Procrastination has been my #3 enemy for a long time (#1 is debt, and #2 is cockroach). It has given me financial scares a few times in the past (click here to read about how I almost missed a scholarship deadline, and how the cost of my brake repairs inflated to insanity) and caused innumerable delays in other trivial things. I have whined and moaned about it on this blog earlier, and have been taking positive steps towards reducing the negative effects of procrastination in everyday life.
Historically, the word “procrastination” has been consistently given a negative twist. For example, here is how Wikipedia defines the term:
Procrastination is the deferment or avoidance of an action or task to a later time. For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of productivity, the creation of crisis, and the chagrin of others for not fulfilling one’s responsibilities or commitments.
That sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it?
Today however, I am in a mood to be a devil’s advocate and will write a few good things about procrastination. Feel free to jump in and discuss your trysts with procrastination and how you it has affected you financially.
Procrastination defeats impulsiveness and saves money
I must have saved thousands of dollars on impulsive purchases by procrastinating till the cost drops (some people prefer to call it “thoughtfully delaying”, but it is in fact plain procrastination). It is especially a money-saver when it comes to electronics - where prices just keep falling with time - a delay in a purchase decision is almost always profitable.
Procrastination filters your “needs”
Procrastination provided me with some valuable time to think over what I was buying, whether I needed it, whether it’s worth the cost, and so on. This sort of follows the impulsive thinking point I mentioned above. Sometimes when we see certain “hot items”, our immediate reaction is “Man, I *need* it”; however, as time goes by (due to procrastination), the need doesn’t remain as strong as it was initially. Many times, you will eventually realize that the *need* was in fact just a *want* and you will stop yourself from making a purchase. With me, this has happened with iPods, laptops, cars, and some other bling-bling.
Here is my normal thought process:
Hot item –> I need it –> Wait, procrastinate first –> Check prices –> More procrastination –> And some more –> Do I really need it? –>Nah, that’s stupid, I don’t really need it –> Saved some bucks.
Procrastination defeats mass hysteria (like Thanksgiving sale)
Most procrastinators will find some excuse to stay out of the crazy lines at the day-after-Thanksgiving sale ( for Canadians, the relevant day is”Boxing day”). They will value their sleep more than the tricky price stickers (and mail-in rebates). Usually, procrastinators (like me) won’t buy stuff in such sales unless they really *need* it - and they have been thinking about buy it for months before the sale.
Procrastination increases productivity
This is questionable (of course), but I have seen that some people work very hard on trivial problems right from the time it is assigned to them. However, most people who procrastinate will do nothing till the deadline is near and then finish the work (with sufficiently high quality) within a few hours. Till the deadline is near, they can spend their valuable time doing productive things like playing DOOM or World of Warcraft, or sending prank emails to their working-hard-on-trivial-problems colleagues.
If procrastination has saved you money, we would love to hear about it.
Anyways, it is probably obvious by now that I desperately need a vacation. Towards that, I will gone from tomorrow till the middle of the next week. However, there are some awesome guest posts lined up to keep you busy, so keep coming back and keep leaving your thoughtful comments. 
Image source: www.tumanov.com
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I guess procrastinating on eating could help my diet
I procrastinate on haircuts and things like that–means I go to the salon every 12-15 weeks, not 6-8 (pfft!), which saves money. I procrastinate on lots of shopping–I’ve been known to wear socks that don’t match rather than going out and buying new ones. Definitely procrastinate on the big purchases–a lot of times, they end up as gifts because I just didn’t go and buy it myself.
Procrastination also gives insight into what you feel is important and and interesting. I was spending a lot of time cooking in order to procrastinate from a writing job I had to do, and that helped me realize that I wasn’t all that interested in pursuing a freelance writing career anymore, though I liked the thought of it. Didn’t exactly save me money, but it saved me some time and aggravation, which is just as important.
procrastination on paying bills has the opposite effect. procrastination is completely fine so long as you are aware of it and can still meet the deadlines.
I wrote an a playful article for my college newspaper once about the benefits of procrastination. All I remember from it was pointing out that although Franklin said “a stitch in time saves nine,” he certainly devoted a suspicious amount of time coming up with that and countless other little sayings.
Golbguru,
Here’s a definite win for procrastination. Wait until you absolutely needed to buy a computer. As time passes, computer hardware gets cheaper and has more features, such as increased memory and speed.
What about the proverb, “the early bird gets the worm?” I find this hard post a bit hard to swallow. If you benefit from procrastination, it’s probably down to luck.
Dave: There are more things like that - “stitch in time saves nine”, “procrastination is the enemy of time” - and some more. I was just attempting to be a devil’s advocate for a while and trying to see the brighter side of the big dark cloud.
Super Saver, Ellen, Tim, and Tread: Thanks for sharing your interesting thoughts.
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