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VIDEO: Is Procrastination Ever A Good Thing? (with Lesson Plan)

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Actually, I think I'm going to get to this article a little bit later ...

Just about all of us do it -- some (me, for instance) more than others. When faced with a challenging or downright unappealing task, we drag our feet and put things off for as long as possible. Welcome to the age-old art of procrastination!

Even some of the greatest minds in history were susceptible to the procrastination bug. Take Mozart, who allegedly wrote the overture for his famous opera Don Giovanni the night before its premiere. And Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legendary "I Have A Dream" speech? Yup, he supposedly wrote that last-minute, too.

All of which begs the question: if procrastination is such a common human behavior, might it sometimes serve some useful, even creative, purpose? And does it serve some biological purpose?

While procrastination is commonly thought of as a negative behavior that hinders productivity, it's often more complicated than that.  In fact, new research suggests that some people need to procrastinate in order to get things done.

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Just so happens that there's a great new Above the Noise video that digs right into this. And all you have to do is sit and watch it, so quit stalling!

Teach with the Lowdown and Above the Noise

Ideas for analysis, discussion and multimedia projects. Browse our lesson archive here.

Read-Think-Respond: Are you a procrastinator? If so, what are your strategies for dealing with it?
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Youth media: An article from a youth publication on overcoming the procrastination trap

TeachAn original lesson plan and list of sources for introducing this topic in the classroom

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