse thirst for hunger because we’ve been trained to eat to solve all of our problems. I’m not vouching for the truth of that statement, but it’s a similar thing we’re talking about here. Western culture wants us busy all the time, producing, producing, producing. Unproductive workers are bad for the bottom line.
So, spending some time thinking is discouraged. We have to produce results NOW. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the mind doesn’t work that way. It needs to spend the time taking information in, and then it needs to be left alone to do the “pre-production” as we say in the music production world.
Thus, it’s not easy to set a project aside and wait until it is ready to be tackled (whether that’s an hour away, a day, or more). That doesn’t make it difficult, but it’s not easy, either. Even as a guy who works from home and doesn’t have to keep up appearances looking like a busy bee in the office, I feel guilty when I put the production work off and let some information settle into the empty vortex at the back of my skull (back where my brain used to be).
I can’t offer a quick way to help you feel less guilty about doing this, unfortunately, because this is a part of the way you see the world and that makes it a mental adjustment that takes time. It’s hard to get out of the negative feedback loop that the guilt of taking time to think causes while others think you’re just procrastinating. Persevere, stick with it, and when you’re estimating the time it’ll take to complete something, factor it in.
I’m still getting to that guilt-free stage myself.
WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY
Joel Falconer
Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers practical advice you can use to be more efficient and effective.
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Comments
Shanel Yang says on September 8th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Great post, Joel! One way to tell if you still need more germination or “percolation of ideas” time before you get busy on the actual physical work of a project (or the next phase of a bigger project) is to talk about it with someone. Share your confusion, your lack of direction at the moment. Tell about what you’ve researched and what you think about all of that. You will find that just from trying to explain it to someone else, order emerges from disorder. A clear direction and often even a conclusion appears out of the fog of mass, seemingly unmanageable information.
If you don’t have anyone you can chat with, talk to yourself out loud. Even that process taps different parts of our brain that helps organize our thoughts more quickly, gelling them together in ways our silent thinking never seems quite able to do so well.
If you can’t talk to yourself out loud b/c you’re in an office where people will think you’re crazy if you do, then write an outline or at least jot a few thoughts down and diagram your ideas.
These activities usually have me much more quickly arriving at that point where I am excited to get started doing it and stop thinking any more about it — till the next mental obstacle. Then, repeat! : )
JJ says on September 8th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Sometimes it’s just about how to start that causes problems, especially for writing. I find that with papers, I already know what’s going to go into the meat of the paper, but the problem lies in the introduction, flow, and drawing conclusions (which takes the most processing time). It’s often easier just to do a brain dump into the center of the paper and edit out things later that match the conclusions I’m trying to draw out. This at least gives the impression that something is getting done while technically still in the “pre-production” phase.
Vered - MomGrind says on September 8th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
“Western culture wants us busy all the time, producing, producing, producing.” Very true.
The need to keep constantly BUSY can backfire because it often means that we never step back enough to look at the big picture.
Writer Dad says on September 8th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Man, thanks for saying that. I’ve been beating myself up way too much lately.
James | Dancing Geek says on September 8th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
“I recently read somewhere that many Westerners confuse thirst for hunger because we’ve been trained to eat to solve all of our problems.”
Interesting. I’ve known for a while that late night hunger pangs are usually cured by a large glass of water, but I wonder if there is a discernible difference between thirst pangs and hunger pangs that we are not sensitive too? A bit like not being able to tell the difference between foreign vowel sounds.
FrugalNYC says on September 8th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Joel, you wrote a piece about mind map tools. Wouldn’t it be better to get a mind map/brain dump when you are unsure? Once you do this then let it rest and if you don’t have a solution after the holding pattern, you can jog your memory or add more to the mind map. This may help solve the issue at hand.
Amanda Himelein says on September 8th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-09-23/
fashionista07 says on September 8th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Throughout high school my worst attribute was procrastination. I struggled to get menial tasks done, or even started, because my teenage brain could simply not focus on the job at hand. After realizing that this habit of putting tasks off until the last minute just wasn’t going to work when it came to furthering my education I stopped hedging around the issues and attacked them head on. This pattern led to many all nighters and well just stressed me out only a little less than the act of procrastinating. In stumbling upon your entry I hope to utilize the method you have discussed to maybe relieve some of the “panic” or chaos that can come with a job well done.
Dylan Turpin says on September 8th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
I totally agree. I’ve been planning on starting a blog for a long time now and each time I tried to start, I would either freeze or make one of many ‘false starts’. Oddly my attempts at productivity inspired my first article which is actually anti productivity. I just had to wait for my ideas to come together… although in my case that process involved trial and error.
DanGTD says on September 9th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Great insights.
Doing nothing it’s not always a negative thing. When you consciously delay taking action and keep in the back of your mind what you want to do, it will build momentum for the time you actually take action, and also your brain will stay tuned to that frequency and will receive new information, ideas, insights related to the task.
Jeanie Marshall says on September 9th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Nicely done article.
I find that when I’m in the place of wondering if I’m in an unhealthy state of procrastination or a healthy state of idea germination, I ask myself an empowering question. The one I most often us is: What is most worthy of my attention right now?
Ellen Hart says on September 9th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
If I don’t allow myself some down time, I find I can’t get much done. It’s also important to really let your mind relax when you’re taking a breather. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get caught up in worrying about what you’re not doing!
Vaclav says on September 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I just heard about an event called Time Experts Telesummit (www.timeexpertstelesummit.com) that will have an interview with Dr. Neil Fiore, who wrote a great book on procrastination, that might be something to check out…