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Guess what, Will?

What's that, Mango?

So I think you know I'm a procrastinator.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know that at this point.

Yeah, I'm the sort of person who always does my research immediately

or, like, buys supplies ahead of time because I like to be prepared.

And then traditionally, I tend to wait until the last minute to write my essays or whatever.

Actually, I like that story you told me about how your parents kind of conditioned you to become a procrastinator.

Yeah, so when I was a kid for like book reports or dioramas or whatever, like it was always the same.

I just wait till the last minute.

And then my parents would stay up with me. And since I was up, they'd make or order pizza, and then it'd be, like, 9.30, and, like, mystery was on PBS, so we'd stay up to watch a Sherlock Holmes with my mom. And, you know, since I was up, they'd also, like, open a box of ice cream and we eat that together.

And then in the morning, like, my little sister would wake up and see a pizza box and an ice cream carton and be like, you had another party without me.

That's great.

So, I mean, I both hate that I'm a procrastinator and I really love staying late, and sort of that thrill of rushing to a deadline. And metal floss used to feel like that to me. We'd rush to close an issue of the magazine, and it was just so fun. But I'm curious about procrastination. Like, what makes us do it? Why do we brag about it? And who are the greatest procrastinators in history?

And that's what we're going to find out today.

Let's dive in. Hey there, podcast listeners. Welcome to part-time genius. I'm Will Pearson, and as always, I'm joined by my good friend Mengesh Hatiketer. And sitting behind that soundproof glass with a bottle of

nodos, a stack of bullet journals, what is that? A Pomodoro timer and a pair of blinders.

I mean, this guy is so serious about never losing his focus. That's our friend and producer Tristan

McNeil. I know. Tristan loves to hit deadlines. He is ruthless about not procrastinating. But, you know, speaking of procrastination, we've got Andrew

Centella on the program. Now, Andrew's the author of a wonderful new book. It's called Soon,

an overdue history of procrastination from Leonardo and Darwin to you and me. Welcome to

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