Are you a productive procrastinator?
I used to be a productive procrastinator, I still am at times but I am more conscious of it now. And no, it is not an oxymoron. It is when we are do ‘valuable’ work whilst avoiding what really needs attention.
I have written about procrastination in the past and I believe we all do some un-productive procrastination every day. But this article is about productive procrastination.
In the recent weeks, through my work, I have had a few conversations with colleagues and clients who confessed to procrastinating but also said they were doing valuable work, so it was not really procrastination. (The human brain is clever at playing Dr Jekyll when Mr. Hyde shows up).
My next question was ‘so, what are you avoiding?’
I like Dan Silvestre’s definition of productive procrastination, which is when you are efficient and accomplish everything except for the most important things.
Emotions in procrastination
I add an extra dimension to procrastination, emotions. At the heart of procrastination is the emotion we associate with the most important thing that we are avoiding. To recap, in my view procrastination is not about time, it is about the emotion you associate with the thing you are avoiding.
Here’s the thing with productive procrastination, it is still procrastination whichever way you look at it. It is a form of self-deception.
So, what can you do about it?
In his book Procrastinate on Purpose, Rory Vaden anchors his entire book on one premise, “You MULTIPLY your time by spending time on things today that will give you more time tomorrow!”
I liked the idea of this.
(I accepted his take on procrastination, based on time, as he brings in the emotional component later in the book. In the classical sense, procrastination is a time issue).
I digress!
His main premise resonated with me because it is congruent with my principles for creating future-proofing you.
What can you choose to do (change) today that will bring more clarity and the results you want in the future?
Rory starts from the infamous Stephen Covey’s time-management matrix of Importance vs urgency.
Important and Urgent
Important but Not Urgent
Not Important but Urgent
Not Important and Not Urgent
A new dimension to procrastination
Rory then introduces a third concept of multiplying time through a third component to importance and urgency; significance. How long will it matter?
If Urgency is “how soon does this matter?”
And Importance is “how much does this matter?”
Then Significance is “how long is this going to matter?”
Significance isn’t a calculation that is really separate from Importance; it’s the other part of evaluating something’s Importance. This creates three-dimensional thinking.
From Rory Vaden’s Procrastination with Purpose
And fundamentally he states that managing time can only take us so far as does prioritising time. They both do not create time they only help us borrow time.
Significance – a future-proofing metric
He goes onto to say, ‘but when I focus on multiplying my time, everything changes. My horizon is expanded, and my intention shifts to beyond just today. As I start to make considerations of Significance, I start paying more attention to how spending my time today will affect tomorrow’.
It is an interesting approach and one that requires deliberate practice.
Three sentences stood out for me and are worthy of sharing. The second one had me laughing and maybe you will too.
‘Once you try on a Multiplier’s perspective and you start thinking about where you have a chance to Eliminate, you might realize that sometimes we engage in completing trivial tasks just to satisfy our need to feel accomplishment. Those are the first set of activities to get rid of.’
‘Honestly, have you ever completed a task that wasn’t on your To Do list, and then added it to your To Do list afterward just so you could cross it off? We all have! Why? Because we are emotional creatures.’
(I am guilty of the above! The need to feel the sense of accomplishment).
As a Multiplier, you are focused on results, not tasks. Success is no longer related to the volume of tasks you complete but rather the Significance of them!
I shall stop here as there is much to reflect on.
But, the next time you think you are productively procrastinating, ask yourself why you are avoiding what you are avoiding. It’s the emotion that you associate with it that you need to address first.
Then you can attempt to procrastinate with purpose.
The choice, on how you navigate your future, is yours!
I am here to help.
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