You know that person who replies to an email three seconds after you hit send? Or the roommate who washes their plate before they’ve even finished chewing their last bite of toast? We usually call them "organized" or "driven." Sometimes we just call them "annoying." But in the world of psychology, there is a very specific name for the opposite of a procrastinator: a precrastinator.
It sounds like a made-up word. It isn't.
While half the world is spiraling into a panic because they started a project ten minutes before the deadline, precrastinators are sprinting to finish tasks the moment they appear on the horizon. They don't just meet deadlines; they destroy them. They tackle the easiest, smallest chores immediately, often at a high physical or mental cost, just to get the "to-do" item out of their brain. It’s an itch that has to be scratched.
But here’s the kicker: being the opposite of a procrastinator isn't always the productivity superpower it looks like on Instagram.
The Science of Doing Things Too Fast
In 2014, a researcher named David Rosenbaum at Pennsylvania State University stumbled onto this phenomenon. He wasn't even looking for it. He set up an experiment where people had to carry one of two plastic buckets to the end of a hallway. One bucket was close to the participant, and the other was further down the path, closer to the finish line.
Logic suggests you'd pick the bucket closer to the end so you don't have to carry it as far. Right?
Wrong. Most people picked up the first bucket they reached, carrying it much further than necessary. When Rosenbaum asked why, the answer was basically: "I wanted to get the task started as soon as I could."
This is the heart of precrastination. It’s the desire to reduce "cognitive load." Even if the physical work is harder, our brains hate the weight of a pending task. We want it off the mental list. Now.
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It’s Not Just "Being Early"
Being a precrastinator is different from being a high achiever. A high achiever prioritizes. They look at a list and say, "This big project is worth $10,000, and this email about the office holiday party is worth nothing, so I will do the project first."
The precrastinator? They reply to the holiday party email first.
Why? Because it’s easy. It’s a quick win. It clears a "notification" in the mind. By the time they get to the $10,000 project, they might be tired, but hey, at least their inbox is at zero. It’s a frantic, often inefficient way of existing. It’s the "opposite of a procrastinator" in the most literal sense—instead of putting off the hard stuff, they rush the easy stuff to feel a sense of completion.
Honestly, it’s a form of anxiety management.
The Dark Side of Finishing Early
If you’re someone who struggles to get off the couch, the idea of being a precrastinator sounds like a dream. But let's look at the trade-offs.
- You make more mistakes. When you rush to finish a report on Monday that isn't due until Friday, you miss the nuance. You hit "send" before you’ve had a chance to sleep on it and realize you misspelled the CEO's name.
- Energy mismanagement. Precrastinators burn their best morning energy on "busy work"—deleting spam, filing folders, organizing the spice rack—leaving the heavy lifting for when they're already drained.
- The "Hurry Up and Wait" Trap. In a professional setting, finishing a task instantly often results in getting handed more work. If you finish a week-long project in two days, your reward isn't a three-day nap. It's more projects.
Psychologists like Dr. Itiel Dror have noted that our brains are wired to prioritize immediate rewards. For the procrastinator, the reward is the temporary relief of not doing the work. For the precrastinator, the reward is the hit of dopamine from checking a box. Both can be equally irrational.
Why Do We Do This?
It's likely evolutionary. Think about our ancestors. If you saw a berry bush, you didn't "plan" to pick berries on Tuesday. You picked them now before a bird ate them or a storm blew them away. We are scavengers of "done."
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In the modern world, this translates to 45 unread Slack messages. For a precrastinator, those 45 notifications feel like 45 predators lurking in the bushes. They have to be dealt with immediately to ensure safety. It's a survival mechanism firing off in a cubicle.
Is There a Middle Ground?
The goal isn't to be a procrastinator or a precrastinator. It’s to be a deliberate actor.
Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton, has spoken about "originals"—people who are creative and successful. Interestingly, he found that many of the most creative people are moderate procrastinators. They start a task, then let it "incubate." They don't rush to the finish line because they know the first idea is rarely the best one.
The opposite of a procrastinator often lacks this incubation period. They grab the first idea, execute it, and move on. It’s efficient, sure, but it’s rarely brilliant.
Real-World Examples of Precrastination
Think about your own life.
Have you ever paid a bill the second it arrived in the mail, even though it wasn't due for three weeks and you could have kept that cash in your high-yield savings account for 20 more days? That's precrastination.
Have you ever rushed to the airport five hours early, only to sit on a hard plastic chair and eat a $15 soggy sandwich? You did it to "be safe," but you actually just traded five hours of comfort at home for five hours of boredom in Terminal B.
These aren't necessarily "bad" behaviors, but they are driven by the need to eliminate the thought of the task rather than the most logical execution of the task itself.
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How to Manage the Urge to Precrastinate
If you realized while reading this that you are the "opposite of a procrastinator," don't panic. You’re ahead of the curve in many ways. You just need to add some friction to your workflow.
The "Wait and See" Rule
When a non-urgent task hits your desk, force yourself to wait at least an hour before touching it. This feels like torture at first. Do it anyway. It proves to your brain that the world won't end if a task stays "pending" for 60 minutes.
Focus on ROI, Not "Done"
Before you start a task, ask: "Is this the most valuable thing I can do right now?" Checking your email might take two minutes, but if it derails your focus from writing a book chapter, it's actually costing you more than those two minutes.
Batch Your Busywork
Instead of answering every text message as it pings, set a "chaos hour." This is when you allowed yourself to be the fastest precrastinator on earth. Clear the deck, pay the bills, answer the "k" texts. Then, close those apps and go back to the deep work.
Moving Toward Mindful Productivity
We spend so much time talking about the dangers of "putting things off" that we've ignored the stress of "putting things first" at any cost.
Being the opposite of a procrastinator is a gift if you can control it. It means you have the drive and the energy to take action. But without a filter, that drive turns into a treadmill where you're running at full speed but not actually going anywhere.
True productivity isn't about how fast you can clear a list. It's about making sure the things on your list are worth doing in the first place. Stop carrying the bucket further than you have to. Put it down, take a breath, and wait until you're actually at the finish line.
Actionable Steps for the "Chronic Finisher"
- Identify your "triggers." What kind of tasks make you feel frantic? Is it unread emails? Messy counters? Identify what makes you precrastinate.
- Practice "Structured Procrastination." Purposefully delay a small, low-stakes task. Let the mail sit on the counter for a day. Notice that nothing bad happens.
- Prioritize by impact, not ease. Use a system where you rank tasks by how much they actually move the needle for your life or career. Do the hardest, most impactful thing first, even if it means leaving five easy things undone.
- Value your downtime. Precrastinators often feel guilty when they aren't "doing." Remind yourself that rest is a prerequisite for high-quality work, not a reward for it.
The next time you feel that urgent pull to finish something way ahead of schedule, stop. Ask yourself if you're doing it because it's the right time, or because you're just afraid of the "to-do" list. Usually, it's the latter.