Hidden Procrastination

http://www.dextronet.com/blog/2012/02/hidden-procrastination/

by jirinovotny • 14 years ago

13 5 14 years ago

This is pretty much an ad for the author's software, but it got me thinking about the most defining factor of procrastination: importance of a task. How can one define what is really important?

For example, I've been working on a project for a few months, with hopes that it might become a steady source of income after it gains some traction. However, in the meantime I need to work as a freelancer, and I'm always facing the dilemma: which is more important for me. Is it my freelance work which pays for rent and alimony? Or is it working on my project which has a possibility (but not certainty in any way) of a large return in a future? Or is it spending time with my young sons? Or is it spending time with my friends, whom I don't have that many any more? Whatever I do of these things, it seems that other stuff is way important and I should be doing that instead...

jirinovotny• 14 years ago

Hi Berislav,

This is what I would do -

1. Get your basic needs covered by freelancing, but don't do more than you need.

2. Schedule time for your friends and sons. Think quality, regular time. It's not about quantity.

3. Build your business/project as much as possible in the time left. It should be a lot of time.

The logic is simple - 1 is a must, 2 is something that you really want, and when you do 3, you won't feel guilty, because you know that 1 and 2 is taken care of. This is inspired by "Unschedule".

Shaanie• 14 years ago

I'm not sure knowing what's most "important" classifies as procrastination. How can one possibly put a value on spending time with ones family?

To me it sounds like a problem with stress, but I'm no expert.

sek• 14 years ago

http://www.paulgraham.com/selfindulgence.html

noidi• 14 years ago

I disagree with labeling work on less-imporant tasks as procrastination. I think it's often (but not always) more effective to breeze through less important tasks that you're itching to do instead of slowly trudging along the highest priority task that you detest. The unpleasant topmost task becomes much less daunting once you've built momentum with a few easy wins and can see yourself as a producer instead of a procrastinator.

There's also the idea of structured procrastination, [1] which turns procrastination into a productivity tool. It's based on the insight that an unpleasant task may become attractive when seen as a way to procrastinate on something even more unpleasant. For a true procrastinator it means working productively on tasks #2..n instead of reading Hacker News thinking "one last article and then I'll start working on task #1". It's an excellent way to avoid getting stuck in a vicious cycle of procrastination, and calling it "hidden procrastination" is unnecessarily negative.

http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

Hidden Procrastination

Related Stories