But what about those of us who leap at a task straight away?
Does it mean that we have taken the best route and should congratulate ourselves?
What is the opposite of procrastination?
The opposite of procrastination is calledprecrastination, which is the act of charging forward with the quickest action.
Why do some people prescrastinate?
Rosenbaum and his fellow researchers speculate a few reasons driving precrastination.
Or the idea that something as inconsequential as doing the task serves as its own reward.
Or that completing the task is rewarding in itself.
Consider how awesome it feels to check that task off your to-do list.
But getting things done early doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going tobe more productive.
Depending on how stressed you already feel or your health, this number may drop even lower.
Precrastination makes you more likely to make mistakes.
Precrastination can mask underlying anxiety.
Whenexperiencing anxiety, we vacillate between obsessively worrying and doing anything to run away from our anxiety.
Translation: Any task to do feels like a sweet salve for our frazzled minds.
Along with that, your self-image will likely decline.
In many ways, precrastination can be a cocktail forself-sabotageif left unchecked.
How to be more efficient:
1.
Spend time to buy more time (and energy).
Consider this scenario many of us are familiar with: writing essays in exams.
Gingerly, they try No.
They have time left over, they write feeling confident, and they score way beyond their target grades.
It’s a win-win-win.
Here’s where the Taoist principle of WuWei comes in.
It “does not mean refraining from acting.
Rather, it means to act naturally.”
In my head, WuWei is the opposite of charging forward like a bull in a china shop.
There is an inherent wisdom to knowing when to step back rather than being reactive.
Catch yourself in the act.
And most importantly, you’ll reduce your underlying stress and improve your well-being along the way.
