YouTube is DISTRACTING you #procrastination

What is Procrastination's sneaky sibling?

(YouTube video at the end)

Everybody already knows the devastating impacts of procrastination, but hardly anyone ever knows about its sibling: precrastination. In fact, not even Grammarly, Google, or Microsoft knows about it (see the image below).

What is Procrastination? 🦥

Procrastination is the practice of unnecessarily and voluntarily postponing something despite being aware that doing so will have negative effects (Wikipedia contributors, 2023b). It could be a result of a lack of self-control or self-deception. This is equivalent to postponing the dishes because of extreme tiredness or laziness and putting it off for weeks at a time. 

However, believe it or not, procrastination has some minute benefits. Some procrastinators are perfectionists and hold off on doing things because they are overwhelmed by what they need to do in order to generate a quality outcome. So, when they miraculously do end up doing the work, one of two things can happen. 1, they end up providing a high-quality project because of how detailed they are. Or 2, they end up procrastinating till the last second and their project is either incomplete or completely garbage. 

What is Precrastination? 🚗💨

Precrastination is the practice of completing tasks as quickly as possible, even if doing so requires more work or results in a lower-quality product (Wikipedia contributors, 2023). This is equivalent to doing homework as soon as it was assigned, but doing half-assed work that provides no real value in retaining knowledge or producing meaningful work. 

The virtue of all precrastinators is that assignments are handed in on time, or well before the deadline. Also, if they are naturally detailed individuals, might present beautiful project outcomes with high-quality work. But two things might present themselves as issues to habitual precrastinators. 1, they do not internalize information as deeply because they are constantly turning in work on autopilot. Instead of focusing on the concepts that matter, they only focus on providing quick turnaround times. 2, if they are not detail-oriented, precrastinators will finish a project early and then completely turn around and do things that provide them quick dopamine hits such as playing video games, watching a tv show, and other similar activities. They do not continue to work towards knowledge retention or deep domain productivity. 

What is the lesser of two evils? 🤔

If someone had to pick between two evils, it would probably be precrastination, as projects are generally completed on time, oftentimes ahead of schedule. However, both are detrimental because they are oftentimes completely ineffective at producing quality work, or even retaining knowledge in the long term. Both are poisonous to productivity because the abusers of both are in actuality seeking quick dopamine hits like Netflix or PlayStation. Both of their motives are for the quick dopamine hits and are instead "delaying" or "pre-paying" their actual duties. 

How do you eliminate precrastination? 

To eliminate precrastination, first practice self-auditing. First, find out what makes you procrastinate, and what makes you precrastinate. Oftentimes precrastinators are masters of both deadly arts. Second, eliminate your habits of procrastination AND precrastination. As I mentioned, chances are, if you have practiced procrastination in your life, you have likely practiced precrastination. BOTH are incredibly addictive & TOXIC for different reasons. While procrastinators procrastinate because they want to relieve themselves of pressure, precrastinators precrastinate because they tend to love the feeling of accomplishment. Even if they have to cut corners, precrastinators love feeling the illusion of checking off boxes and inching their way towards success. But it is merely just that: illusion. Instead of inching their way towards success, they are habitually sinking farther down in productivity quicksand. 

Watch this YouTube video to combat precrastination AND procrastination

References:

Wikipedia contributors. (2023a). Precrastination. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precrastination 

Wikipedia contributors. (2023b). Procrastination. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination