Procrastination Kills Brain Cells (or at least wastes them)

Thursday, October 19, 2006 at 11:03am by Gina Laverde in Life

A client called last night while I was eating dinner, and left a message saying that she needed some brief ad-copy for an e-mail campaign that needs to post this morning at 9 a.m.

I finished my dinner, listened to the message and stayed up with an old friend until the wee hours of the morning. Then I took what I would call a cat-nap (since it only lasted a few hours). In my sleep I dreamt about myself typing and writing out the copy for her ad. In fact, my entire sleep was distracted by thoughts of what I would write for the ad.

The alarm rang at 6 a.m. Plenty of time for me to crank out a paragraph. I got out of bed at 7 a.m. brushed my teeth and did my yoga. Then, I finally plugged in the computer, and got back under my covers.

Yes, I finished the assignment. Yes it turned out very well, and on time. But, the entire time I procrastinated, I couldn’t think of anything else but the ad-copy. There was no rest while I slept. There was no clarity while I did my yoga stretches. I just kept hearing the first sentence repeating in my mind.

If I would’ve written my thoughts down the moment they came to me, I could’ve probably had a restful sleep. And, I could’ve overly pleased the client by getting her the project earlier.

My procrastination caused me unnecessary stress and set the tone for a day of playing catch up.

You are probably going to be given projects with nearly immediate deadlines (at least once in a while). And, if you’re like me – you’ll be so glad you got them (because you can usually charge more).

But sometimes, adding another project (regardless of how small) to your already hectic schedule can overwhelm you. That’s why procrastination is understandable. However, if you begin the project as soon as possible – you’ll be able to clear it out of your mind and continue with the rest of your work without distraction.

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