How to Embrace Procrastination

Do you subscribe to the belief that fast-paced days with jam-packed schedules are representative of a life worth living? Here's how to slow down and accept procrastination for the powerful productivity tool it is.  

Procrastination has a negative connotation because we tend to believe that anyone who isn't constantly doing something at all times is a slacker. We're suspicious of the person who isn't ticking off checklists throughout the day. 

But there are times when we simply need to exercise our right to be still, checkout, daydream, doodle, or whatever it is we do when our body and mind need a break. Not always doing shouldn’t automatically be equated with laziness. Instead, it’s important to understand the role of procrastination, specifically when and why the mind will sabotage your work ethic in order to support, not derail, your efforts. 

Definition of procrastination

The definition of procrastination simply means to postpone, delay or put off doing something. Notice that this definition doesn’t mention anything about the context under which something is postponed, nor passes judgment about whether it is wrong or right to do so. The word itself is neutral and only in colloquial use is it automatically deemed as negative. For that reason, first, understand that procrastinating is not inherently good or bad — it all depends on why and how you are doing so.

The mind needs breaks

Our brains are capable machines, but the constant influx of information we’re forced to process in our modern lives leads to overload and overwhelm. Research suggests that the brain reaches a breaking point after which it can no longer deal with this cerebral congestion. 

Mental breaks may seem like periods of do-nothingness, but the mind is far from inactive. These moments of downtime allow us to make sense of all the information we’ve consumed. In order to optimize productivity, we regularly need to distance ourselves from the task at hand. Not only does this replenish our mental resources and energy levels it also sharpens our concentration and cognitive abilities. 

Benefits of idleness 

Being busier is not always better and extended focus on the same thing hinders us from performing at our peak. Studies suggest that there are many benefits of unplugging. Some of these include better problem-solving and more aha moments, increased feelings of social and emotional well-being, stress management, and fewer adverse effects on our cardiovascular health. 

What’s most important is that leisure time is not a nice-to-have but a must-have. It is essential that we relax and recharge. Researchers advise that, just like with sleep, we can build up an idleness deficit if we aren’t mindful. That deficit could damage our brains and lead to a host of physical and psychological problems.  

Mood influences cognitive ability

If nothing else compels you to embrace procrastination, then the connection between mood and cognitive ability might. There’s a robust body of research that supports the link between positive mood and creative insight. Forcing ourselves to do work when we are in a negative state — distracted, uninspired, agitated, and so on — doesn’t help. Why? It all goes back to the power of the mind at ease. 

Studies show that sporadic breaks replenish our energy, improve self-control and decision-making, and fuel productivity. Depending on how we spend them, breaks can also heighten our attention and make us more creative.

— Harvard Business Review

Structured procrastination

So now that we’ve presented a case for relishing in moments of downtime, let’s discuss how to flip procrastination on its head and turn it into our most powerful productivity tool. Stanford professor John Perry wrote The Art of Procrastination which further supports the need for breaks. He posits that the mind deals with resistance to downtime by tricking us into doing what appears to be less taxing. 

So even if we refuse to take a break, the mind has the upper hand in so much as it compels us to skip over the most important (and mentally draining) items on our checklists. Now that we know the brain needs downtime and that it will still win via deception if we refuse to take breaks, we can make this work in our favor. 

Good vs. bad procrastination

In order to procrastinate well we need to differentiate good from bad procrastination and structure our workloads in a way that important things still get done. Let’s define “bad” procrastination as doing the least important things (like trolling on the internet) and “good” procrastination as avoiding the least important things to do the most important. 

There are an infinite number of things you could be doing. No matter what you work on, you're not working on everything else. So the question is not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well.

— Paul Graham

It’s clear that procrastination is unavoidable, but in order to prevent slipping into a state of bad procrastination here’s an idea on how to structure your routine:

• Start the day with a clear sense of priorities and eliminate non-essential tasks from your list. 

• Do the most important work first, at the beginning of the day if possible, as that’s when you’re mentally fresh. 

• As you wear down, start transitioning from the top priority items into other important items on your list (to ease the mental burden). 

• Remember to take breaks (no, you can’t avoid this) as the more worn out you become the more your brain will trick you into doing less and less useful things.

Master the art of choice

The strategy above helps with the organization of tasks, but in addition to tasks, we are often overwhelmed with decisions. Even if you have a beautifully laid out plan for the day, your tasks may require some level of choice in terms of how you resolve them. Or you may be hit unexpectedly with new assignments or other commitments and have to decide how to tackle them. 

So how do we handle all of the decisions and choices that we are bombarded with daily — both inside and outside of a work context? If you’ve had a situation where there were so many options that you got overwhelmed and decided not to choose, you’ve experienced what Psychologist and Professor Barry Schwartz calls the Paradox of Choice: 

Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically.

— Barry Schwartz

In addition to hyper-focusing on tasks, the brain also becomes exhausted by having to deliberate too many choices. And, once again, it will have the upper hand by inducing procrastination so our mental resources aren’t drained. Though Schwartz’s research is focused on consumerism, the takeaway is clear and applicable to other areas of our lives. You must simplify the equation by reducing the range of possibilities. 

Delay decision-making

But there’s more to the decision conundrum than eliminating possibilities. There’s also the issue of when to decide — and according to professor Frank Partnoy you should wait until the last possible moment. Once again embracing procrastination (so long as it’s done well) seems to be key.

But, how does delaying certain decisions play into this? When we are forced to take a decision at the last minute we’re put in a position to trust our gut. This is less draining because the brain doesn’t have to mull over too much new information but only has to tap into the subconscious to help make the decision. 

Historically, for human beings, procrastination has not been regarded as a bad thing. The Greeks and Romans generally regarded procrastination very highly. The wisest leaders embraced procrastination and would basically sit around and think and not do anything unless they absolutely had to.

The idea that procrastination is bad really started in the Puritanical era with Jonathan Edwards’s sermon against procrastination and then the American embrace of “a stitch in time saves nine,” and this sort of work ethic that required immediate and diligent action.

But if you look at recent studies, managing delay is an important tool for human beings. People are more successful and happier when they manage delay. Procrastination is just a universal state of being for humans.

We will always have more things to do than we can possibly do, so we will always be imposing some sort of unwarranted delay on some tasks. The question is not whether we are procrastinating, it is whether we are procrastinating well.

— Frank Partnoy

You can consider the subconscious to be a permanent repository of everything that has ever happened to you. It retrieves memories to help you navigate life — which is largely centered around making decisions.  Gut decisions and quick choices don’t always lead to the best possible outcome, but neither do more calculated, conscious processes (especially when we’re mentally exhausted). 

Relying a bit more on intuition for some decision-making can help us get unstuck, particularly when our conscious mind is at a standstill. So, let’s recap the above with a process for managing choices and making decisions: 

• Understand what matters most to you and have a clear personal vision so you’re always guided by awareness, clarity, and focus.

• Reduce the range of possibilities by asking “does this matter” (for both small and large decisions). 

• If necessary, wait to make certain decisions and be open to trusting your intuition.

So no, you can't give the middle finger to everything in your life — but when you have a strong resistance towards doing it's a very clear sign that you should just try being. Procrastination is not necessarily a lazy habit you need to fix, but a signal from your brain that it's time to relinquish conscious control before you burn out.