Productive procrastination

Sometimes we procrastinate. This can be a bad thing and a good thing. In this article, I argue in favor of smart procrastination. For more reading check out here, here, here, and here.

Having a shady plan

Sometimes our plans do not go well with who we are and what we desire. Not all plans come from deep thinking and planning. We have bosses, spouses, clients, people who depend on our actions and try to make us act the way they want. And even the plans we design suffer from ambivalence. We may want to achieve some result at work, yet hate the task we need to do in order to achieve this task.

At my technical work, I have to do many tasks I really dislike: calibrate the sensors, test the system, fine-tune the parameters, verify that hardware and software are bitwise exact. Then there are some management tasks, my teaching job, marketing activities, family duties. Maybe 10% of my time I am capable of doing the demanding creative job I enjoy, 90% of the time I do technical and hated tasks, which I cannot reassign since no qualified person wants to take them even if I pay.

I wish I could plan better, in a way that every team member and every family member gets a task suitable for the qualifications and desires of that person. If not, I wish I could plan in a way that I could get this sort of tasks. There are so many constraints, that any reasonable plan I devise makes me slightly uncomfortable. The plan may be good as a whole, and I may really be passionate about some steps and the final result, but I do not really want to execute it.

Procrastination reasons

Basically, we procrastinate when we cannot force ourselves do tasks we are ambivalent about. There are some fine techniques bordering self-hypnosis that enable realigning personal goals, yet these techniques are complex and time-consuming. Instead, all we usually do is mobilizing our inner resources and doing the task.

What if the plan is not sufficiently clear and we do not know how to refine it? What if we do not have the energy required to force ourselves do the tasks? What if there are distractions? Then we will probably procrastinate.

Things to do while procrastinating

If we are forced to procrastinate anyway, we might at least do our best to enjoy it. There are several activities I like to do so that procrastination will not feel a waste of time:

1. Learning. You might have guessed, that I am writing this blog since I feel very comfortable learning. In fact, when I do not have the energy for other things, quite often I do have the energy to read and learn. This quality is also very good for general knowledge and expertise.
2. Art. Some writers, composers, and artists did their best work when procrastinating on their main job. The things we are truly good at, are the things that require lower effort to focus and do them. This may be insufficient to consider a career change, but a good hobby is very valuable both for the individual and the society.
3. Strategizing. When we do not find in ourselves the strength to do the task, we may be still very passionate and excited refining our plans, meeting people and writing presentations. Some of the best entrepreneurial work comes from procrastinating the main activities.
4. Resting. We may walk, meditate, drink coffee and otherwise rest. This does not mean that our brain is resting. Maybe the brain is preparing in some subliminal activity thread which leaves very few resources for conciuos activity. Let it be, and maybe something very new will come to our attention.

Generating new ideas

When we are very busy with our activities, the brain does not have the resources to come up with creative out of the box solutions. The out of the box thinking can be started consciously, yet typically it is a highly demanding subliminal activity. Many of the great ideas come to people when they sleep or rest when the brain is not laser-focused on the activity at hand and is open for surfacing of previously untouched ideas.

Procrastination and brainstorming can often replace each other. We may want to have a social interaction with smart people, and these interactions may become a brainstorming. Or quite contrary, we may get tired from brainstorming and switch to highly rewarding social interaction.

I never skip lunch and coffee breaks. I drink and go to the toilet so much that my doctors write me the extra analysis. The time spent when driving or resting or swimming is the most productive time in terms of generating cognitive shifts and coming up with new ways to do things.

Set the limits

Procrastination is a good thing, but it needs to be controlled. If we cannot find strength to do some task for a while, it is best to find some alternative solution: get some peer support, reallocate the task, scrap the task, take a vacation or even get another job. Procrastination should be a temporary respite, not a constant condition. If you “sleep on it” several days and there is no progress, some proactive strategy can be used.

There are some techniques that enable us to reframe some activities in a different light, modify the way we respond to stimuli and change the belief system that may cause issues. We discuss and will discuss them in some other articles.

Then, maybe all you need is a short energy boost: coffee intake, short positive activity, some variety in the tasks, friendly support. Quite often things that are very hard for me to do myself, are very easy to do in pair activity. Some managers may frown upon two people working on the same task, but this is better than having some key people fail or ditch.