We all love to procrastinate. When we are trying to be productive, it gets in the way and drains us of our energy, focus and time. What if I told you that procrastination can actually be a good trait, one that points to future success in an individual? Not only that, procrastinating can actually help you get more important work done than if you didn’t procrastinate?
Sounds crazy, right? Well, you’re about to see why this isn’t just a crazy claim, but one that can actually work.
Procrastination Points To Your North Star
We might procrastinate for several reasons. We might be feeling lazy and don’t want to do any meaningful work. The most common reason is that we’re putting something off and doing anything else besides that work to simply get out of doing it.
No one really knows why we procrastinate, but it’s safe to say that it’s normal human behavior that’s misunderstood. People vilify it as slothful activity but they don’t know the truth behind procrastination: it tells you exactly what you should be doing to get ahead in your goals.
I’ll be honest: right now as I’m writing this, I’ve wanted to check three or four different things. I wanted to catch up on Cricket scores for a match between Australia and Sri Lanka, I’ve wanted to check my email for the 5th time this morning and I’ve wanted to do some competitive research.
I’m no different from you, except for the fact that I’m more mindful of my procrastination and that I use it to help me stay focused. The thing that my mind is pulling away from is exactly what I should be doing.
Chicago Marketing Consultant Wants A Haircut
Perry Marshall is a respected marketing consultant, based out of Oak Park, Illinois. He’s written books on the 80/20 Rule and how to apply it to marketing and business and is a strong supporter of entrepreneurs and the value they bring to the world.
On listening to your inner procrastinator, he says this:
Why? Because he or she will tell you exactly what you should be doing… by trying to distract you from it! Mine tells me I need to get a haircut when I start to think about implementing big plans. Crazy.
As someone who is an entrepreneur himself, there are always too many things to do in a day. Marshall uses his procrastination to his advantage by letting it point him in the right direction for the stuff he should be focusing on for the day.
So Now You Know What To Do... Here’s How To Do It
There are two techniques to tackle getting the actual work done. One is a technique called Eating The Frog. This was a phrase that was coined by Mark Twain:
‘Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.’
Sales legend Brian Tracy then wrote an article about this, as well as an entire book on it.
The point is, if you do your big scary thing first thing, everything you do for the rest of the day will seem like a walk in the park in comparison.
The second technique is called the To Don’t List. As the name suggests, it is the opposite of a To Do List and is a list of things that you shouldn’t be doing.
It might sound a bit silly to write down a list of things you shouldn’t be doing but here’s actually why it’s a good idea:
- It forces you to be more conscious of how you are spending your time,
- It makes you more aware of the “nothing” tasks you are actually wasting several minutes - if not hours - on.
- It will help you cut back on the number of things you do so that you can focus on the one or two tasks that are truly important.
This last point is important because it will allow you to identify the key activities that will bring you fulfillment and joy instead of wallowing in busy-work.
Ideally, what you’ll see is that you’ll be doing less, but achieving more as the work you do do ends up having a greater impact and being more profound.