The founder of International Procrastination Day -- observed Friday, or whenever -- is urging people to push the pause button on their overscheduled lives.

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David d'Equainville, French author of "Manifesto for a Day Put Off," told The Daily Telegraph of London he advocates "positive procrastination" as an act of resistance to a high-speed, high-tech culture.

"To procrastinate is to refuse to do what the context -- be it from bosses, administrative obligations or a culture of results -- asks us to do. We must absolutely take the time to think about the tasks we accept to execute, or we will lose all control over our lives," he said.

As an example, he said, "Just reading work e-mails is an impossible task. One has to make choices, and procrastination becomes a tool, a defense mechanism."

D'Equainville cited Shakespeare on the danger of hasty decisions. "If Romeo had put his suicide off a bit on Juliet's tomb, the two lovebirds could have grown old together."