Procrastination and deadlines: when delay helps creativity and when it hurts
Adam Grant describes a creative upside to procrastination, while Rick Rubin explains which phases of a project benefit from deadlines and which suffer. The contrast helps creators decide when to wait for ideas to incubate and when to force a finish.
What is procrastination really about, according to Adam Grant? Show answer
Avoiding the negative emotions a task stirs up, such as boredom, fear, anxiety or confusion, not avoiding work itself.
What is a pre-crastinator? Show answer
Grant's word for someone like himself who feels deadline pressure the moment a project starts and finishes far ahead of schedule.
What did Grant and Jihae Shin find about procrastination and creativity? Show answer
People who procrastinated a moderate amount generated the most creative ideas, more than those who started immediately or waited until the last minute.
How did the lab study get people to procrastinate? Show answer
Participants worked on creative problems while tempted by entertaining YouTube videos on their screens, with the number of videos varied.
Why does starting immediately hurt creativity? Show answer
You get stuck with your first ideas and are less likely to reframe the problem or draw on remote knowledge.
Why does chronic procrastination hurt creativity? Show answer
Starting at the last minute forces you to rush ahead with the easiest idea to implement instead of developing the most novel one.
What condition must hold for moderate procrastination to help? Show answer
The person has to be intrinsically interested in the task. Without that interest the benefit disappeared.
What are Rick Rubin's four phases of creative work? Show answer
Seed collecting, experimentation, crafting and completion. You move back and forth between them.
When does Rubin say a deadline is appropriate? Show answer
Deep into the crafting phase or in completion, when you can start seeing the end. There it won't hurt the project and might help.
Why does Rubin recommend a private deadline? Show answer
If you discover late that the work could be much better and needs more time, that is harder to act on when the deadline was set publicly.
Why does Grant say Huberman's use of deadlines isn't procrastination? Show answer
Huberman delays for an expected benefit, the focus a time crunch gives him, not despite an expected cost.
How does Rubin handle time between work sessions? Show answer
He gives a session total focus, then leaves the work behind and turns to other projects, trusting the subconscious to keep working.