Good Ways To Procrastinate And When Procrastination Might Be
Good
Good ways to Procrastinate and when Procrastination might be
good.
I am writing this with the din of jackhammers in background. I
am working on the weekend (surprising at that might be); feeling
sorry for myself that I cannot get good quiet uninterrupted time
in like I had planned. I thought I would write an article on
Procrastination since that is what I am doing now. I have more
important things to do (please don't take offence). I am going
into a heavy travel schedule so like to have a few posts written
or at least roughed out so I can post quickly while I am on the
road. So writing a post is not a terrible use of time. I started
thinking about when procrastination might be good and came up
with many types of good procrastination. The rules of Good
Procrastination. 1 - Procrastinate or leave something if it is
likely to resolve itself if you take no action. Of course in
this case, it likely should not even be on your list and should
not be a priority. 2 - Procrastinate if letting something "stew"
will lead to a better solution. In this case, I tend to not do
nothing on it, rather I spend a while to organize it, think
about it, write a few ideas down etc. Ideas tend to incubate
better if some thought has gone into it before they are left. 3
- If you must procrastinate, do something else on your list that
might be lower priority but still needs doing. This is like
asking your child, do you want to wear the red hat or the blue
one. Not do you want to wear a hat. Choose from 2 or more tasks
- all that need doing. 4 - Procrastinate if you need a break.
Sometimes productivity is an order of magnitude better if you
are properly in flow and have the right energy, creativity etc.
5 - Sometimes I procrastinate on the big part of the job by
doing the smaller parts around it. For example, rather than do
my taxes (which I hate), I might just collect and organize
things or set up a meeting with my accountant. Choose a part of
the job that is not as ugly. 6 - Procrastinate by doing the more
important task. This seems counter intuitive since good time
management says you always work on the highest priority task
(and you should be). What I often find is I am working on tasks
that are causing me stress (so I want to procrastinate) only to
realize, there are likely other more important tasks to do that
I enjoy doing. 7 - Procrastinate if someone else is likely to do
it (or if you can get them to do it). Of course, I never said I
was a marriage counselor. Leaving the dishes or cleaning for you
spouse might not be such a good idea - now hiring - that's
another idea. Most of all, if you procrastinate, do not feel
guilty. This only detracts from the "good" of it. Still, working
on something that is not your highest priority too often is not
a good habit to get into. One of my favourite time management
authors, Alan Lakein, says to always ask "What is the best use
of my time right now?".. So back to work.