Unlike what many people think, procrastination is a complicated and artful skill that a common person naturally acquires during childhood. Procrastination allows a person to work efficiently, and therefore actually creates more free time; this is contrasting to common beliefs. Although most people learn to procrastinate during their childhood, some people are suppressed of this wonderful practice, and many of the people who learned to procrastinate gradually stop practicing procrastination. To make living enjoyable, the following steps can be taken repeatedly to hone your procrastination skills.

The first step to procrastination, of course, is to receive an assignment or some kind of work that you don’t like. Your attitude toward the assignment is crucial. If you like a certain assignment, or are passionate about it; you should not procrastinate. Remember, the whole purpose of procrastinating is to put off assignments or works you don’t like, and utilize the pressure of the deadline to make you self-efficient. If you are passionate about an assignment, don’t put it off, use the pressure of deadlines on something else you don’t like. Also, try to finish the easy works without procrastination. These smaller or easier assignments are not worth the brain juice you need to use in order to procrastinate.

The second step is to estimate how long the assignment would take. This step requires a lot of practice. Estimating how much time it would take to finish a particular assignment is hard, because the actual time it takes to do the assignment depends on the type of assignment, length of assignment, and the procrastinator’s personality. For example, if you are a perfectionist, it is advised to add 20% of the estimated time to your estimate.

The third step is to set an exact date. An important concept to remember is that although you have a higher risk of not being able to finish the assignment on that day, the closer to the due date, usually the more efficient you will be. Step one and two are very important here, since if you failed to plan your procrastination schedule or have too many procrastinated projects on your hand, you might have to stay up late. Again, remember that procrastination is a skill that should make you more efficient, and not getting enough sleep will make you sloppy, in addition to it is bad for your health.

The fourth step is to simply have fun while you are free. This step may prove to be the most difficult step when you are a beginner to procrastination. Try to block out or avoid you guilty conscience. If you’ve already started to procrastinate, you should stick with it, since going back to hard working would mean you’ve wasted all the time doing steps 1 through 3. Don’t worry if you are feeling bad sometime during this step, as you will gradually become numb toward these feelings.

The fifth step is to do these assignments at the scheduled time. This step should be easy if the assignment is important to you. By now, the pressure should be mounting high, and you’ll find that you work at a surprisingly efficient rate; you’re able to tune out all the distractions. This step can be difficult if you are lazy by nature, however, that is easily cured when you fail to produce the result, and receives punishment from your boss or teachers.

Practice makes perfect. While it might not be possible to perfect the art of procrastination, the experience and expertise in procrastination will earn you respect from other procrastinators. Always keep your head up high, procrastinators, and do not forget planned procrastination is not shameful.