How to procrastinate productively

Now, this might be difficult for some people because procrastination is a way of life. It really is! If you are a chronic procrastinator, you know there is truth in that statement. You learn to live your life on the edge. You get a rush from finishing something at the last second. You can’t plan ahead to save your life.

It’s okay, there are others like you. However, have you ever thought that there could be something more out there? That there could be a version of your life where you aren’t always playing catch up? Where you are so on top of things that you have “free time?”

Well search no more. There is a life after procrastination. There is a way to be on top of things and get things done in a timely fashion. And it honestly isn’t that hard to accomplish. You just have to have a willing heart and a planner.

So buckle down for these tips on how to edge out procrastination in your life.

1. Plan Ahead. Most procrastinators would say that they plan ahead. However, they either plan to procrastinate (crazy, right?) or they plan and don’t ever actually follow through with it. Planning ahead can be a huge benefit if you start to plan everything in advance. You will know how much time you have for things and you will be able to see the times when you are most free to work on stuff. Invest in a planner or a calendar so that you can start out right and make plans to help you succeed.
2. Have Accountability. It is really hard to accomplish anything if you don’t have accountability. You can have the best idea in the world but if you don’t have someone supporting you to accomplish it, you probably won’t. The same goes for procrastination. You can be sure that by now all of your closest friends are aware of your chronic procrastinating. They will probably be more than happy to help you change some of your habits! However, be careful what you wish for. You might get more accountability than you really wanted!
3. Start Small. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they are starting something new is that they get too ambitious. Instead of trying to change everything at once, start small. Make small adjustments that can lead to bigger ones. Don’t try to tackle your biggest procrastination problem. For example, if you always procrastinate on cleaning your room, make it a goal to clean your room once a week. Once you start figuring out how to do the small things, you will naturally learn how to do the bigger things!
4. Make Realistic Goals. Let’s say that you have a project due in three weeks. You decide that you are going to finish this in the next week, having two weeks left over to do whatever you want. Is this honestly realistic at all? With your current procrastinating habits, will you actually be able to finish the entire project two weeks early? If you are honest, the answer is probably not. Be sure to make realistic goals otherwise you will just fail and give up. If you have three weeks to do something, spread out your work over three weeks instead of cramming it into three days. If you make realistic goals, you will be more likely to actually accomplish them and you will continue to foster those good habits.
5. To Do List. These are a great place to start. Figure out everything you need to do and write it all down. This is a very tangible way to see the things that need to get done and then you feel a sense of accomplishment when you can check them off. To do lists are great for day-to-day tasks because you don’t have to think too terribly far ahead. This is also a great way to train yourself to be thinking of the things you need to accomplish.
6. Time Management. This is probably going to be one of the biggest hurdles for a chronic procrastinator. If you’re honest, you really just don’t know how to manage your time. You try to fit five days worth of work into seven hours. That is terrible time management. However, if you are able to figure out how to manage your time, you will be much closer to getting rid of your procrastination habits.
7. Discipline. If anything is going to defeat a procrastinator, it is going to be discipline. In order to stop procrastinating, you are going to have to be more disciplined. When you have a deadline, stick to it. When you need to plan ahead, do it. You just have to make the choice to add more discipline into your life. Once you do this, the battle against procrastination will become much easier. Now if only discipline wasn’t so hard…
8. Drive. Although drive just comes naturally to some people, you can still learn how to have drive. What are you passionate about? What is something you love to do? If you can figure this out, you will be less likely to procrastinate on those tasks because you have more of a reason to do them. If you can find a way to have more drive, procrastination will more naturally just ebb away because you will be more willing to do the tasks at hand. Try to figure out what will make you have drive and then pursue it!
9. Rewards. Most people tend to work better with rewards—even if it is something really silly. This is where your friends can help you out. If you have a task to accomplish, let your friends set out a reward for you so that you will be more motivated to complete the task. Rewards are a great place to start getting rid of your procrastination habits because you are unknowingly forming new habits and getting rewarded for it!

Dealing with a procrastinator can be extremely frustrating, after all, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

We all know a procrastinator; it could be your boyfriend, a friend or even your kid. Here are some great things to say to try and motivate the individual who is always putting off getting things done.

These clever sayings may offer some motivation, without sounding like a total nag.

Ten things to say to a procrastinator

1. Yesterday you said tomorrow.
2. The best way to get something done is to begin.
3. Dreams don’t work unless you do.
4. Life is a sequence of moments called now.
5. Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
6. Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction is the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must but take the step.
7. What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.
8. There are seven days in a week and someday isn’t one of them.
9. The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.
10. Stop wishing, start doing.

DO YOU NEED HELP STANDING UP TO THE DIFFICULT PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE?

Ever feel like you don’t know what to say to the difficult people in your life? Grab our FREE starter guide, so you know not only what to say- but how to say it!

Leonardo da Vinci was a word class procrastinator

Leonardo da Vinci was a major procrastinator who couldn’t stay focused on anything. He would startseveral projects, and end up getting distracted and never finish up, during his life time he was known for being unreliable.

He would continually start new projects for patrons who would get pissed off when Leonardo wouldcome up short and not finish the project. Sculptors and painters had to be hired to finish of Leonardo’swork.

Da Vinci was hired on contract to create a paining in seven months. Twenty five years later, he finally finished up the “Virgin on the Rocks.”

More top ten comeback lists you might like

• Top ten comebacks for someone who worries
• Top ten comebacks for judgmental people
• More comebacks you might like

DO YOU NEED HELP STANDING UP TO THE DIFFICULT PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE?

Ever feel like you don’t know what to say to the difficult people in your life? Grab our FREE starter guide, so you know not only what to say- but how to say it!

Yes, it’s really a thing!

Procrastination is something we all know we shouldn’t be doing, but we’re all guilty of. Whether it’s putting off studying for exams, avoiding housework, or delaying writing an article for your company’s blog (🙊).

But what if I told you that there was a silver lining? That even though you procrastinate, it doesn’t have to yield a negative result. Productive procrastination is a concept that illustrates this and in this article, I will not only explain to you what it is, but also, how to do it.

Procrastination is inevitable

Let’s face it, procrastination is inevitable. Even the most motivated people can sometimes find themselves fall victim to it. With so many distractions available at our fingertips (from Instagram to Idle Miner Tycoon), it’s just too easy a habit to get stuck into.

Procrastination also gets a bad rap. So much so that there are many tips, tricks, and techniques to help those who endeavor to overcome it. Avid Zenkit blog readers will know how much we love a good productivity tip, from how to eat the frog , to time blocking, to Getting Things Done .

Is productive procrastination simply an oxymoron?

The words “productive” and “procrastination” aren’t normally associated with one another. In fact, when you break down the definitions of both words, you will find that they kind of contradict each other.

• Productive: “the quality, state, or fact of being able to generate, create, enhance, or bring forth goods and services.”
• Procrastination: “the act or habit of putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.”

However, procrastinating productively does appear to exist.

Piers Steel, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Calgary, proposed the concept of productive procrastination while researching his book The Procrastination Equation. It’s the idea that although we are not engaged in the task we originally sought out to do, shifting our efforts to other tasks can still result in time spent productively.

John Perry, PhD, a philosophy professor at Stanford, coins the same idea as “ structured procrastination .” It’s the art of transforming the bad trait of procrastinating into something useful. He believes that procrastinators seldom do nothing when they are avoiding the task at hand and if they structure that time for tasks that relate to the original task or improve their general well being, then they can actually get a lot done.

In short, if you do something useful while you procrastinate instead of aimlessly scrolling through dank memes, then you are not entirely wasting your time.

7 ways to productively procrastinate

Even though you procrastinate, your time can still be of value. Here are seven things to try out next time your brain decides to clock off from your current task:

1. Catch up on the news There’s so much going on in the world that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with current affairs. Staying informed with the news not only keeps you engaged with what’s going on around you but it can also help you to develop a critical mindset, be a source of inspiration, and help you in emergencies.

2. Listen to a podcast There’s no harm in obtaining more information if it’s relevant and can be helpful to what you’re working on. And even if it’s just a super interesting, yet irrelevant topic, it’s bound to be useful somewhere down the line.

Podcasts are a great alternative if you’re keen on giving your eyes a rest from the computer screen. Learn about the history of mankind, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, or get your head around the Bitcoin craze. You’ll be sure to find a podcast for almost any topic.

3. Get active If your brain is starting to shut down, why not try to activate your body in the meantime? Exercise alerts your mind and can help with memory and thinking . So getting up and going for a run or shooting some hoops can rejuvenate your mind and help you start afresh.

If you’re not a fitness fanatic, even going out for a stroll around the block and stretching your legs can do wonders for not only your mind but also your posture.

4. Improve a skill Practise your foreign language skills, build on your spreadsheet capabilities, or brush up on some basic mathematics. There are so many learning tools accessible online that enhancing a skill has never been easier.

Be like Joey and practise your French! GIF credit: Giphy

5. Backup your files When was the last time you backed up your files into a cloud or a hard drive? Safeguarding our data is not something everyone does very often so if your brain decides to take a break, it’d be wise to use the time to secure all your documents, photos, and files to protect them from any future disasters.

6. Solve a smaller problem Finding solutions to smaller problems can give you the motivation and inspiration to tackle the bigger task at hand. Problem solving is an invaluable skill to have no matter where you are in life and what exactly it is you’re doing. It’s a beneficial quality that spreads across industries and institutions.

Remember, the tasks don’t have to be anything major. It can be as small as figuring out what to have for dinner, sourcing contact details of a potential client, or figuring out why your bicycle keeps on making a funny noise when you ride it.

7. Have a ‘low energy’ list on hand A ‘low energy’ list, as Paul Boag explains, is a list of tasks that doesn’t require a lot of energy to complete. Because procrastination usually comes around when our brains start to get tired, having this list ready will come in handy as it will keep you occupied with useful things to do without having to think about what the tasks have to be.

Examples of such tasks are taking the bins out, watering your plants, closing your 100+ browser tabs, and unsubscribing to all the newsletters you don’t actually read.

It’s worth noting that productive procrastination isn’t something that everyone will find practical. It’s simply a solution for those who find themselves struggling to stop procrastinating, yet still want to gain something from their time.

For those who are eager to stop their compulsive habit, we have a plethora of posts dedicated to methods that are designed to help you stop. Click here to start browsing.

How do you productively procrastinate?

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The deadline is looming. You know that you have a list of things you need to tackle, but you can’t seem to find the mental energy. Or, perhaps you settle in to work on a project, only to find a myriad of distractions keeping you from getting anywhere.

There are a lot of solutions to procrastination, from finding the right times for your mind to engage in creative work to dividing a job into smaller tasks in order to avoid being overwhelmed by the complexity. Below, 14 members of Forbes Coaches Council share what works for them, and why.

From top left to right: Jen Kelchner, Liesa Taylor, Sunil Harrypersad, Brian Tracy, Tina Dietz, Edyta Pacuk, Kelly Meerbott, Julia M. Winston, Michelle Dumas, Cheryl Lynch Simpson, Sheri Nasim, Linda Sharkey, Patrick Jinks, Andrea MacKenzie.

All photos courtesy of the individual member.

1. Find Your Flow And Stay In It

Knowing how and when you work best can eliminate the problem of procrastination and lack of focus. Determine what time of day you do your best thinking or are most creative. Avoid booking meetings during those hours if possible, so that you can maximize your productivity and focus. Staying in your flow will increase performance and productivity. – Jen Kelchner , LDR21

2. Don’t Multitask

Break projects down into small pieces and work on a piece from start to finish with no interruption. We are more likely to resist interruption when we are close to finishing a task. Multitasking is a myth: We don’t do two things at once; we do one thing at once and our brains switch back and forth. This is mentally exhausting and diminishes our productivity. – Liesa Taylor , Taylor Advisory Group

3. Develop Routines And Discipline

We can all agree that workload can become unmanageable at times. To prevent procrastination and missed timelines, one must develop specific routines and discipline. Leaders must start by managing themselves and driving accountability. Next, time management plays an important role on for executing and meeting deadlines. Lastly, delegation is important: Recognize when to delegate and follow up. – Sunil Harrypersad , Leading My Career Consulting

4. Take On Slices Of A Job

You wouldn’t try to eat a whole loaf of salami at once, so don’t try to take on an entire job from the start. Sometimes the best way to stop procrastinating and complete a major job is to take a small slice and complete just that piece, just as you would take a single slice of salami and eat it. When you do this, it will often give you the momentum you need to counter inertia and stop procrastinating. – Brian Tracy , Brian Tracy International

5. Get An ‘Accountability Buddy’

Often we have so many tasks and priorities that we freeze up and have difficulty focusing. Or, there are things we don’t want to do — or we do want to do them, but we’re afraid it won’t turn out the way we want — that we find excuses instead of being productive. Weekly accountability conversations or emails with a coach or “accountability buddy” help tremendously to set clear tasks and goals. – Tina Dietz , StartSomething Creative Business Solutions

6. Reflect On Stolen Time

If you consider time to be a valuable commodity, you might reflect on how much time you waste walking around the task. When you realize that just because you procrastinate doesn’t mean the task will disappear, it will compel you to do the things you like the least or are most afraid of first. – Edyta Pacuk , MarchFifteen Consulting Inc.

7. Discover Why You Are Procrastinating

Find the root of what is making you procrastinate in the first place. Is it self-sabotage? Is it fear? Are you resistant to hard work? Once you create an awareness around why you are procrastinating in the first place, that knowledge makes it easier to make changes, and recognize when you’re doing it in the future and bring yourself back into focus. – Kelly Meerbott , You: Loud & Clear

8. Find The Fun

9. Focus On Your Top Three Priorities

I begin each day by asking myself: “What are my top three priorities today?” I put those three items on my daily task list with a top-priority status. I know that I will never finish everything on my list, but I make a commitment to completing my top three tasks before giving my attention to anything else. Since implementing this practice, I get far more done and have finished many long-overdue projects. – Michelle Dumas , Distinctive Career Services, LLC

10. Pair The Pomodoro Technique With Juicy Rewards

As a creative personality, I used to have a hard time pushing myself to do boring tasks. What works for me is using scheduling blocks and completing chunks of similar tasks in short bursts. The Pomodoro Technique suggests 25 minutes, but I prefer 30- and 60-minute blocks of time. Once I complete some of my key tasks for the day, I reward myself in small, meaningful-to-me ways. – Cheryl Lynch Simpson , Executive Resume Rescue

11. Identify Your ‘Big Rocks’

Identify the most important priorities in your life – both personal and professional. Stephen Covey called this the “ Big Rocks ” principle. If you start your day without a plan, you’ll soon get busy filling it little rocks (tasks, cat videos or whatever). Before you know it, your bucket is full, and you spent another day working on things that have little value to you. – Sheri Nasim , Center for Executive Excellence

12. List Distractions, Then Promise To Do Them After The Project

For all of us procrastinators, I have found the following works. Make a list of all the things that will distract you from your project. Put a date on those items and list a day you will do them after your project is complete. Once you have completed the project, reward yourself. Finally, get an “ankle biter:” someone who calls or texts you every morning to remind you of your goal. – Linda Sharkey , The Marshall Goldsmith Group

13. Remember: Goals Are Not Actions

Goals are not actions. Make sure your to-do-list is not a list of goals. Move items from your to-do list to your calendar. Make appointments with yourself to get key work done. Schedule key work for your optimal work times (when you are most productive). Re-assess priorities: Do you have items on your to-do list that really don’t need doing? Get an accountability partner! – Patrick Jinks , The Jinks Perspective

14. Don’t Assume Procrastination Is Bad

Some people thrive on procrastination. If you typically come up with your best ideas during crunch time, don’t feel as though you must do it some other way. However, if you are someone who typically plans and needs time, evaluate the task at hand. Are you unmotivated? Do you have the right skills? Can you delegate it? It might be time to look for people or resources to help you complete the task. – Andrea MacKenzie , Lead With Harmony

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization comprised of leading business coaches and career coaches. Find out if you qualify at Forbes Councils.…

This sheet of paper is called The Daily Driver. And I want you to have it.

How To Procrastinate Productively

This is a guest post by Niraj Ranjan. He is the founder of Hiver (formerly GrexIt), an app the lets you share Gmail labels with other Gmail users. Niraj works on programming, customer support, sales, and contributes to design and UI.

You’ve got an important project coming up, but instead of doing it, you find yourself reorganizing your bookshelves or watching videos on Youtube. Sounds familiar, right? But here’s some good news: procrastination is not always a bad thing.

In many cases, this “wasted time” can actually be used as a way to boost your productivity.

Now that I have been running my company for over four years now, I have concluded that procrastination is very helpful at times. At my startup, there is a “procrastinator’s board” where each employee is encouraged to list out the specific items that they want to accomplish on the next day. Because this board is for everyone to see, it works really well with providing both motivation and accountability. When an item is placed on the board, the task or project it is almost always completed the very next day. And, more often than not, the tasks are well-executed too.

You can often learn something from your procrastination, when you take the time to analyze it. Here are five ways you can use your procrastination to boost your productivity:

1. Finish the smaller tasks first.

Procrastination sometimes feels like a way of wasting time, but what if it’s not? An essay written by Stanford professor John Perry shows how structured procrastinators are actually more productive. According to this essay, procrastinators are rarely doing “nothing.” They just avoid the most important work by replacing it with something else. So in many cases, you are building momentum by tackling the easier tasks first. You might clean, pay bills, work on another project, send out overdue emails, or do something else. In the end, you will likely get around to doing the thing you’re supposed to do.

Action Step: Make a to-do list and place the most important task at the top. If you feel like you can’t get started on the important task right now, just work your way up from the bottom by focusing on the easier tasks. This way your procrastination is actually a way of building momentum. Once you’ve knocked out a few tasks, move on to the most important task.

2. Use procrastination to become more creative.

Bill Gates once famously said, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” In some cases, we put off doing work because it is too hard. You can change that up by making the work easier. Invent a new approach to do the same task and simplify it. If you’re not sure, ask someone else to get some outside perspective.

Action Step: Instead of having an anxiety attack because you haven’t completed your work, be mindful. Listen to your procrastination. What is it trying to tell you? Is doing the task a bad idea? Is there a different way to do the task? Being mindful will help you come up with creative solutions.

3. Give yourself a break.

In order to procrastinate better, you need to change the way you go about it. Decide in advance how long your break will be. Sensible, short breaks will help your urge to procrastinate. Use your break as a time to regain some mental clarity. If you have been in the same position for too long, get up and take a walk. You’ll find that you feel better when you get back to work. And don’t forget to use a timer to keep yourself on track.

Action Step: Measure how much time you spend working versus how much time you spend procrastinating to take intelligent breaks. You can use a website like Rescuetime which runs in the background observing your browsing habits. It will make graphs of how much time you spend productively and how much time you spend watching videos or browsing social media websites. It is important to know where you are procrastinating. Be honest about your habit and also know where exactly your time is going. Remember that you will have more energy during certain hours in the day. Look for any patterns of procrastination and take breaks when needed to boost your productivity.

4. Use deadlines to motivate you.

In some cases, you may procrastinate because you like to work under pressure. This study suggests that the more complicated a task is, the more time you think you have to do it. In our minds we think that since the task requires a lot of time to complete, it must be farther off in terms of the due date than it actually is. When the clock strikes, panic mode starts and then you do our best to complete it. This seems especially true for people in creative fields. Deadlines become a motivational tool that leads to creativity.

Action Step: Set a personal deadline before the actual deadline. Have milestones of progress that you should reach by a specific date. This way, you will still have the rush of the deadline without actually missing the deadline. Consider texting or calling a friend to help keep yourself accountable.

5. Use procrastination for decision making.

Procrastination can actually help you make better decisions. Frank Partnoy, the author of Wait: The Art and Science of Delay says that when faced with a decision, we should assess how long we have to make it, and then wait until the last possible moment to do so.

Action Step: Weigh out the pros and cons for a decision you need to make. Even after this step, you may need some time to feel right about the decision. Use a deadline as mentioned above in number four so you can stay on target.

Conclusion

You know the difference between taking break that will recharge you giving you a fresh perspective and a break that will completely derail your progress. Self-awareness is the underlying issue with procrastination. Once you are aware of (and intentional about) what you are doing, you will find you can get more work done. Use this tool of self-awareness to help you procrastinate in ways that boost your productivity.

Spend a few minutes (here’s a timer for you to use) using one of the action steps above and please share what you did in the comments.

Do you want ideas, insights, and information on how to craft your time in just one weekly email?

Then you want ATTN: sent to you.

ATTN: is a weekly digest from Productivityist that delivers a week’s worth of content in a nice little package directly to your inbox. Just enter your email to subscribe.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

At 5 am every morning, Wignall, 33, gets up, showers, and gets to his office in Albuquerque, New Mexico early. He writes blog articles for 2-3 hours before his first client walks through the door.

And while he procrastinates on his writing, he estimates, about 50 percent of the time, he says it actually helps him get more done in the long run.

Wignall says procrastination can actually be a powerful productivity tool, but that many people get trapped in feelings of shame about it. As a result, he says, they tend to fixate on their emotions rather than the tasks they need to complete.

“Now all of a sudden you’ve got all this negative emotion built up, and you feel like you’ve got to distract yourself from that negative emotion, and that’s what leads to more severe forms of procrastination,” Wignall tells NBC News BETTER. “That’s when you start binge watching Netflix for two hours.”

But the psychologist says procrastination is quite normal and nothing to feel ashamed of.

“Biologically speaking, we’re all kind of wired to seek out new things in our environment,” he says, “and there is a lot of evolutionary psychology behind that, and I think, fundamentally, it’s not a bad thing.”

There are ways to use procrastination to your advantage, he says. He recommends three steps to become a productive procrastinator.

1) Be aware of how you talk to yourself when you procrastinate

Procrastination only becomes a problem, Wignall insists, when we allow ourselves to feel guilty about it.

“Procrastination really gets bad, and it can even become pathological, when you start automatically or habitually engaging in lots of rumination and critical talking,” he says.

Criticisms like: “Why am I such a procrastinator? Why do I always get so distracted? I wish I could just focus,” should be avoided, he says. Instead, Wignall says you should remind yourself of all you’ve accomplished.

“Can you say something along the lines of, ‘Ok, so I am struggling to focus on this particular task that I’m doing right now, but there are actually plenty of other examples in life where I actually had a pretty easy time focusing’?’” he says.

“It’s about assessing how realistic is that habitual negative self talk we tend to engage in, and then coming up with alternatives that might be more realistic or just more flexible,” he adds.

Do You Want to Boost Your Personal Productivity?

Get Your To-Dos Organized.

The Ultimate Solution to Do GTD®

Your GTD® System, Ready from the First Minute

Procrastination is a behavior whose consequences can be significantly negative. However, it seems that there are ways and tricks to transform this behavior into productive activity. At least that is what certain theories about positive procrastination say.

Procrastinating means postponing things you have to do, knowing that they are important and not doing them will be harmful for you.

Although somewhat irrational, there is a social tendency to pay more attention to what is current, in force, and this pushes us to indefinitely postpone important tasks whose reward or benefit will occur too far in the future. In addition, big projects represent big problems that scare us so we procrastinate them constantly and unconsciously.

When you procrastinate a task, it can be in exchange for another task (more or less important) or just for doing nothing. Let’s see how you can make it a productive procrastination in all cases.

Doing nothing

Breaks are necessary to perform adequately. If, at any given time, your energy or your mood are far from optimal, stop working is a good choice. Perhaps it is not the time to start a project because there are important aspects that are not sufficiently clarified. Sometimes it is just better to wait.

Knowing how to manage your stress is paramount for your productivity and your happiness, so do not feel bad if you need to stop for a while to meditate and recharge your attention span.

Moreover, have you ever heard of productive laziness?

Doing a more important task

It’s time to run some errands, do household things, small day-to-day routines… But you do not feel like doing them because you are engaged in something more important, something you are really enjoying. Do not feel bad about it. Great projects are carried out at the cost of leaving many things undone, usually not very important things.

If you are in a moment of inspiration, one of those totally creative moments that only last a short time but allow you to greatly advance a project, do not miss out just because you should answer a few emails or go buy some things.

Doing a less important task

This is the usual kind of procrastination. You know what your most important task is—the number one in your list—but you have the unbearable need to do anything else instead of that. So you choose one or more easier tasks, although less important, so you can avoid doing what you should be doing.

For perfectionists procrastinating may even be productive. By leaving the important task until the last minute, they cannot spend all the time in the world to get the perfect result. They have to settle for a “good enough” result. And before starting it they have been able to do many other things that probably would not have done if they had started with their most important task.

Natural procrastinators are actually great workers. They are able to do a lot of work, provided it is not the one they are supposed to be doing at the moment.

John Perry, a philosopher at Stanford, realized he was a natural procrastinator and decided to trick himself about the importance of their tasks. This strategy, which he called Structured Procrastination, takes into account that procrastinators always tend to avoid the most important and urgent tasks in their to-do list, in favor of other, easier ones. It simply consists in putting high on the list some tasks that seem important but they don’t. This way you will unconsciously focus on the task you really should be doing.

Thanks for sharing!

Francisco is the founder and CEO of FacileThings. He is also a Software Engineer who is passionate about personal productivity and the GTD philosophy as a means to a better life.

Warning Your browser is out of touch, I’m out of time. Please update to a modern browser.

HOW TO PROCRASTINATE PRODUCTIVELY

With final assignments and the exam season fast approaching (and especially with many of us now having time on our hands), it is common to fall prey to procrastination.

Instead of reorganising your desk for the 15th time and spending two hours jazzing up the font for your essay title, test out some of the following ways of productive procrastination – the ultimate way to get a feeling of accomplishment, without actually accomplishing any of the tasks you’re supposed to be doing.

Oh, and yes, you can do all of these while still binge-watching Netflix.

Knit a Pair of Socks

You know what they say about idle hands and all. So, as you enjoy being a couch-potato, try knitting a pair of socks. A great way to feel productive while you re-watch Friends, or get sucked into the world of exotic animals and become totally convinced that Carole Baskin killed her husband… Plus you get a cool new pair of socks to warm the winter months. (Check out Carole Baskin being guilty below!)

Don’t let the tiny toothpick sized needles fool you. Even for absolute beginners who have never knit before, socks can be a super easy thing to learn to knit – and being small it will require minimal movement which is always a bonus. It’s a job that you can absolutely breeze through and gives a great sense of accomplishment, getting your feet warm and toasty in no time.

Bake Some Bread

It’s no secret that the sourdough/banana bread/general loaf craze of 2020 seems to have overtaken the world. If you can get your hands on some flour, baking is an incredibly cathartic way to destress AND you get some edible treats at the end.

Of course, sweet treats are the best, but unless you can finish off a whole batch of brownies given the restricted ability to share with your virtual study buddies (although if you can, I salute you and your sweet tooth!), bread is a great alternative that can kill a few hours and still get your kitchen smelling delicious.

Also, punching a giant bowl of bread dough is insanely satisfying.

Right okay, so maybe I lied about being able to do all of these while still watching Netflix, unless you just happen to have a snazzy at-home gym with a treadmill in front of a TV. You could always stay in front of the TV and crunch along with some of the many at-home workout YouTube videos. Or cardio dance to Broadway tunes if that’s more your jam.

Still, if you’ve fallen into the trap of just watch Chris Hemsworth flex while snacking on your freshly baked bread (I mean, I wouldn’t judge) … it may possibly be time to consider a nice stroll out in the fresh air or a bit of a job through the neighbourhood.

Try Origami

According to Japanese tradition, it is believed that folding 1000 paper cranes can bring happiness and hope during challenging times.

While a thousand may be excessive, or superstition might not be your thing, trying your hand at origami could still provide a nice relaxing outlet that also produces some colourful new deco for your desk. I totally understand your hesitation, since I remember getting endlessly frustrated with fiddly bits of paper as a kid trying to follow an oversimplified origami books. But lo and behold, thanks to the magic of the Internet handy video tutorials or step-by-step instructions (WITH PICTURES) have made this task easier than ever before.

And one great thing about origami is that the super light paper means once you’ve filled your own existence with paper creations, you can easily snail mail some to your friends in isolation, to brighten up their day.

Or, just do all of the above

… then write a cool article about it for Blitz.

At 5 am every morning, Wignall, 33, gets up, showers, and gets to his office in Albuquerque, New Mexico early. He writes blog articles for 2-3 hours before his first client walks through the door.

And while he procrastinates on his writing, he estimates, about 50 percent of the time, he says it actually helps him get more done in the long run.

Wignall says procrastination can actually be a powerful productivity tool, but that many people get trapped in feelings of shame about it. As a result, he says, they tend to fixate on their emotions rather than the tasks they need to complete.

“Now all of a sudden you’ve got all this negative emotion built up, and you feel like you’ve got to distract yourself from that negative emotion, and that’s what leads to more severe forms of procrastination,” Wignall tells NBC News BETTER. “That’s when you start binge watching Netflix for two hours.”

But the psychologist says procrastination is quite normal and nothing to feel ashamed of.

“Biologically speaking, we’re all kind of wired to seek out new things in our environment,” he says, “and there is a lot of evolutionary psychology behind that, and I think, fundamentally, it’s not a bad thing.”

There are ways to use procrastination to your advantage, he says. He recommends three steps to become a productive procrastinator.

1) Be aware of how you talk to yourself when you procrastinate

Procrastination only becomes a problem, Wignall insists, when we allow ourselves to feel guilty about it.

“Procrastination really gets bad, and it can even become pathological, when you start automatically or habitually engaging in lots of rumination and critical talking,” he says.

Criticisms like: “Why am I such a procrastinator? Why do I always get so distracted? I wish I could just focus,” should be avoided, he says. Instead, Wignall says you should remind yourself of all you’ve accomplished.

“Can you say something along the lines of, ‘Ok, so I am struggling to focus on this particular task that I’m doing right now, but there are actually plenty of other examples in life where I actually had a pretty easy time focusing’?’” he says.

“It’s about assessing how realistic is that habitual negative self talk we tend to engage in, and then coming up with alternatives that might be more realistic or just more flexible,” he adds.