A time for procrastination?

About the one thing that I was sure of was that no philosopher would support procrastination. You know how these chaps are - if you truly like a certain behavior, the whole lot of them will come down on you like a ton of bricks and call you all sorts of names. AND, bar a very few, the whole world sort of likes procrastination though, yes, they may claim otherwise. Much like they all claim to be...well...honest, hardworking, monogamous, yada yada.

So, yeah, I was sure that no philosopher would support procrastination and, yet...well, when Tiru says this...

Thoonguga thoongi seyarpaala thoongarkka thoongaadhu seyyum vinai - Tirukkural

Leisurely do those jobs which should be done at ease; never be slow on those that ought not be delayed - Loose Translation

So, yes, Tiru is not giving you a free pass on procrastinating on all jobs. He clearly insists that there ARE jobs that ought not to be delayed and, thus, need to be done immediately and as soon as possible. I mean, like, if your dress is on fire, you are unlikely to appreciate the chap who wants to sleep over the idea of putting the fire out. (Oh, by the way, if you literally translated this kural it would come out as 'Sleep over such jobs as can be slept over; never sleep over those jobs that cannot'. Here, though, that 'sleep' does not actually stands for stretching out and snoring. It is a euphemism for taking it easy.) But Tiru DOES actually instruct you to take it easy on some jobs.

So such jobs actually exist? I mean jobs that actually INVITE procrastination? Hmmm. Maybe Tiru is NOT talking of procrastination at all. Like, I have heard of dishes that have to marinade for hours; of dishes that have to be cooked for long over a low flame...things like that. (Yeah, yeah, cannot get my mind off food. So?) Doing those dishes urgently by reducing the time of the marinading or cooking on a high flame to get done faster...Would that make for a satifactory dish?

There ARE jobs that have to be done slowly and steadily. Whether it be at the level of actually doing work with your hands OR whether it is things that you do in an organisation, you will always find some things that work better when done slowly.

Implementing change can be like that. I mean, yeah, it may be a necessary thing but...Well, unless your employees buy into the change, unless they completely understand what is expected of them in the new way of doing things, will that change get implemented properly and yield the results that you expect to get?

So, yes, there ARE jobs that cannot be rushed. For THOSE jobs, Tiru is only saying that 'Haste makes Waste'. And there ARE jobs which need to be done urgently - the 'stitch in time saves nine' sort of jobs. So, in one pithy kural, Tiru encompasses both and says that unnecessary haste AND undue delay will both cause damage.

Now to figure out what jobs can be done leisurely and what need doing right now! THAT's the challenge in which Tiru is no help. You need to do it yourself.