{"id":151989,"date":"2016-05-25T09:03:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T06:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/procrastination-synchronizing-the-minds-time-with-the-subconscious-minds-time\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:29:05","slug":"procrastination-synchronizing-the-minds-time-with-the-subconscious-minds-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/espirited.com\/en\/procrastination-synchronizing-the-minds-time-with-the-subconscious-minds-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Procrastination: Synchronizing the Timing of the Mind with the Unconscious"},"content":{"rendered":"

At last, I came across something truly valuable regarding the problem of procrastination\u2014a problem that each of us knows to one degree or another. It can range from mild stress and anxiety to genuine agony at the thought that time is passing while, for some reason, we are not doing what we want or need to do. I am referring to a TED talk by the psychologist Adam Grant<\/span><\/span><\/strong> on creative people<\/a>, in which he says that the tendency to procrastinate is a typical trait of theirs.<\/p>\n

His central thesis is that the need for more time to think is not a sign of inadequacy, but quite the opposite\u2014an expression of originality and uniqueness. What appears at first glance to be procrastination is, in fact, the creative phase of incubation: the time an idea needs to rest in the unconscious so that something original and valuable can mature.<\/p>\n

Therefore, if we want to pass through the incubation phase without inflicting additional stress upon ourselves, it is important to know that there are two kinds of doubt: doubt in ourselves, and doubt in the value of our idea. While the former is destructive to the creative process, the latter is essential for anyone who is not satisfied with anything less than the very best.<\/p>\n

As Adam Grant points out, truly original and creative people also have their fears and doubts, but unlike less creative individuals, their greatest fear is not the fear of failure. Their greatest fear is not trying to do what they most deeply want to do. Although the number of their failures and unsuccessful attempts is greater than that of others, the magnitude of their success compensates for this many times over.<\/p>\n

I am glad that through the arguments of scientific experiments and research, a branch of psychology that at first glance seems unrelated to the soul and the care for it\u2014organizational psychology\u2014manages to articulate the alchemical formula for transforming the \u201csuffering of procrastination\u201d into the gold of self-creation. This formula is as follows:<\/p>\n