3 Ways Procrastination is Helping You
You have a major project, an important upcoming deadline, and suddenly you find yourself cleaning out your closet, dusting under the dresser, and creating a magnificent color coded filing system.
You, my friend, are down the rabbit hole of productive procrastination.
Productive Procrastination is the most deceiving kind of procrastination! You’re active, you’re doing things - maybe even things you’ve been procrastinating - but it’s at the expense of the thing you’re supposed to be doing.
And oh! Have I been there before!!
And I’ve also spent countless hours procrastinating the things I should be doing by reading articles and creating elaborate systems to stop procrastinating (oh the irony!)
But here are 3 interesting ways that procrastination may actually be helping you:
It shines a big, bold spotlight on what’s important to you. When you love something or it really matters to you, you’re less likely to procrastinate. So if you’re continually putting something off, take the hint!
It creates space to be creative. When you don’t force yourself to just sprint through your to-do list, your mind gets to wander. This can lead to innovative solutions and new possibilities!
It forces you to prioritize. You know that 11th hour when suddenly you have tunnel vision on only the most essential & important things that you have to do and all those “nice to haves” will just have to wait? Ding! Ding! Ding!
So now what do you do when you find yourself procrastinating?
Ask yourself why. Not in a judgy way, but with genuine curiosity.
“Why am I putting this off”
You’re doing something more important
You’re doing something more enjoyable
You don’t believe it’s an urgent task
You don’t have what you need to complete it
Now I’m not saying you should put off that end of week report because it’s just not fun. Or that you should wait on something that your boss has communicated is urgent.
I am saying that rather than beating yourself up when you procrastinate, think about some of the upsides. Give yourself some grace. And, if you see that you’re continually putting off the same thing over & over, that’s a pretty big hint that it’s time to find a different way to do it (or perhaps a way to not do it at all!)
