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If You Think You ‘Thrive on Pressure,’ You’re Probably Wrong
Procrastination is often about insecurity
Dear Laura: I seem to thrive on time pressure. Whenever I have a big project, I find myself putting it off until the last possible minute. Then I race to get it done. I worry this isn’t healthy long-term. What should I do?
Everyone puts things off from time to time. Sometimes it’s just smart time management: Not everything needs to be done right this minute. Procrastination, on the other hand, has a specific and negative definition: It means delaying a task even though you know doing so will make you worse off.
This is almost always what is happening when we put off big projects to the last minute, even if you’re someone who “thrives on pressure” — because that’s probably an illusion. Contrary to popular perception, time pressure generally doesn’t produce better work. Indeed, some fascinating research by psychology and creativity expert Teresa Amabile and others finds that people actually produce fewer creative ideas when under pressure, even when they believe they’re being more creative.
“When creativity is under the gun, it usually ends up getting killed,” Amabile and her colleagues wrote in Harvard Business Review in 2002. “Although time pressure may drive people to work more and get more done, and may even make them feel more creative, it actually causes them, in general, to think less creatively.”
Procrastination is often about insecurity and self-doubt. It can feel great — even energizing — to get the work done in a rush right before deadline, because your brain is finally overcoming your inner critic. When you’re close to your deadline, you have to produce something, so you do. If what you produce is a bit slipshod, your brain rationalizes it: Maybe this isn’t your best work, but how could it be? You did it so quickly! Imagine what you could do if you put real time into it!
But rather than imagine such great and creative work, why not actually produce it? A few practical strategies can reduce the urge to procrastinate. As Amabile and her colleagues wrote, “The best situation for creativity is not to be under the gun. But if you can’t manage that, at least learn to dodge the bullets.”
