Procrastinators get a bad reputation for being lazy or undisciplined. Yet John Perry, professor emeritus at Stanford University, openly admits his procrastinating tendencies--and that he's proud of them.
In fact, Perry wrote a book called The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing, where he shares his insights on how to productively waste time.
"I was wondering why, since I'm such a procrastinator, I
had a reputation at the university for being a guy that got a lot
done," Perry says. He realized it was because he always made
better use of his time when putting off other tasks, and attributes his
success to a strategy he calls "structured procrastination."
"Procrastination
means not doing what you're supposed to be doing," he says.
"Structured procrastination means you don't waste your time. When you're
avoiding another task, you do something else instead."
If you're a procrastinator, you are motivated by the desire
to postpone completing an assignment. You can make use of this
motivation by directing it into other things.
When Perry was a Resident Fellow at Stanford, his job was to interact
with students. Perry says, "I did a lot of that, because I had academic
work I should have been doing instead." Through ping-pong games and
spontaneous conversations, he earned a stellar reputation for bonding
with the undergraduates.
Furthermore, his work still got done, so he was able to
have the best of both worlds. The key is to not worry about doing things
at the last minute. "This weekend, my grades are due Tuesday. What I
should be doing is grading papers, but I'm probably going to clean out
the garage," says Perry. "That means I still end up grading the papers
late Tuesday afternoon, and I'll get a major household chore done."
Perry admits that waiting until the last minute is a funny
way of working efficiently, but he thinks it is a good idea if you
properly weigh your priorities. "When you get a task, you have to think
about how important it is, and how good of a job you really want to do,"
says Perry. "You should limit how much time you put into tasks that
aren't all that important in the long run."
A great way to organize your priorities is by performing a
task triage. "Triage is a fancy word from the battlefield. When some
casualties come in, someone decides who needs to be rushed to the
hospital for urgent care, who can wait awhile, and who isn't going to
make it," explains Perry. "When you get assignments, you have to do the
same thing and decide which are important and deserve a lot of time and
which tasks don't need to be done right away." The task triage is a
simple strategy to use when you feel overwhelmed, so you can focus your
time and attention on the stuff that's really important.
To master the art of structured procrastination, Perry says
you need to keep two to-do lists: a big one of all the tasks you want
to accomplish this week or month, and a daily to-do list. The daily
to-do list gives you items to cross off for the day. Perry learned this
idea from Japanese culture, where people often break tasks down so they
can incorporate small wins in their day.
For example, your daily to-do list could include small
tasks, such as getting out of bed, turning off your alarm, making
coffee, and drinking coffee. "By the time you have your first cup of
coffee, you will have crossed out four things on your to-do list, and
you'll be feeling really good about this and ready to tackle other
tasks," explains Perry. "Nobody needs to see your to-do list, but you
can give yourself a pat on the back."
As for larger to-do lists, the best thing for
procrastinators to do is to put something seemingly urgent--but
realistically not that important--at the top. The basic idea is
that instead of turning to time-wasting activities online when you don't
want to work on your top priority, you reorganize your list so you will
tackle a smaller task when you are procrastinating.
"You're embracing your love of procrastination, but
remaining productive," Perry explains. You should shift around
your to-do list and put your worthwhile tasks lower on the list, so
you'll do them instead of the things higher up. The tasks at the
top of your list will bother you and motivate you to do other useful
tasks.
Perry gives an example: "If you put something like learning
Chinese at the top of your list, every morning you will get up and try
to figure out what else you can do instead of that, and you'll probably
end up doing many productive things instead of learning Chinese."
Counterintuitively, Perry says the biggest
mistake procrastinators make is minimizing their commitments in an
attempt to quit procrastinating. "It destroys their most important
source of motivation. If you only have one thing to do, you won't get
anything else done--you'll probably just lie on the couch to avoid it."
This story first appeared on Business Insider
www.inc.com
