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Countering the Curse of Productive Procrastination
By: Amanda Marksmeier
I began my day with a yoga routine. Then I did some research and planning for our summer vacation. I cleaned out the pantry (it’s never looked better) and
vacuumed my house. I emerged from my morning feeling accomplished. The one thing I didn’t accomplish this morning: writing a complete draft of this article.
It seems simple enough to swear off procrastination. I didn’t sit mindlessly in front of the television. I didn’t make plans with friends instead of working on my project. I didn’t ignore the little voice in my head that said, “Get up! Get moving!” I worked hard, I got things done. It’s just that the things that I did—they weren’t the items at the top of my professional to-do list.
Sometimes procrastination (tricky devil that it is) disguises itself as productive activities.
This kind of procrastination seems attractive because you can look up at the end of the day and see the results of your labor. You haven’t been lazy, you haven’t avoided work… In fact, you’ve made even more time to do that hard task later because you’ve done a whole bunch of things earlier.
This kind of smooth rationalization is something I like to call procrastination math. While all of these activities have accomplished something, they haven’t moved either of us towards our larger career goals.