I cured the plague of my younger life, procrastination—mostly by stop using the term as a diagnosis. It’s usually much too blunt an accusation. Now I see that part(s) of me are not prepared or otherwise on board with a particular action.
The ancient Egyptians had two words for procrastination, one that meant laziness and the other that meant waiting for the right time:
- Laziness: One word described procrastination as a vice of sloth.
- Waiting for the right time: The other word described procrastination as a virtue of prudence.
- this seems equivalent to the Greek concept of
"Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their designs." —Leonardo da Vinci (or at least attributed)
Etymology:
The word "procrastinate" comes from the Latin words pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow".