You know what a procrastinator is, right? They wait until the last minute to get stuff done. A precrastinator is the opposite. It is someone like me who, if given an assignment, has to get an immediate jump on the work. I quickly jump into a project so the work is 90% completed days or weeks before it is due. That allows me a chance for fine-tuning it. With all due respect to Descarte, I precrastinate, therefore I am.
David Rosenbaum, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, published a study in 2014. He coined the term “precrastination,” which he defines as the tendency to tackle subgoals at the earliest opportunity — even at the expense of extra effort. There is a fascinating experiment he outlined in Scientific American if you want to read more details.
I’m Not Judging
I don’t think one way is better than another. It is like asking if it is better to be a morning or an evening person.
Often, procrastinators will work on a project in their head, subconsciously thinking it through. They don’t write it down until it is almost due to be turned in. They spend more time on the quality of the idea. I see the merit in this approach. Of course, some procrastinators also just do things at the last minute because they are disorganized.
That ain’t me.
I must get things started to manage stress, fit things in with my busy schedule, and make sure I have time to review the work. I have been this way since childhood.
My 94-year-old mom, Bea, often reminds me how I used to get homework or school projects done days before they were due. I used to tell her, “It’s a good feeling.”
Some in the psychological community argue that a precrastinator likes to offload tasks from short-term memory. For me, I need time to figure out how long something will take as I break it down into bite-sized lessons. My approach to time management requires me to plan, plan and plan some more.
Starting immediately on bigger tasks or projects helps me manage stress and plan out my workload. Without starting the planning early, I tend to worry if I know how to get something done and if I’ll have enough time. Some argue that procrastinators let ideas marinate while precrastinators miss out on allowing ideas to bubble up to the surface.
I disagree.
If I outline what needs to get done and begin on some of the more manageable tasks, it frees up some bandwidth to allow me to work on the hard stuff.
How about you?
Are you a precrastinator or procrastinator?
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