Procrastination - It’s Not All Bad
I just finished the conference book handouts for my presentation at the ADHD Coaches Conference in May. It’s 5:00 pm the day before they are due. I’ve known about this deadline for four months already. So why did I just now finish them? Because somehow I just couldn’t get to them before. Up until this last week, they just weren’t the most important thing on my to do list. But in spite of putting them off until the last minute, I’m not going to loose any sleep or stress over them. They are actually done by the close of work the day before they are due and they are done well.
How did I pull off this trick? Well, it’s because I planned to procrastinate.
I had a pretty good idea of how much time I would need to accomplish this, and so I blocked out the time I would need to finish my research and do the write ups. I scheduled that time in the week before they were due so that the pressure of the deadline would keep me at my desk.
I find this is the way I deal with many things: taxes, my monthly contributions to the ADHD Coaches Newsletter, etc. As long as I have everything ready to go when I sit down to the task at that moment when nothing else is more important, it works perfectly. So, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with procrastinating. The trick to making procrastination work for you is to plan it. Try it, and see how it works for you.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:31 am
It is pretty funny to me how people WANT other to think they procrastinate - but it’s a good thing (not a good thing that procrastination bugs). I read your article - and your blog - great stuff and great work, but you’re not a procrastinator from what I read. What you have done is essentially eliminate procrastination by substituting wise-planning. You looked at the to-do list and took it apart piece by piece and accomplished everything you had to do a little at a time. It is a great way to accomplish your work and your life’s plan. Many times when we look at the to-do list of life it seems like a daunting task - but when you turn it into many little chapters - it seems to go by easily and smoothly - I applaud your system. You made a decision and followed it through with your plan - great way to accomplish great things!
I have actually been working on a few posts recently on my own blog about Procrastination and those card-carrying members of Procrasti-Nation – take a look – might give you some ideas to use and pass on.
http://yattitude.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/ya-ttitude-procrasti-nation/
Ben
Yattitude.wordpress.com