9 Hidden Benefits of Procrastination

It makes you more creative

Are you in dire need of creative inspiration? There’s nothing like a ticking time bomb of a deadline to trigger it. Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School, wrote in the New York Times about a mini-experiment conducted by one of his former students. Participants were asked to generate new business ideas; some were assigned to start right away, while others were given five minutes to play Minesweeper or Solitaire. Their ideas were then rated for originality. Surprisingly, the procrastinators’ ideas were rated 28 percent more creative. “When people played games before being told about the task, there was no increase in creativity,” Grant said. “It was only when they first learned about the task and then put it off that they considered more novel ideas. It turned out that procrastination encouraged divergent thinking.” Did you know boredom can also spark creativity?

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