Procrastinating Wisely

Like most people, I have a tendency to procrastinate.

However, I’ve learned that putting things off and wasting time makes me feel much worse about the situation and can be extremely stressful.

Now, most people will tell you to just not procrastinate, and their methods are great if you’ve got enough willpower to really dive right in when you don’t want to (zenhabits.net ‘7 Discipline-Mastering Practices’– one of my favorite blogs, and a great post, I just don’t operate that way).

As someone who teaches an average of 8 classes a semester, learning how to ‘procrastinate wisely’ was necessary for my survival. It seems like common sense, but I learned that it’s okay to put off some of the ‘to do’ items I’m dreading as long as while I’m procrastinating, I complete an important task that I wasn’t dreading quite as much.

How to ‘procrastinate wisely’ is something I figured out in college that greatly reduced my stress and guilt about being unproductive.

For example, a while back I needed to watch 20 online speeches for one of my online classes. I really felt like I should, but deep down I knew I was putting it off, so I looked at my ‘to do’ list (I’m a huge list maker, and I find it to be not only helpful but necessary) and attempted to work on some of the other things listed.

I tended to jump around and most of the items I attempted to complete didn’t stick, but I was determined that I needed to do something on the list or I’d be disappointed in my unproductive day.

Then without even realizing it, I found myself in the middle of developing my Family and Communication course that would be starting shortly, and I had really dreaded gettting started (but apparently not as much as watching those speeches- who knew?).

The task of developing an important foundation for that new class took me 6 hours, and I got everything done for that course that I possibly could. I even enjoyed it.

Sure, I didn’t do the one task I felt I needed to that day, but who can feel bad about conquering the course material for a class they’ve never taught?

I was completely fine grading those online speeches another day.

If you’d like to hear about other unconventional tips that work for me, check in with new posts weekly at happyprofessor.com or take a look at my book, Happy Professor, on Amazon.com (if you can find a free copy, even better).