It’s easy to point the finger at procrastinators, who are masters in the art of putting everything off. But their opposite – “precrastinators” – aren’t necessarily any better. In fact, their drive to do everything right away can be just as problematic.
Etymologically, precrastination means “before tomorrow”: it refers to completing a task as soon as it arises, regardless of the deadline. This notion was theorised by David Rosenbaum in a study, published in 2014 in the journal Psychological Science.
The psychology professor at the University of California designed an experiment in which volunteers were asked to carry a bucket of water from point A to point B. They were given a choice of several buckets, some farther from the finish line than others.
Curiously, the participants opted for the buckets closer to the starting line, despite the extra effort required. “This seemingly irrational choice reflected a tendency to precrastinate, a term we introduce to refer to the hastening of subgoal completion, even at the expense of extra physical efforts,” Rosenbaum and colleagues wrote.
In other words, precrastinators seek to get rid of tasks as quickly as possible as soon as they arise, thus removing them from their mental load. They’re the kind of people who answer their emails in a minute, or draw up the agenda for the next meeting weeks in advance. To-do lists are not for them.
Precrastinators are ultra-responsive, even if it means paying the price further down the line.
The importance of slowing down
Sometimes it’s a case of more haste, less speed. Sending a document to your manager without proofreading or finetuning it can have regrettable consequences.
The main pitfall of precrastination is this sense of urgency, above all else. By trying to do everything quickly, we risk making mistakes and, above all, getting so wrapped up in getting things done that we lose sight of what’s important.
In 2018, researchers at Princeton University discovered that the nucleus accumbens, a brain area involved in the reward system, is strongly activated when we complete a task requiring little effort. In other words, our brains naturally favour simplicity.
Precrastinators prefer to quickly power through several small tasks, rather than tackle a complex mission requiring more time and thought. In the long run, this can hinder their professional development, and can also lead to tension with colleagues.
This in turn can have a detrimental effect on a team and, consequently, on the company’s overall performance.
To avoid reaching this point, precrastinators need to learn to embrace and appreciate slowness. Our brains can’t run at full speed 24 hours a day; it needs quiet moments to regenerate.
It’s best, therefore, to refrain from running around like the white rabbit in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, and instead understand that taking your time doesn’t necessarily mean wasting it.