Great works cannot be rushed, nor are they fully appreciated in the present moment. This is what most of the greatest artists, poets, and musicians have demonstrated throughout history.
A Dutch artist by name of Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting in his lifetime as an artist. Today, you might have heard of a dozen of his paintings, including the famous “The Starry Night, 1889”.
The truth is, we’re not always in the zone to produce greatness. Sometimes works like art or novels cannot be complete without an essential element. That element can take different strokes of influence that occur at different points in time in order to come to life.
Take for example, I produce different types of written work when I’m in pain or in grief, as opposed to peacetime.
As an outlet, work becomes like an oxygen mask in times of despair, and it can result in beautiful things.
As a recovered procrastinator, I can say like with anything, there’s a right time and place for it.
When you’re exhausted or burned out
When we’re physically or mentally exhausted, work that would normally take an hour ends up taking three.
I am adamant about giving yourself the rest you need—no matter how long that is for you to recover.
Yes, you may feel a bit guilty for procrastinating, but in times like this what’s at risk is productivity and accuracy. We’re more prone to making errors when we’re tired.
Give yourself some time off and do ‘lazy’ activities. Sometimes what you really need is to do absolutely nothing. I see it as a mini-investment as opposed to being lazy because I know the next day I’ll bounce back harder than if I didn’t take that rest at all. And the difference in my work is night and day, even though I delayed it by a day or two.
When you’re stuck
As a writer, I’m familiar with the term ‘writer’s block’ which means when a writer gets stuck on a piece of work and is unable to proceed.
Unlike logical tasks where there are always clear instructions, creative work requires you to constantly invent and come up with new ways to describe/represent the world and the concepts within that.
It’s not always easy nor is it productive trying to come up with new ideas. Sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate where we’re taking this idea and whether or not it’s still making sense.
Often, we have to turn back to our sources—the tried and true ones, to gather more research and insights on the topic we’re exploring.
When it comes to writing, I always try to write without any external influences first—then if I get stuck I look up more information, and often that’s all I need to push past the block.
Another example is when you’ve just spent a whole week on the same project or task—it’s bound to get a little boring. When we’re bored, we’re less inspired and motivated to give the task our full attention.
Therefore, the best course of action is to take a little break from that particular task, work on something else and then come back to it with a fresh slate.
Your focus may increase and you might see/discover things that you haven’t before.
When you need an extra push
The problem with the perception that we have a lot of time, is that we tend to take our time lulling over the small details. Sometimes, we miss the crucial point altogether.
When that time is limited, there’s increased pressure to get the main point down quickly, and then build around it with supporting points.
Often, this type of ‘last minute’ work can bear the greatest results. As they say “diamonds are built under pressure.”
Conclusion
Although I truly believe, for the sake of our sanity that creating a regular schedule to conquer our projects is better than leaving it all to the last minute.–procrastination does have its merits from time to time.
In the creative sense, sometimes it’s those last-minute additions, revises, or pushes that elevate the work from good to genius-level.
If you feel guilty for putting things off to the last minute, use the pressure as your edge as opposed to letting it inhibit you.
Secret Prose 
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