One of the brilliant pieces written by students from The Monthly Masterclass
Don’t read this if you are meant to be doing something else. No, seriously, procrastination will be the death of you. Or will it?
At a workshop today I committed to writing a feature article about the science of procrastination. Is there research out there about how to overcome it? There must be.
Apparently, Nikolai Tesla was fantastic at overcoming the urge to do something, anything other than working. As a science writer myself, I need to start with something else, some new research, a scientific development, something already published. It means I ALWAYS have a reason to surf the web to find information and inspiration… and distraction. And if I feel this way, what effect is this having on the way our kids are learning, who are growing up connected 24/7?
Growing up ‘online’ is not something my 3 year old will dwell on. Do I wonder what it would have been like to grow up without pencils and paper, or colour television? No. But how will they stay focused in a digital learning environment? And is it necessary to stay focussed at all?
We can only absorb so many snippets, tweets, posts and sound bites before we need to sink our teeth into something longer, something real, with a beginning, middle and end. A longer piece to inspire us and change the way we think. How do we find this information without getting lost in the noise?
Almost everything we write, research and read is online. Digital learning is slowly but surely becoming the dominant way kids learn, how we all spend our time. It happens time and again… I start looking for information online, a subject I’m trying to learn more about, then I’m distracted by the news, something I saw in a tweet, leading to a fascinating blog post, leading to a person, a search on LinkedIn, oh, there’s a guy I used to work with, I wonder what he’s up to, ah, he works at that place, I was interested in applying for a job there, ooh they have a blog, great, and now I’ve completely forgotten what I was doing..?!
Without doubt, kids need to know their way around a search engine. But can we teach them to start writing offline, gather their thoughts, until they find their own direction and shape for the piece. THEN jump online to find the information they need.
If only scientists could identify the gene for procrastination. If there was an anti-procrastination drug, would you take it? Procrastination is surely part of the creative process. Now here is where I would normally list off a group of writers, scientists and inventors who have admitted to procrastinating but have achieved great things. But I won’t. I’m writing this offline. No internet for me. I don’t even have access to a library or a book. And I’m probably writing more on the topic than if I had sat down to do this online. Yet I feel like I’m missing a limb, or half of my brain!
The internet is endless. We all get lost sometimes and wander aimlessly through the abyss. Will the next generation – what are they, the teenies? – be more adept at navigating the internet and keeping their wandering in check? Or will they become more lost and distracted as they try to learn?
Procrastination will always exist but how will it evolve?
Think about how you procrastinate. Do you wile away the hours online, in a ‘real’ book, with a paintbrush or just staring into space? And just how did procrastinators fill their time back in the dark ages? “Hmmm, I’m supposed to be slaughtering this beast, but instead I’m creating rock art by crushing this coloured rock and smearing the image of the beast on the wall of a cave.” Which will be remembered? Our cave-dwelling character will die and the flesh and bones of the beast will rot away, but tourists will flock in their hundreds to see the ancient rock art recorded on the wall of this cave. Maybe procrastination isn’t so bad!
So I’m setting out to put the ‘pro’ into procrastination. Stay tuned for my piece on the science of procrastination. Watch out, I’m going in…
PS This piece was written 100% offline, in under an hour. There is hope for me yet.