Procrastination isn’t bad after all, at least according to a study.
For most of our lives, we’re made to believe that we should do the hard stuff first before we can indulge in the fun stuff. Work comes first and leisure after—often serving as a prize. But what if we watch on Netflix first and deal with that deadline later?
In a bid to understand what “leisure first” feels like, Professor Ed O’Brien of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business conducted three different experiments involving working adults and students.
In the first experiment, O’Brien and his staff assigned 181 participants to complete two activities: first was the Fixed Labor Task, a strenuous battery of cognitive tests; and the Magic Maker game, a creative and fun iPad game.
Half of the participants did the Fixed Labor Task first, while the other half did the Magic Maker game. They were asked to rate their enjoyment before and after playing, and while the “play first” group predicted they would enjoy the fun part less than the “play after,” when they rated it again after playing, “actual enjoyment” ratings were equally high.
For the follow up experiment, O’Brien’s group built a makeshift spa complete with a massage chair and a footbath for 259 students of the University of Chicago. The students were free to choose to visit the spa either weeks before or weeks after their midterms. Same with the first experiment, participants were asked to rate their enjoyment before and after visiting.
“We found that while students who visited the spa before midterms predicted that the experience would be less enjoyable due to looming midterm exams, they actually enjoyed themselves just as much as those who visited the spa after midterms,” O’Brien said in his article published in the Harvard Business Review.
In the final experiment, they invited 332 students to perform two different tasks. One was the Cognitive Marathon, a stressful timed challenge; the other was framed as a prize after finishing the marathon, which consisted only of pure entertainment with complimentary snacks.
The research team asked the students to complete the reward task first, leaving them thinking they had to go through the Cognitive Marathon after. But the participants did not go through the marathon, as the main goal of this experiment was to see how they enjoy the reward task despite of having not finished the harder task first. Apparently, participants were not at all bothered by enjoying the reward task even if they hadn’t earned it yet, according to data gathered.
“Our findings suggest we may be over-worrying and over-working for future rewards that could just be as pleasurable in the present,” opined O’Brien.
For some, leisure improves their work performance. They often work better after treating themselves to restful breaks. Just like Kevin Villanueva, he usually relaxes and enjoys his spare time before doing actual work. He believes that having a relaxed mind results to a quality work.
Though he admits he often gets carried away and ends up procrastinating, he sees time pressure as an advantage, as it activates his imagination.
But this is not for everyone.
Jeshlin Gas, a student-athlete is a big procrastinator. She said she usually starts doing her schoolwork the night before or in the morning of the deadline. But she wants to change this habit, because for her, “you can do a lot better than the work you usually do when you procrastinate.”
Nina Ibarrola agrees that procrastinating is not the way to go. “Procrastinating helped me survive, but not excel”.
Having fun first isn’t bad, but, as O’Brien puts it, make sure it won’t undermine your ability to work, and engage in leisure first when the stakes are low.
“Nobody is recommending having celebratory beers just before you run your 5k,” emphasized the professor.