If procrastination is a virtue, many thousands of lawyers should consider themselves among the righteous. Intuitively, most would not consider the value of procrastination to be a boon for a successful career. But is this thinking outdated? Princeton Legal Search, an award-winning national legal search firm, has some thoughts on the value of procrastination, and their thinking will warm the hearts of many lawyers around the globe. So perhaps the studies showing that lawyers procrastinate for over an hour a day are signs of a healthy relationship between lawyers and their schedules.
“…Like the fall of yesteryears, where leaves drop and deadlines loom, papers and priorities are coming into sharp focus. It’s the perfect time to address the elephant in the room: procrastination. Procrastination is typically viewed as a weakness, a flaw that undermines productivity and threatens professional performance. However, what if we reframe procrastination not as a waste of time but as a signal, a tool that can be harnessed to enhance our work? This article explores the pros and cons of procrastination for in-house and law firm lawyers. It reveals how this often-hidden behavior can be transformed into a powerful indicator for prioritizing critical activities….Procrastination doesn’t have to be secretive or a source of embarrassment. It can be a powerful tool for prioritization, energy management, and achieving clarity in critical tasks for in-house…lawyers…By understanding and harnessing the hidden value of procrastination, you can transform what is often seen as a weakness into a strategic advantage…”
Read: The Hidden Value of Procrastination: A Tool for In-House and Law Firm Lawyers at Princeton Legal Search