Think of the last time you organised your linen cupboard, or cleaned out your kitchen pantry. Or perhaps the last time you chose a really fiddly recipe and cooked for your housemates or family. If you’re like me there’s a good chance that you did these things when you were facing a deadline or under some kind of pressure. Perhaps the pressure wasn’t an external deadline (for work or study, for example), but more of an existential deadline – like you were going to publish your first novel by the time you were 30 but you’re 35 and somehow haven’t got around to writing it.
Whatever the case, if you put off working on something you claim is a priority for you, in favour of doing something worthwhile (no one is disputing the beauty of a well organised linen cupboard!) but ultimately less important, you are guilty of procrastiworking.
Procrastiworking differs from its better known cousin, procrastinating, in a way that makes it even more insidious a threat to getting on with what is most important to you: when you are just plain procrastinating you typically divert yourself with worthless distraction. Facebook, Youtube, Candy Crush, encore viewings of Masterchef on a Saturday afternoon (clearly I’m well versed in procrastination). The thing about all these activities is you know they are wasting your time and not contributing in any way to the work you need to get done. This knowledge tends to mean that procrastination is self-limiting. If the work that you are postponing is truly important you will cease procrastinating eventually and get on with it (unless you have a real problem, in which case seeking some professional assistance or coaching with time management could be a good investment).
By contrast, procrastiworking lulls you into the sense that you are doing something important – so you have a legitimate reason not to get on with that difficult and daunting task you have been putting off. Often tasks associated with procratiworking are also things that have been the subject of procrastination in the past – so there’s a self-righteousness about having finally got around to them even if, deep down, you know that they could wait a little longer in favour of that thing you really want to make a start on.
So how to deal with procrastiworking? Firstly, ask yourself whether it is really a problem? When you are procrastiworking you can be very productive. As long as you are not passing up opportunities as you delay working on your stated priorities perhaps you can just run with it for a little while? If this is how you feel I’d recommend picking a time/date in future when you commit to turning your attention to that difficult task or activity. Just make certain you leave enough time to do it justice when you do finally get around to it.
Secondly, analyse whether, despite the fact that you may be physically engaged with some other task, you are not in fact working on your main goal at the same time. This can work for things like writing assignments or developing a report or presentation for work. For example I can often have most of a blog post written in my head while I’m mopping the floor or running on the treadmill. If this means you can finish procrastiworking, sit down at the computer and let the material flow much more smoothly than it would have without this thinking time, carry on.
Finally, if procrastiworking is jeopardising your chances of reaching an important goal, analyse what it is that you are dreading about starting work – and get help to overcome those obstacles. Ask a friend or colleague to brainstorm ideas with you, do a rough draft and have someone you trust look it over and give you feedback about how it could be improved.
You’ll be amazed how quickly you can move towards your goal if you just start working on it – even it’s difficult and you don’t feel capable. Remember you once thought you’d never tackle the linen cupboard, or match all the Tupperware containers to their lids – but you got there in the end.
