Graduation ceremonies at my university have just finished up, so the popular post floating across social media is the picture of the student who taped a piece of torn notebook paper to his mortarboard with this message scrawled on it in ballpoint pen: “Last Minute Like Everything Else I did in College.”
The meme reminds me of the advisee who wrote me in a panic at the end of December—“I got behind because I had the flu in October. Now I’m supposed to graduate in nine days, but I have eight papers to write! What am I going to do?” My first thought was, maybe you should write the papers? I mean seriously, if a liberal arts degree teaches you anything, it’s how to write eight papers in nine days. That’s sort of our superpower. Heck, with nine days ahead of her, the student panicked a day too early, in my opinion.
I’m here to argue—with no scientific support whatsoever—that procrastination is an essential part of the creative process for many. But let’s be clear about what a procrastinator is—it’s someone who can and will eventually complete the task, just not right now. It’s not someone who can’t and won’t. The person who didn’t go to French class all semester is going to fail the final because they are chock full of immaturity +ignorance—a weak combination. A proper procrastinator is full of immaturity + expertise. That’s a powerful combination.
So how does it work? I think I can explain it, because I’m an expert procrastinator myself—just ask my publisher. Knowing far ahead of time that you have a massive, detailed project to complete and choosing to put it off generates an internal drama that the creative person can cultivate over time and deploy at its most powerful, energized stage: the freaking deadline. And by creative, I mean a person for whom creativity is a skill they’ve been developing their whole life. They can make the thing because they already learned how to make the thing. The thing might not be tidy, complete, or even comprehensible, but it will be. And it will probably vibrate with the emotion of its creation.
I’m not sure there’s a good place to put Procrastinator! on your resume, but to employers, let me suggest an adjustment to your interview template. Instead of asking, Tell me about a your experience working on a team, or How would you deal with an unhappy client? Try this:
Tell me about a time when you put off a project until the last minute, but it turned out amazing, anyway.
The person who answers that question well is a sleeping tiger. The one you want. Unless you have a weak heart.