Make procrastination your secret sauce

Kevin Shirley, Associate Broker (DC), GRI, ASP, e-PRO

Procrastination is delaying or putting off tasks until the last moment or even past their deadline. Some researchers define procrastination as a kind of self-regulation failure, characterized by an unreasonable delay of tasks without regard to the (possibly damaging) consequences.

According to researchers, around 20% of U.S. adults are chronic procrastinators. However well organized and dedicated you are, odds are that you’ve found yourself frittering away hours on trivial pursuits when you need to be spending that time on work or school-related projects. Whether you’re finishing a job for work, avoiding homework or household chores, procrastination can have an enormous impact on your career, your grades, and your life.

Rather than view procrastination as a problem of time management, discipline, laziness, or willpower, research unequivocally shows that procrastination is an emotional-regulation problem. But not all procrastination is a self-defeating and disadvantageous indulgence or outright dysfunctional behavior. There’s also a beneficial type of procrastination.

Researchers have identified two kinds of procrastination. Active procrastination is when you affirmatively or strategically opt to complete a task later or closer to the deadline. If you perform better under pressure, waiting to complete a task can result in an improved result. Passive procrastinators frequently start a necessary task only to be absentmindedly derailed by less critical work.

Active procrastination has four essential dimensions

• A preference for time pressure. Active procrastinators are ordinarily not frustrated with deadlines, nor do they lose their capacity to concentrate under time pressure. They frequently prefer working under pressure.
• The intentional decision to delay tackling tasks. Unlike passive procrastinators, active procrastinators feel a sense of autonomy, volition, and service in their decision to delay action.
• The capacity to meet deadlines. Active procrastinators, unlike passive procrastinators, aren’t always struggling against a deadline. Even though they may rush to complete a task on time, they generally meet set deadlines.
• Satisfaction with the results of delayed action. Active procrastinators tend not to be happy with their results when they complete a task before a deadline. When they complete a task before a deadline, they often end up editing and finessing the finished product past the point of diminishing returns.

Some might argue that this really isn’t a form of procrastination, primarily because, as a culture, we have implicitly added negative associations and unpleasantness to the very definition of procrastination — we assume that procrastinators delay a task ONLY because it’s unpleasant and dull. Conversely, waiting to complete a task can be strategic. Another way to look at active procrastination would be as an intentional, self-motivated delay at the beginning of completing a task to create better, more satisfying results.

We’re basically looking at a self-regulation approach to improve productivity that superficially appears similar to procrastination but is based on significant core aspects. Current research doesn’t clearly suggest whether this is a trainable strategy.

It might just reflect personal temperaments, needs, and tastes. This means it isn’t clear if changing gears and suddenly becoming active can cancel out your passive procrastination and enhance productivity since both kinds of procrastination can coexist within a person.

By leveraging the power of active procrastination, you can benefit from several of procrastination’s counterproductive benefits:

1. Procrastination gives you an instant boost of energy. No matter how tired you are, when that impending deadline nears, you’ll get a dose of energy-boosting adrenaline, helping you push your task over the finish line!
2. Procrastination reduces unnecessary efforts. Do you know who’s efficient at getting something done quickly, efficiently, and in the most streamlined fashion possible? A practiced procrastinator, that’s who!
3. Procrastination enables you to have fun doing other enjoyable things. Certainly, you’ve heard of Parkinson’s Law, which says that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” The trained procrastinator knows innately how to leverage this immutable law. Simply limit the amount of time you need to do something until the very last minute — and use the remainder of the full, allotted time doing more pleasurable things.
4. Procrastination helps put off unwanted anxiety. Deadlines come with a lot of anxiety. If you keep worrying about all the deadlines you have to meet, your anxiety levels will inevitably keep rising. Ugh. Anxiety. No good comes from anxiety, and the seasoned procrastinator knows that worry and anxiety are for the birds. Forget about your task and its resulting anxiety until the very last possible moment. Your health will thank you.
5. Procrastination boosts creativity. You have to get creative when you’ve put off a task until the last possible moment, and you now have to complete a 3-hour task in 45 minutes. With your adrenaline flowing, your brain will naturally focus with laser-like precision on the fastest, smartest, and often the most creative way forward. You’ll never know how creative you can be until you’ve got an enormous deadline staring you in the face!

As you can see, there are definite benefits to procrastination. So don’t fight it. Lean into it! Here are a few strategies to make the most out of something you’re probably already doing.

• Leverage the energy release. Our energy is a finite resource, and each task eats up a small bit of these reserves throughout the day. It is not uncommon to drop into procrastination style when you’re confronted with tasks that seem time-intensive, tedious, difficult, or low on your interest meter. Whenever your levels of energy drop, your desire to finish a task also decreases. However, if you procrastinate long enough, you will find yourself up against fast-approaching deadlines. Looming deadlines can create negative emotions of fear, anxiety, and stress, but the deadlines also trigger positive changes such as adrenaline rushes. Even on an empty tank, fear, along with an adrenaline surge, supplies an energy boost to assist you in getting the job done.
• Get laser-focused. When you have procrastinated to the point where a deadline is right around the corner, offers need to be written, reports are expected, and decisions must be made; the only idea in your mind will be, how to get everything done. Even for chronic procrastinators, it is hard to dismiss work when there are dire consequences of not completing your tasks on time. You’re not as likely to get diverted or delay your work because you are so focused on the task at hand. Waiting until the absolute last moment to achieve something will force you to concentrate by shutting out all extraneous social interactions, electronics, and email.
• Delegate and prioritize. As an entrepreneur, your day is most likely filled with things you may not wish to deal with at that moment — from minor tasks to massive projects. Being a procrastinator may help you streamline your daily workload by focusing on the functions that pique your interest and have more pressing deadlines. Look at the day-to-day tasks that you are inclined to avoid and ask yourself if any one may be delegated to someone else. That is an excellent opportunity to hand off your tiresome tasks to a digital or virtual assistant so that the time you have may be used for more essential matters that only you are capable of accomplishing.
• Get it done faster. Few things will make you rush toward the end line like realizing you are behind schedule. With less time available to complete the job and a contract deadline looming, you will put in maximum effort to finish the race. The benefit here is that you understand just how rapidly a task takes to complete once you finally give it your all. This realization can reduce that feeling when a similar task comes up in the future. Since you’ve created a baseline for how long it will take to get done, it will be simpler to complete similar projects on a deadline in the future.
• Give yourself time to research. Timeliness in decision making and handling projects are generally a good thing in business. Relationships and changes in strategy, growth, and agreements with partners and other vendors tend to go well when things have been handled effectively. And on the other hand, procrastination provides you more time to contemplate the expenses and advantages of decisions you need to make. As opposed to creating a quick decision, procrastination allows you time to thoroughly mull decisions over and assure you make the right choice. This is particularly useful if new information is uncovered through the delay that may influence a decision based on facts and research.
• Improve your work-life balance. A healthy dose of procrastination can go a considerable way toward keeping you healthy. Every day should not be a play day, of course. Rather, when you know you have projects due and deadlines approaching, it is ok to occasionally take a break and pursue other less-stressful endeavors. Delaying a task to take a walk or a rest, spend some time with family, or participate in other self-improvement activities may positively influence your physical and psychological wellness. When you are healthy and well-rested, you will have more energy and a better state of mind for handling projects when it is time to get back to work.

Your skills, capabilities, and characteristics got you where you are now. And that includes your inclination to procrastinate. Rather than attempt to change who you are in the middle of building your business, figure out ways to utilize procrastination to your benefit, and find new ways to use your unique personality traits for your business’s advantage.