In 1830, what would later become one of the most famous novels in French literature was just a pile of blank pages. A year earlier, Victor Hugo had been commissioned to write The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but instead he had wasted his time on other activities, and now his publishers had just given him six months to finish the book.
To force himself to his knees, locked up his own clothes – apparently apart from a large knitted shawl – which prevented her from going out in public, meaning she had no choice but to stay at home and write. His sartorial strategy worked: The Hunchback of Notre Dame was published two weeks ahead of schedule, on January 14, 1831.
Short attention span, procrastination or simply not being in the right mood: sometimes we all make the mistake of not being able to motivate ourselves to complete a certain task at hand. steel springs – one of the world’s leading researchers on the science of procrastination – defines it as “voluntarily putting something off even though you expect the delay to make you worse.” Over the millennia, Hugo is far from the only person who finds himself at the mercy of overthinking instead of acting. There are references to procrastination in some of the oldest records available, dating back more than 3,000 years, and mentions of it can also be found in early Roman and Greek military documents.
The ancient Egyptians felt the stress of a colleague busying themselves with the team’s workload, when it was revealed that a hieroglyph from 1400 BC. C. translated by Ronald Leprohon, an Egyptologist at the University of Toronto, said: “Friend, stop putting off work and let us go home. in time.”
Some 700 years later, Hesiod, one of the first recorded poets in Greek literature, also warned against nonsense in his writings in Jobs and Days: “Don’t leave your work for tomorrow and the day after; for the lazy worker does not fill his barn, nor does he who puts off his work: industry makes the work go well, but the man who puts off work is always on the verge of ruin. Meanwhile, three centuries later, in the 700-verse Hindu scriptures Bhagavad GitaKrishna, an avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu, declares: “Undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn, evil, malicious, lazy, depressed and a procrastinator; such an agent is called tamasic.” Tamasic people, he noted, instead of being reborn, go to hell.
Procrastination may have existed where work was required, but some people believe it may be getting worse. There are some factors that lend credence to this opinion. The modern world, filled with social media, apps, and Internet-enabled phones, has been deliberately designed by teams of exceptionally smart people with the sole goal of capturing and holding our attention. As Bo Burnham put it in his song welcome to the internet:
“Take a look around / Everything your brain can think of can be found / Can I interest you in everything? / All the time?”
While we have more distractions than ever, there has also been a profound shift in the work we do. The tasks we focus on day to day are no longer matters of survival as they perhaps once were, and it is much easier to procrastinate if your existence does not depend on the job at hand. And even easier if you can quickly jump to a website to do some research on your next vacation, or send an email to your friend, all while looking outside like you’re working. Is it any wonder that companies are concerned about the phenomenon known as “cyber loafing”?
The Galaxy Z Fold6
Multitasking powered by Galaxy AI
Feel free to enjoy JoP (the joy of procrastination) with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 as Galaxy AI features let you multitask and organize your life with just a swipe. From Transcript Assist, which can easily turn meetings into detailed, color-coded notes for each speaker, to Note Assist, which features a timely translation service, as well as making things look aesthetically pleasing by creatively formatting any note Annotated with the S Pen, all the tools you need to do a job well are in your palm. There’s no guarantee it can fix your entire life, but it’s a very good starting point.
In the past, the prevailing belief was that procrastination had to do with self-control and poor time management, but more recently a number of studies frame it as a problem with controlling our emotions.
TO 2013 study found that participants who procrastinated were actually managing negative moods around the task (either because they were bored, were stressed about finding it difficult, or were afraid of failing) and chose the short-term gain of neglecting the task. in to minimize their distress, rather than completing what was asked of them. Unfortunately, that moment of relief when people procrastinated makes them more likely to do it again.
And you can see how the vicious circle continues; We procrastinate to avoid negative feelings, but we end up feeling worse because of it.
So how can we fix it? Well, technology may be part of the problem, but it also offers a solution. For example, smartphone apps like Forest, which encourage users to plant a virtual tree when they want to stay focused (browsing elsewhere on the phone will cause the tree to die), have been specifically designed to overcome procrastination. Generative AI can even be used to overcome creative blocks.
Ultimately, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of old reality TV memes instead of finishing a presentation. The key here is a little self-compassion and allowing yourself the space to procrastinate. An occasional bout of distraction It can improve self-esteem, encourage positive emotions such as curiosity and personal initiative and, perhaps conversely, increase motivation. And when you return to work, start with the smallest task possible to ease the discomfort. And remember, whether it took the entire third season of Suits or two hours on TikTok to get the job done: a delayed trip still arrives at the same destination, in the end.