All of our lives, we’ve been told procrastination is a bad thing, something to avoid – even a sign of laziness. Yet, obviously, procrastination is human nature. Most of us don’t jump out of bed every morning saying, “I’m going to accomplish a bunch of stuff today that’s due three weeks from now!” There are actually some darn good arguments on how procrastination can help you as an agent. Here are three:
Pressure Brings Out Creativity
Much like having writer’s block that goes away just before deadline time, when you’re under the gun to get something accomplished, it unlocks creativity that you didn’t seem to have just a day or few hours before. It’s only human nature to come up with an initial thought that seems lame or not quite brilliant to you at the time, but as the pressure of time running out comes up – you tweak or combine the idea to make it something much better. Maybe you can get your client a little something extra in the negotiation if you think about it in a different way. When you’re working with clients, discuss all of their needs, but give yourself some time to think it all through instead of giving them your gut reaction right away.
More Time to Process
The reason your creativity may manifest itself at the last moment about some issue, a client need, negotiation or other item, is actually because you’ve been thinking about it all along. It’s been at the back of your mind and your subconscious has been working on the issue. When the actual deadline comes up, your procrastination actually helped your brain unlock new perspectives and solution for you. You think you are having an epiphany – but it was really a long-term thought process.
It Forces You to Prioritize
When you have limited time to accomplish something, it’s very easy to clear away the clutter and side projects you may have been wasting time on. It puts you 100% in the zone for whatever your client needs at the time and helps you laser focus on what needs to be done in the time allotted. Just like an Olympic athlete, you are forced to perform and zoom in on exactly what is needed at that time and your clients reap the benefits.
Takeaways –
• Helps your Creativity – your clients get the benefit of creative solutions brought on because of your procrastination
• Time to Process – what you thought you were putting off – you were really thinking about all along
• Forced Prioritization – when there’s no time for distractions, you laser focus in on what the client needs