In 2013, I had a Comcast landline to support the intercom in my San Francisco apartment building. I moved a few months later but I didn’t cancel the landline connection until 2015, a full 2 years later.
I hated the idea of dealing with Comcast so, SO much, that I continued to pay them $20/month for almost 2 years.
I used to be ashamed of this story. My procrastination cost me almost $500. And when I actually went to Comcast, it wasn’t even that bad.
But now I think this was the best $500 I’ve ever spent.
John Perry's theory of Structured Procrastination changed my mind. He posits that if you have something important and undesirable at the top of your to do list, you will accomplish a lot of other things as you try to avoid doing that one thing. “Return phone to Comcast” was the #1 item on my to do list for most of 2014 to 2015. Every time I looked at my to-do list, I’d skip straight to #2. And this made me very very productive.
This was not an isolated incident. My best product ideas happened while I avoided writing urgent status updates. I've reorganized my entire house just to avoid making a call. Waiting until the very last minute to file taxes fuels my productivity every February and March.
I’m sure procrastinators are nodding in vigorous agreement. After all, we all procrastinate on something. As Robert Benchley said, `. . . anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment."
However, over the years I’ve learnt that a little bit of mindfulness and self-subterfuge can help offset my procrastination and turn it into a source of productivity.
Even procrastinators need to be organized.
Structured Procrastination requires that you work on important and useful things even as you procrastinate. A prioritized to do list can help you identify procrastination ideas easily. The disorganized person's brain is a jumbled fog. It can be vexing to find productive things to procrastinate with. This will only turn you into a couch potato. I’ve distilled the extensive research on this topic into the 2x2 below.
‘Do less’ is not always great advice for procrastinators
My natural tendency is to overcommit myself. Sure, I procrastinate and dawdle, but am fairly productive on the whole. Recently, I experimented with extreme focus and took on just 1-2 projects with a completely empty calendar to work on those. To my dismay, I turned into a complete couch potato and got nothing done.
Turns out, if there's just 1 item on my to do list, then that's what I will procrastinate on! I’m better off having a long to-do list with an assortment of obligations that I can put off.
If you need something undesirable done, put something even more undesirable at the top of your list.
This is John Perry’s central idea. I’m surprised how well this works, even when I know it’s a conscious mind trick. Ideally these undesirable tasks should seem both urgent and important. External administrative obligations work perfectly for me. I make sure that filing taxes, calling the insurance company, or filing expense reports are always #1 on my to do list. From there, my subconscious mind takes over and does the rest (not).
Alright, gotta go. I have some paperwork to fill out.
PS: If you’re looking to procrastinate, I highly recommend this talk - Inside the mind of a master procrastinator