Procrastinate Your Way to Greater Productivity
Most people view “procrastination” as a negative term. Usually, the word is used to describe the act of delaying or deferring to another day an action that should be accomplished today.
But in many cases, procrastination can actually be a good thing
How many times have you delayed taking action on something, only to discover at a later date that the action has taken care of itself or is no longer necessary? What appears to be urgent today often takes on a less urgent priority with the passage of time.
In fact, procrastination – when properly practiced – can help us to differentiate between what’s important (and maybe not so urgent) and what’s urgent (but not so important). Often, our perspective of the importance of completing a task changes after we’ve set the task aside to “percolate,” allowing us to view the task more objectively within the context of our entire task list.
Below are some thoughts about how you can use procrastination to your advantage.
Defer tasks whenever possible. In the heat of the moment, almost any task can appear urgent. Unless it’s a customer-affecting issue that requires immediate attention (and there are times when customer issues resolve themselves when given a little time), add the task to your task list for later review and follow-up. This will allow you to review the task more objectively in the context of your larger task list. In addition, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, this gives you an opportunity to group like tasks together so that you can address them more efficiently and at the times of day that best line up with your “productivity cycles” (for example, my best creative work is done in the morning, while late at night is best reserved for activities that don’t require much thinking).
Be aware of your wants and desires. Your wants and desires are the usual cause of procrastination practiced badly. As humans, we’re inclined to address the tasks that are easiest and most comfortable for us to complete. It gives us a sense of accomplishment. But too often this leads us to delay the important tasks on our list, reducing our overall productivity and the goals we are able to achieve over the longer term. It’s OK to take on an easy task every now and then to recharge the batteries, but if we make a habit of only taking on tasks that are easy and comfortable for us, we’ll find it difficult to achieve our longer-term goals and objectives.
Review your task list on a regular basis. A consolidated task list – preferably an electronic one – enables you to objectively review all of the tasks relative to each other so that you can properly re-prioritize them. During the review process, you can also group like activities together for greatest task completion efficiency, as well as develop a plan to complete your highest priority tasks over the coming hours, days and weeks. I review my highest-priority tasks on a daily basis, my medium-term tasks on a weekly basis, and my entire task list – including longer-term tasks – on a monthly basis. During each type of review, I’m constantly moving task items between the short, medium and long-term priority task lists (or moving them off the list), as well as re-prioritizing items within each type of priority list.
Delegate…and wait for help from others. When reviewing your task list, keep an eye out for tasks that you can delegate to others. Resist the urge to complete a task now by doing it yourself when someone else might be able to complete the task instead, saving you time and perhaps even completing the task more effectively than you. Also, give others the opportunity to address tasks and solve issues on their own by letting non-critical tasks percolate for awhile. Instead of answering every email in a multi-party email conversation, hold off on your replies; in many cases, others will resolve the issue without your input.
Minimize the guilt of procrastination. I’ll admit it: I’m always trying to fit 10 lbs. into a 5 lb. bag, and when I can’t get through all 10 lbs. of the tasks that I’m trying to complete, I feel guilty and less productive than I’d like to be. But I’ve found that there are several ways to minimize that guilt. First, remember that procrastination can be a good thing, for all of the reasons mentioned above. Second, purge the guilt by writing down your tasks and forgetting about them until you next review your task list. Third – and this is the most difficult for me – set your expectations lower. If you are like me, your task list is endless. When reviewing your task list – and moving items between the short, medium and long-term list – make sure to create a reasonable plan for task completion, including extra slack time for inevitable emergencies, obstacles and delays.
So don’t feel so guilty about procrastinating. When practiced properly, it can actually help you to become more productive and effective!