Procrastination may not be what you think…
Are you procrastinating or doing things at the wrong time?
Abstract
Following the ‘How to be productive (HTBP)’ series, I thought it would be helpful to also explore productivity’s arch-nemesis: procrastination
We all do it to some extent, so we accept it as just a part of life.
But the problem starts when you become lax in avoiding procrastination, and ultimately it becomes the barrier that stops you from acting on your priorities.
If you are sitting down doing nothing, you know what to do.
But when finding yourself in this situation, what aspects of planning and structure can you improve to avoid getting to that point in the first place?
By understanding how you respond to procrastination, you will find it much easier to adopt new habits and in turn become more productive.
This thought-piece aims to trigger not only self-reflection, but also offer perspective through my experiences and journey understanding procrastination.
Discussion
Procrastination is inevitable
Procrastination is that final boss that always has a step ahead of you.
Even when you think you have eliminated it, its head rears in a different form, and in this discussion we will explore why we are always doing samba with procrastination.
The first form of procrastination that came to my mind is simply dodging or avoiding action towards something of a higher priority.
As a person who likes to have a plan and structure, I leave little room to contemplate during the day whether I should be doing something or not.
Therefore, I remain intentional as to what exactly I do, as well as know the reason I have structured my day accordingly.
In the post ‘Reaching your potential: What is productivity?’, towards the end of the discussion I highlight that doing anything unrelated to achieving your goals is procrastination.
In addition, inadvertently filling time with less important tasks is also procrastination.
But this is where it gets interesting.
What if it is necessary to do the less important tasks first?
Aside from the obvious point of them facilitating the more important tasks or enabling a better performance of them, can doing something less important be forgiven?
I’ll give a scenario.
I might want to set a deadline for myself to do something that is important but not urgent.
Why?
As covered in my post about the prioritisation grid, our time is usually taken up by things deemed urgent and important.
The reason I say deemed is because urgency ≠ importance, which is a common misconception when faced with deadlines.
Although you complete a task prior to the deadline, consideration into the amount of time you allocate to it can help you actualise how much attention and focus this task may need.
As a result, to mitigate the possibility of my time only being used for the urgent and important, I set my own deadlines for other tasks.
For example, if I deem something to be important, such as reaching out to somebody to provide insight on an area I am curious about, holistically speaking, this could be done at a later date.
But I would place urgency on doing it as it is at the forefront of my mind, and later down the line, doing this exact task may not hold as much meaning as it does now.
This could be because of circumstances changing and my questions being answered that way, or I no longer deem the insight important in relation to my priorities.
So, if I am taking time away from my current priorities for a task which may potentially aid my decision-making in the future for other potential priorities, is that procrastination?
From my perspective, it depends on what the inquiry is about.
If it is explicitly linked to my priorities and is necessary, then it is not procrastination.
However, if it is related to my priorities but can be done in a time when the important tasks are done and there is more free time, I would argue that is procrastination.
The only way to know whether the inquiry can be done at a later date or not is if I understand exactly what I am looking for.
If I am acting on a whim, then most likely that would be procrastination.
How do I recognise procrastination when I am busy?
The situation above is a dilemma for those who try to minimise the amount they procrastinate, as it is difficult to distinguish what is necessary in the current moment and whether our time is better used elsewhere.
This is especially the case without reflection on our aims and priorities, as it is quite easy to get attached to one thought without stepping back and observing where it sits within our current responsibilities.
On the other hand, the dilemma could be a subconscious avoidance of a task that requires a significant effort - a distraction.
Even with a plan and structure in place, I am prone to this type of procrastination, whereby when failing to reflect holistically, I can find myself blocking time for something that realistically could be done at a later date.
Of course this would be a downside to setting my own deadlines, as you won’t judge the importance of a task perfectly every time.
As I’m writing this actually, I have come up with an idea of how long-term planning can possibly mitigate procrastination.
With commitment and discipline paired with flexibility, I believe through experience that there is an effective way to reduce the impact of procrastination.
Long-term planning
Before writing out this idea, I read up on the link between stress and procrastination, where stressful contexts can “increase vulnerability for procrastination”.
What I found interesting in the research paper stating this, is that stressful contexts increase the chance of procrastination as they “lower the threshold for tolerating negative emotions”.
This means that we reside in procrastination almost as an escape to the stressful context; avoidance as way to manage stress.
I believe this supports my idea on long-term planning being effective, as if you anticipate the stressful situation and plan accordingly, your action would be based less on your emotional reaction as it would be less extreme and you would be prepared mentally for what is to come.
But despite the obvious shortcoming of the future being unpredictable, I believe there may be an effective way to overcome that so it’s not a problem, as well as remain diligent to priorities even when they do change.
Particularly in my post about planning a perfect day , I refer to having a “framework” and “skeleton” of your days.
In the context of procrastination, I think you can effectively minimise its impact if you start with planning when and where time will be allocated to your priorities.
At the time of writing this, upon reflection, I have found that I have planned what a perfect day would look like in different contexts and circumstances, but I have done this whilst having leeway around each task.
It is important to be realistic to avoid frustration, and in doing this, you reduce the risk of completely ditching your plan and resorting to more procrastination.
The sooner you experiment with new plans and have new experiences, the better you would be able to gauge what is realistic to you and what your starting point for a plan may be.
Alongside this, an excerpt from one of Paul Graham’s blogs reinforces the ability of procrastination to affect us in the long-term:
“One reason per-project procrastination is so dangerous is that it usually camouflages itself as work. You're not just sitting around doing nothing; you're working industriously on something else. So per-project procrastination doesn't set off the alarms that per-day procrastination does. You're too busy to notice it.”
This applies to tasks which are not structured for you and are instead based on your personal organisation.
Therefore, I think mitigating procrastination through having a long-term skeleton may be a more viable option rather than focusing on the trivial day-to-day procrastination that we do.
As part of this reflection, when thinking about the narrative of the YouTube videos, articles, and the social media content out there, many of them focus on the day-to-day procrastination.
On one hand, it is key to recognise what procrastination habits we have, but perhaps there is a skewed perspective on this, as procrastination for the most part is viewed as giving into temptation away from our priorities.
As Paul Graham said and as discussed earlier, procrastination is not only temptation but can be a long-term habit of acting counterproductively with regards to the tasks we decide to do.
‘Per-project procrastination’ is deep rooted, whereas day-to-day procrastination is just the tip of the iceberg.
If we take a long view, this type of procrastination would be limited in its occurrence and impact if there is an existing structure which provides clarity on what our priorities are.
This would be applicable to limiting per-project procrastination, and with intentional review of our day-to-day performance in relation to our plan and targeted consumption of the content out there, we can take inspiration as to what can further optimise our fight against procrastination.
Conclusion
Procrastination is subjective.
Despite this, it is also your responsibility to remain consistent and diligent in your approach to tackling procrastination.
Ultimately, you cannot eliminate procrastination, but by keeping it at a minimum, you allow yourself to have intentional quality time to focus on something important.
As procrastination is a lived experience, there would be boundless resources to read and watch on how to reduce it and why it exists in the first place.
However, the best advice you can receive is the one stemming from your own reflection.
Then you can use a range of tools available to tackle procrastination, whether they be practical like apps on your phone, or a behavioural change inspired by another’s experience.
In case you do research via other’s experiences on how to manage procrastination, always remember:
Advice given is perspective at best; different solutions work for different people.
P.S.
Research piece on this topic?
How influential is managing procrastination in reaching your potential?
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