Should I really stop procrastinating? Even Leonardo Da Vinci used to procrastinate.

I am chilling and scrolling my feed watching memes and videos, then I suddenly remember my assignment that is due tomorrow. I say to myself, just five minutes and I will start my assignment. Then an hour later, I am still scrolling through the feed.

 

This is a usual habit of mine. To get rid of it, I read self-help books, watched motivational videos but now those books and videos have become my means of procrastination.

 

 Then one day, out of curiosity, I searched “top ten procrastinators” on Google. I did that to see my rank among other people. And to my amazement, I wasn't there. Rather there were the Dalai Lama, Bill Clinton, Leonardo da Vinci, and many such notable figures.

 

Many of those top procrastinators had slacking habits in the past but later gained focus. But some still carried their procrastination during their entire lives. And one of those was Leonardo da Vinci. And if I ever become successful (by any chance) then that would be me too.

Da Vinci was not only a painter but an engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. But he is considered a procrastinator nonetheless. Because I am also a procrastinator even though I am a student, writer, bathroom singer, memer and YouTube creator (Jeez, I hate myself)

 

 With voracious curiosity about many things, distraction was easy to stop him from completing his art. Because of this, in his lifetime he has only about 20 paintings, many of them unfinished. Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa for fifteen years. And the last supper took three years to complete. Knowing his habit, His creditors had to make him sign a contract to finish the job within the stipulated period. When Pope Leone X became frustrated with Vinchi's inability to attend to his duties, he exclaimed, “Alas! this man will do nothing, for he begins by thinking of the end of the work, before the beginning.”

 

Vasari(biographer) in the biography of Vinchi wrote “in learning and in the rudiments of letters he would have made great proficiency. Only if he had not been so variable and unstable, for he set himself to learn many things, and then, after having begun them, abandoned them.”

 

Now, many consider his sluggish habit to be the nature of creating artistic masterpieces. While many regarded him as having a hyperactivity disorder. But no matter what the cause, Da Vinci had regret for his unfinished arts. Later Vinchi suffered from a condition similar to a stroke that made his right hand unable to paint properly. This incident almost broke him but he trained his left hand to write, paint and teach. Also Da Vinci, on his deathbed, lamented his procrastination. He said that he had offended God and humanity in not having worked at his art as he should have. He had understood the wonders of anatomy, natural philosophy, and art. But he still regrets his own lack of perseverance.

 

So after reading Vinchi's story, the main takeaway for me is to finish my work on time. Who knows? I may be on my deathbed tomorrow, mourning my laziness. 

With all these surging motivating emotions,  I would like to make an oath in front of you all that I will start working towards my goal right away.  But since I had just started this "money heist" series, my mind is already distracted so if I start working right away. So I have to finish this series first. After I finish that, I have to take a nap as well. Then, I swear, I won't procrastinate anymore.