Everyone procrastinates, and we all feel guilty about it. We may procrastinate on different types of tasks, but we all find that we’re dragging our heels on getting that “special something” done. So what to do to get the work done and get rid of the guilt?
Anisa Purbasari, an assistant editor in Fast Company’s Leadership section, has come up with an approach that works for her. I’ve tried it, and it actually works pretty well, because it aligns with my natural affinity for goofing off.
Here’s a bit of background:
Ms. Purbasari tried Method One, dedicating a big block of time to procrastinate, for a few days. She scheduled time to go onto Twitter or read an article at lunch. Admittedly, she ate at her desk, and it was lunch, after all. And she scheduled 30 minutes of errands and a walk (honorable procrastination, I say) during her afternoon slump. By day 3, though, her new system was beginning to fall apart. She’d switched exercise from evening to morning but had a hard time getting to bed early to compensate for getting up earlier. Invigoration from exercise wore off pretty quickly, and she started procrastinating again. Which meant she left the office at the end of the day later than usual.
Method Two worked a lot better. This approach allows you to schedule your procrastinate time. That is, you don’t deny yourself whatever your guilty pleasure is. Instead, you allocate time in your daily calendar. Ms. Purbasari found that she was scheduling 5- to 10-minute breaks throughout the day. Which is good for the body and the brain. Taking small breaks keeps the urge to procrastinate from taking up too much mental space. And keeps procrastination itself from taking control. She remarks, “Yes, there were times when my five-minute Twitter break turned into 12 minutes. But there were also times when I seamlessly transitioned from one task to the next without feeling the need to procrastinate first.”
I work from a home office. It’s great in many ways, but if you procrastinate, it’s easier to hide—at least for a while. What I love about scheduling breaks is that I can alternate the productive and the fun. On one break, I can drag the recycle bins from the curb to where they normally live. On another, I can check out an online bio of Hildegarde of Bingen. How cool is that?
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