There is such a thing as “Good Procrastination” where we are shifting our priorities based on our needs and moving smoothly from one thing to the next. By choosing which tasks we can delay and which tasks we need to move upon our priority list, we are using our energies more efficiently. The result is that we actually get more done and feel more productive and accomplished.
Not everything needs to be done right away, or talked about right now, or even decided without a good night sleep. When we delay action, we stop the habit of reacting to situations, and we take control of that aspect of our lives again.
The first step in managing the delay is to decide what the longest amount of time you can take before doing this? Step two is to delay your response or decision until the very last possible moment. If it is a year, wait 364 days. If it’s an hour, wait 59 minutes
When we use our ability to intentionally delay something, we allow ourselves to experience the situation and give it true and honest consideration and thought. In short, we allow ourselves to respond to a situation, rather than react to it.
Frank Partnoy, author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, explains it like this:
“For example, a professional tennis player has about 500 milliseconds to return a serve. A tennis court is 78 feet baseline-to-baseline, and professional tennis serves come in at well over 100 miles per hour. Most of us would say that a professional tennis player is better than an amateur because they are so fast. But, in fact, what I found and what the studies of superfast athletes show is that they are better because they are slow. They are able to perfect their stroke and response to free up as much time as possible between the actual service of the ball and the last possible millisecond when they have to return it.”
And this logic applies to all of us, in everything we do. Freeing up time, by taking a step back and allowing ourselves to process information, gives us the ability to make better decisions - to respond better, and react less.🍥