Delaying the inevitable is an idea that everyone can relate to. We have all, at some point in our lives, dipped our toes into the deep ocean that is procrastination. The simple beauty of this concept is that it is based on something seemingly impossible, a paradox. Procrastination is essentially the art of lying to oneself. The idea of being able to lie to oneself is an interesting one, and fraught with loopholes. One can only lie to oneself if one is willing to be deceived. It is a voluntary process, and therein lies our first loophole. Without a willingness to believe, we are unable to lie to ourselves. For example, when I first attempted to write this piece I convinced myself that I could not do so because I was wearing the wrong clothes. It would have been impossible to convince myself of such a thing had I not already decided that I was not going to write on that particular day.
Procrastination is also an integral part of human nature. Humans have always had a tendency to lie to each other, from little white lies and to enormous fabrications. It naturally follows that with our mental evolution we would eventually begin to lie to ourselves. We do this everyday, with lies such as ‘if I keep clicking this button enough my computer will eventually do what I want it to’, or ‘if I ignore that strange noise it will eventually go away on its own’. These are simple lies, and provide us with the option to avoid any decisive course of action, such as actually trying to discover the source of the strange noise.
Although occasionally problematic, procrastination has uses. It can be a tool to speed up the amount of time it will take to perform the task you are avoiding. This may seem contradictory, but when put into the simple terms of the longer you procrastinate for the less time you have to perform the task, it makes perfect sense. Another use of procrastination is that, with the spare time you have while avoiding your task, you may be inspired with a way to make the task less arduous. Procrastination can, occasionally, be more of a problem than an aid. The problems with procrastination can be classified into two main categories, an excess of procrastination or insufficient procrastination. In the case of over-procrastination, one may find that the excessive avoidance of the task has not left enough time for performing the task. Over-procrastination and the first use of procrastination, namely to speed up the process of the task, lie in a delicate balance that is easily disturbed. Caution is necessary. The second category, insufficient procrastination, becomes an issue when the procrastinator is not skilled in the area of self deception. This means the procrastinator produces an insubstantial lie to tell themselves that is not sufficient to dispel feelings of guilt for not performing the avoided task.
The complicated process of lying to oneself takes a great deal of practice to perfect. Luckily, it is part of human nature to partake in this particular activity, and therefore experience accumulates regularly. Though entirely paradoxical, and slightly confusing in theory, the act of telling oneself a lie and making it convincing is quite satisfying. That is why humans naturally procrastinate every day in small ways. That is why we constantly try to tell ourselves to believe things that cannot possibly be true. That is also why we succeed at self deception. We are blinded by our own complex brilliance.
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