It’s National Procrastination Week!

Since the beginning of time, people have been prone to procrastinate. Some of them are embarrassed by it (“Sorry, I’m late.”), some brag about it (“I put the “pro” in procrastination”) and still others have created a holiday for it.

Yes, the second week in March is officially National Procrastination Week. I’m not sure where the convention is being held this year, because the planning committee has postponed making a decision. But even without a formal convention, procrastinators band together to give a shout-out to their national battle cry: “If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then whenever I get around “tuit.”

National Procrastination Week is a curious holiday. What other group celebrates their foibles? Have you heard of a National Overeating week, a Compulsive Shopping week, a Messy House week? And how would you celebrate those holidays? Would you shove food in your mouth all week? (No wait, that’s Christmas week.) Would you go on a shopping spree from morn till dawn? Would you expand clutter to every inch of your living expanse?

One thing you gotta admire about procrastinators is their placid nature. While others around them are tearing their hair out, procrastinators remain calm, cool and collected. They reiterate that “tomorrow is just as good a time to do something as today.” Are they right?

If our mythical procrastinator actually did it tomorrow, he might have a point. But if “I’ll do it tomorrow” is code for, “get off my case. I’m not going to do it today, tomorrow or ever,” let’s recognize this ‘playing for time’ as an act of defiance.

If you have a proclivity toward putting things off, don’t let this year’s National Procrastination Week pass by without observing it in a special way. Do something different. Make it a week in which you get a move on a long postponed task. Or, initiate an activity. Or, complete a project. Or, do what you said you’d do. Or, be on time.

When you do, you’ll be proud of yourself. And astonish everyone else. But don’t let them dare to believe that you’re doing an about-face to please them. It’s just your unique way of celebrating National Procrastination Week. When the jubilee is over, you’ll go back to your modus operandi. Why? Because though others believe that hard work pays off one day, you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that procrastination pays off right away.

©2012