Procrastination means putting off things for another time. Procrastination, is it good, bad or ugly? Is procrastination a big enemy of effective time management? Well, procrastination is good if it is creative procrastination. Procrastination is bad, if one does so because of indecisiveness. On the other hand, procrastination is really ugly if it is one’s habit.

Procrastination is Good

Even the best leaders and managers procrastinate. But, what do they procrastinate? They make time for doing the important and big jobs and procrastinate on the smaller tasks. All great leaders schedule their priorities and take up the job in accordance with their priorities. They procrastinate on the jobs that are less result oriented. So everyone procrastinates, but what differentiates leaders from losers is what they choose to procrastinate upon. Practice creative procrastination.

Procrastination is Bad

All of us procrastinate to some degree. Sometimes, we find it very difficult to take up the tasks on time as

1. We are not able to identify our priorities.
2. We have fallen trap to our usual work flow pattern.
3. We are feeling stressed.
4. We are confused.
5. We find it difficult to concentrate.

Here, even though there is no deliberate attempt on our part to procrastinate, we tend to procrastinate on account of the above matters. Such procrastinations are bad, as they are not at all progressive towards their priorities.

Procrastination is Ugly

When procrastination becomes a habit, it is really ugly.

People generally procrastinate on some things, as

1. They do not want to do it.
2. They do not like doing it.
3. They fear doing it.

Here, we see the ugly side of procrastination. The fear of doing a task is mainly due to the fear of failure and the fear of the unknown. People gripped by these deadly fear syndrome, develop the habit of procrastination.