Procrastination: A creative way to success

Assalamualaikum wbt

       I wonder if you guys used to hear the word ‘procrastination’? Or how about ‘delay’? Currently, I’m reading a book entitled ‘Originals’ written by Adam Grant and one of the chapters in this book, The Discipline to Delay had been creatively elaborated by the author. Honestly, the way he elaborated on how people delay some stuff until the right moment is quite close to my personal experience. He even told stories of many successful people who turn out to have the habit of procrastination. So, before I tell you guys more about how procrastination can lead to success, I will tell the stories that I got from this book.

Picture 1: Originals by Adam Grant

First story: Leonardo Da Vinci

       Many critics believed that Leonardo Da Vinci was wasting his time with other distractions as he took around 16 years to complete the Mona Lisa painting. It was estimated that he started the painting in 1503, left it unfinished and didn’t complete it until close to his death in 1519. However, according to the historian, William Pannapacker, the distractions were vital to final achievements that lead to the great portrait of Mona Lisa. He explained that while Da Vinci was trying to finish the portrait, he was distracted by optical experiments. His work in optics might have delayed the Mona Lisa portrait, but his final achievements in painting depended on the experiments.

Picture 2: Mona Lisa portrait

       Da Vinci was known to work in multiple projects or experiments while painting as these projects helped him to gain great achievement in his final work in painting. Another example, he spent about 15 years developing the ideas for The Last Supper by beginning with a sketch of figures sitting on a bench. A dozen years later, this painting became the famous 13 figures seated at a table. Da Vinci believed that a great achievement should not be rushed. You need to balance your action while brainstorming the ideas to finish your work. Then, you can find or target the right moment to get the most accomplishments.

Picture 3: The Last Supper Painting

Second Story: Martin Luther King Jr.

       On 28^th August 1963, American civil right activist, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a public speech entitled “I Have a Dream” to call for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. This speech was powerful that it was ranked the top American speech of the 20^th century in 1999 poll of scholars of public address. Weeks before delivering the speech, King asked advice from his three close advisors about the appropriate content and tone and start working on the draft. However, he was not rushed to finish it or at least decide the theme of the speech. He waited until four days before the day he supposes to deliver the speech to start actively writing the draft.

       The night before, he gathered all his advisors to review the ideas of the speech to get the best approach. When they compared the early draft that they made weeks before and the draft that they discussed the night before the speech, they could see how the ideas worked to the goal that they wanted to express during the speech. Even a few minutes before King delivering his speech in front of the 250,000 crowds and millions more watching on TV, he improvised the speech that enables him to give his inspiring vision to all civil rights supporters. Another benefit of procrastination that we can see from this story is that it keeps us open to improvisation. Now, half a century after King delivered his momentous speech, the four words, “I have a dream” remains as one of the most recognizable phrases in the history and a vivid portrait of a better future.

Picture 4: Martin Luther King Jr.

Third Story: My story

       I never called myself as a successful person just like those two people that I mentioned before, but I do learn from my mistakes when I procrastinated my works especially when I was a student. Since high school, my friends knew me as a person that always finish school homework ahead of the deadline. So, the day or the night before submission, they will look at my answers and some of them copy one by one (I do feel annoyed with this kind of people). Then, after my teacher checked my homework, there were so many mistakes, sometimes small mistakes that I did not realize it beforehand. I asked myself maybe if I take the time to finish it or do it little by little, I can possibly minimize those mistakes.

       A few months before I took SPM examination, there were 2 subjects that I need to put more effort which is Add Math and Physics. As during trial examination, I didn’t get A for these 2 killer subjects, so I really hope that I can do well during the real SPM examination. So, I learned from my mistakes, I arranged my study schedule instead of revising these subjects in a short period, I arranged so that I can study them till the day of the examination. It was a risk as I never did it before during past examinations but alhamdulillah, I managed to get straight A’s during SPM 2011. But you know history repeats right? I experienced it again when I went to preparation school before flying to Japan.

       During my time in preparation school, everyone was studying so hard as we need to master Japanese language fluently just in three years before flying to Japan. I still remember we need to memorize Hiragana alphabets in one week, Katakana alphabets in another one week, memorize at least 20 new Japanese words and took the test the next day, memorize at least 10 new Kanji everyday and these repeats for 3 years. Well, alhamdulillah I survived. As I learned from my mistakes in high school and I wasn’t born as a fast learner, I took my time to study these subjects till there was a time that I got the worst score in my class. But, I knew it wasn’t the end as by being the worst student in class, I finally knew what I really need to improve before I took the big test. The ‘delaying study tactic’ was a success. I got awarded in Dean List and went to one the best university in Japan.

       I don’t mean to imply that it’s never wise to be the first to finish. But sometimes, we need other people to go first or we need more time to understand our problem, analyzing our conditions and plan an improvisation tactic. Procrastinating can give us flexibility on a task and open us up to learning and adaptability. I finish my words with “good things come to those who wait”.