HOW TO PRACTICE PRODUCTIVE PROCRASTINATION

  

For as long as I can remember, the word procrastination had a negative connotation. As I write, I envision a student waiting until the day before an assignment is due to start working on it. Or the person who keeps putting off a task saying they'll do it tomorrow. These are your typical ideas of what procrastination looks like, which has always been a bad thing. But what if I told you procrastination could be productive? Well, in today's piece, I will show you how you can practice productive procrastination.  

So I am sure, like me, the idea of productive procrastination seems counterintuitive. Yet in Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist, which I have reviewed on this channel, you can find it here BOOK REVIEW. This section talks about how this practice can be helpful to the creative mind. Austin says it like this.

"I think it's good to have a lot of projects going at once so you can bounce between them. When you get sick of one project, move over to another, and when you're sick of that one, move back to the project you left. Practice productive procrastination."

This passage is so intriguing because I have always viewed procrastination as a destructive force that keeps one from the real success of completing a project. Here though, Austin states the truth in that a project can become dull or the inspiration to work on it fades. Instead of being stuck in that energy, which would probably lead to the type of procrastination we all know. Being we are in the outs with a project, we'll find anything else to do, so why not invest time in another project that brings us joy. In this way, we continue to progress on two projects, although one may pause for the moment.

Furthermore, as we begin to touch on another aspect of what we know about procrastination, the idea of boredom makes its appearance. Austin Kleon addresses that in this passage.

"Take time to be bored. One time I heard a co-worker say, "When I get busy, I get stupid." Ain't that the truth. Creative people need time to sit around and do nothing. I get some of my best ideas when I'm bored, which is why I never take my shirts to the cleaners. I love ironing my shirts-its so boring, I almost always get good ideas. If you're out of ideas, wash the dishes. Take a really long walk. Stare at a spot on the wall for as long as you can. As the artist, Maria Kalman says, "Avoiding work is the way to focus your mind."

I feel this hits the nail on the head as many times ideas for my next project or a breakthrough on a current project come to me during a moment of stark boredom.

So my point in sharing this piece is to inspire you to practice productive procrastination. As I've just shown through a couple of passages from Austin Kleon's book Steal Like an Artist, and we come to find out that all procrastination doesn't have to be bad procrastination.

I hope sharing this insight can help you in some way. And so for now, have a blessed day, and I will see you on the flipside ...Let's GO!!!