Productive Procrastination

Procrastination feels like such a dirty word. As a kid we were admonished for procrastinating on our homework, and that criticism didn’t make it any easier to stop procrastinating now that we’re older with even more responsibilities. But what if I told you that you could let yourself off the hook a little for putting things off?

Let’s first talk about why we procrastinate. Sometimes it’s out of fear. We’re daunted by the volume of work (whether real or imagined), or the deadline is fast approaching and we’re nervous we won’t meet it in time, or we are scared that our work won’t be good enough. Other times we procrastinate because we just don’t feel like doing that particular task. Understanding the reason behind our desire to postpone a task can help us come up with appropriate tactics to stay on track.

Some people procrastinate by putting work aside in favor of doing something else unproductive. But this often causes them to feel even more stressed about their growing list of tasks. Alternatively, they could choose to engage in productive procrastination.

Productive procrastination is when we choose to focus and work on another task instead of the one we’re procrastinating on. When I am not in the headspace to write, I procrastinate by listening to a podcast or reading a book that could give me ideas for future newsletters. It’s not time sensitive or urgent work, but it gives me something productive to do when I’m not in the mood to do my most productive task, which would be writing. Forcing yourself to work on a task that you are not in the right frame of mind for could actually result in a worse final product.

Maybe you already “productively procrastinate” but you still feel guilty about it. So long as you have a stellar track record of getting things done on time, then there is nothing to feel guilty about. Besides, there are a few other ways that procrastinating can be productive.

• Procrastinating gives you space to evaluate your priorities. Sometimes when we pull back from something we see that it’s actually not that important after all. Or, we find that it’s something we really are passionate about.

• When we start a task early knowing we have ample time to complete it, we often don’t work as fast or efficiently. But when we are down to the wire we know that it’s do or die time and we force ourselves into the zone. In these moments we often get things done faster because we have no other choice.

• On some rare occasions, the thing we were procrastinating on gets resolved on it’s own, saving us time and effort.

These situations are not always the norm, and I am not a huge advocate for waiting until the eleventh hour to do something. ✪ Action Item: But when you do find yourself procrastinating, cut yourself some slack and try to engage in the most productive form of procrastination you can by working on another task, getting a mental reset, or evaluating your priorities.