Putting intention in your day can change your relationship with procrastination

“Procrastinate” is a very present verb in the academic world, and it does not come out of the blue.

We talk a lot about procrastination because we practice it a lot. Out of anxiety, disorganization, or even deeper reasons (if I don’t do something, no one will judge me for it). We do not need more than a semester of academic life to start calling absolutely everything that is not related to productivity “procrastination.”

If you are an academic and identified with the paragraph above, it is worth remembering, however, that:

Procrastinating is when…

- You have a dedicated time to do something, but decide to do other things;
- You decide to solve something later that you could solve now;
- You postpone or extend the deadline to resolve something, for no reason.

Procrastinating is not…

- Taking a weekend to rest;
- Scheduling yourself to watch a TV show;
- Taking a day off;
- From time to time, giving priority to some activity you like.

Yesterday I heard an episode of a podcast that, among other valuable information, talked about applying intent to everything we do. Work when we need to work, rest when we need to rest.

In academic life, it seems to me that we are — in no small extent — doing work that we do not want to do, and resting in periods when the intention is not resting, but escaping.

As a result, leisure becomes guilt, work becomes disgust, and academic life becomes something we want to get rid of.

I have a lot to say about procrastination. The main thing, however, is that in our relationship with research, our view that the correct thing would be to produce all the time is not so. Rest, leisure, and dedication to other projects need to be seen not as “sins,” but as our salvation. They represent the limit between what is sustainable and what will make us sick.

Changing this scenario starts, precisely, with the intention that I mentioned above. It starts with organizing your day according to your most productive hours, putting rest and leisure on the list, and finding pleasure and meaning in academic life. At first, this type of advice seems to lead us to go against the academic pace, I know. Maybe it’ll even do that. Going against academic common sense also means understanding that your research is part of your life, not the whole. It means that you will be able to focus on the hours of the day dedicated to research and that you will also have your moments of leisure and escape to the most challenging days.

A researcher who applies intention to his activities is, without a doubt, a happier researcher.

And people happier and more satisfied with their activities, it seems obvious, produce more.