Procrastination might be good for you

Yes, you heard it right! Read more to find out.

Welcome to MichiSpotlight! Thank you for taking out the time to read my newsletter even in these tough and trying times. I’ll try to keep this one short. :D

Today I’ll be talking a bit about procrastination and how it could be good for you as a developer. I also have a few cool announcements towards the end.

In the last edition, I talked about burnout and the gazillion things that I’m doing alongside writing this newsletter. Due to the circumstances that we’ve been facing recently, I don’t feel like it to talk about procrastination. But, I also feel that people need to know that we can leverage procrastination in many ways. And we need to understand them now more than ever.

So let’s get to it, shall we?

So, what IS procrastination really?

Procrastination is delaying or postponing some activity.

It might seem like a ginormous waste of time. (It is most of the time).

You loosen up and seek instant gratification. You keep putting back difficult or important activities.

All of us procrastinate at some point. Some of us are good at snapping out of it, while some find it difficult to cope with it.

If you want to understand procrastination in a fun way, watch Tim Urban’s TED Talk. It is my favorite TED talk ever, and I’ve watched it over a bazillion times in the past 2-3 years.

The reason for that is each time I watch it; I become more aware of my own procrastination habits. Over the years, I’ve become more mindful of my actions.

I’m able to identify situations where I lose track of time. Let’s see how.

A̶v̶o̶i̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ Leveraging Procrastination

Many people I know are quite the opposite of procrastinators. They are always stressed about something or the other. This may help them to adhere to the deadlines and be productive.

But they can’t loosen up at all.

They are incapable of chilling out and having fun. These people eventually burn out and start spiraling. Even if they manage to keep up, they are significantly less creative in life.

Procrastination allows you to let go.

When you delay something, you build up frustration as well as a craving for the task. The work that follows once you snap out of it might come easier to you.

You need to understand why you procrastinate.

We’ve always thought that procrastination arises from poor time management, but it’s more about our emotions and mood in reality.

If we are in a bad mood, it is natural to put off things. We need to be mindful of these emotions, identify triggers that might help us overcome a certain kind of mood.

When we procrastinate, we do things that are not relevant or important. This actually helps us explore ideas that we wouldn’t have otherwise.

Had I not been procrastinating one day, scrolling through LinkedIn, I wouldn’t have discovered substack. We wouldn't be here right now if the idea of launching a newsletter didn’t pop up in my head after my discovery.

Ideas are all around us. One of my friends is a master procrastinator. She would watch videos on YouTube every day even if she has an exam in an hour.

But the fact is, she is the most knowledgeable person I know.

Even though half of her knowledge is futile garbage, she understands things faster than I do. Her creative capacity is paramount, and she comes up with the most lucrative ideas.

Everybody procrastinates. We’re all human, after all.

Being hooman

We are not all flawless as we might appear on social media. Some of us know how to leverage procrastination and how to snap out of it. You can try some of the things below if you’d like to do the same for yourself:

1. Break down tasks into smaller sub-tasks that you know how to do. Take things in one at a time, step by step, especially if you’re trying to do something entrepreneurial or starting a side hustle without a deadline. Here’s what I did when I was starting MichiSpotlight. (Also, I made a notion template for this, let me know in the comments if you want it xD)

   

2. If you noticed in the picture, I also talk about “Why?” I’m doing this. This helps me stay true to my targets. It has to be something strong to help you snap out of it.

3. When you are procrastinating, try to be more exploratory. Watch informative videos or motivational TED talks. That way, you would be brimming with ideas and become extra creative.

4. Be mindful of your emotions. I’m not asking you to keep them in check entirely because circumstances won’t allow you to do that. But be aware when you’re too angry or too emotional. Accept it, embrace it, and become aware of it. Try to understand what triggered it.

That’s all folks for the gyaan section. Now with the important announcements.

Some important announcements

1. I’ll be moving the publishing time of the newsletter back to the OG: every Sunday at 7 PM because many of you requested it.

2. Since the newsletter is weekly, I miss out on including a lot of opportunities. I want to be able to post about something the moment I get to know about it. Henceforth, I’ll be posting about the opportunities and resources on my dev handles on social media: @cestladwvicy, @dwivivivi, LinkedIn. So, don’t forget to follow me on these platforms.

   

3. From the next newsletter onwards, I’ll be diving deep into the different domains in tech that I’ve explored as a student, like Full Stack Web Development, Mobile Application Development, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Data Structures & Algorithms, Product Management, etc.

4. We will try to figure out the most optimal way to pursue a career in these fields. I’ll also try to connect you all with some experts that might give us some solid advice.

5. Feel free to drop in any suggestions in the comments.

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To add to the conclusion, since this newsletter is meant for students, I’m sure you all must be trying to book yourself an appointment for the vaccination. You should try out Cowin Alerts to get alerted via email when new slots open up near you. Stay happy and please stay at home.

Until next time :)

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