Twitter first thing in the morning is a collection of jabbering lunatics (mainly Life Coaches) speaking in tongues and trying to get the day off to a semi-coherent start.
Most conversations usually revolve around which person is most in need of coffee, which person has drunk the most coffee and which person is running around like a headless chicken because they have run out of coffee.
Every now and then there is a beacon of light. Somebody that is not so addicted to caffeine and holding the belief they need to spread the the word of their addiction, that they can actually string a cogent Tweet together without being juiced up on the java.
Charles Faris is such a man. I don’t know him very well and if I did maybe I’d even be calling him Charlie or Chaz, I have no idea. I do know though, that any man who can confidently declare to the Twitterverse first thing in the morning that he has just had a lovely glass of water earns my respect and admiration. He’s also very funny.
Today he will talk to you about the power of procrastination and I encourage you to check out his later ego Harvey Paradox on Twitter and also his blog and website Creative Lifestyles.
Okay then. Tax day has come and gone so there are no longer any powerful reasons not to dive into this post on The Power of Procrastination. It’s a shame though, because the irony of taking 3 months to write a post about the big P is so rich, I’d like to mine it a little more, to dig it a little deeper.
Oh well. C’est la vie. All things in due time, as they say, or even better, we shall serve no post before its time! Or was that “rosebud…”
So then. Let’s get on with it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Romans and Countrypeople, I come here today not to pillory procrastination, but to praise it! Yes. Indeed. That most hated of foes to Productivity, the stall tactic that has launched a thousand products, if not careers, let me just say it outright:
Procrastination is Powerful! Procrastination is Mighty! Procrastination will do things for you that no planner can. Procrastination will create space. It will create time. It will create clarity of thought. All of this and more is yours if you will but learn to tap into the awesome Power of Procrastination.
Now, how can this be, you ask. Procrastination is the enemy. When I procrastinate I put things off. I don’t get them done. My projects pile up. I can’t fit 24 hours into a day, much less 30!
There is Always More
And that, my friends, is point number one! Have you ever considered that you are doing too much? That perhaps there are things much more important than plans and productivity and pie charts? That this current penchant for packing as much into a day as plausibly possible is simply a preposterous notion? Unchallenged until now because everyone is so busy either being busy or looking busy for fear of being discovered not being busy?
Let’s just look at the situation squarely. You are working on a project. Checking off all the little items on your list. You complete your project on time and then what? More things to do! Another list! It never stops. Whether you complete 100 items a day or 15, no real matter–there will always be more where they came from.
It’s the nature of life. There is always more. And sometimes the only way to get a break from this steady onslaught, a bit of breathing room, a chance to have tea with an old friend, or to teach your child how to tie their shoes or sneak a cookie out of the jar without being noticed (note to self, get a really good lock for the liquor cabinet sometime in the next 10 years!)–sometimes the only way to create space for the real juice of life is to put something off until later.
Set it aside. Let some dust pile up on it. Accept the limited abilities of your humanity. Shed your donkey aspect and back away from the office.
Now, I know this is tough, a real mental leap: how can putting things off be good? Procrastination is the enemy! Surely if I just get a few more things done then I will be able to fit the tea and the shoelaces and the cookie jar in there somewhere! Sigh.
Most Work is Wasted Work
Okay, we’ll have to move on to Procrastination Power Point number 2. Hopefully this will help you to see the light. Because otherwise I might have to get back to work on Procrastination Encrustomatic, my powerful system for increasing procrastination for those who are addicted to getting things done. And really, I’ve got much better things not to do!
So listen up. Go grab a piece of paper, or open up a file. Write or type your big list of things to do. Be moderately complete. At least 10 things that you absolutely need to get done.
Now. Take a deep look at that list. Prioritize it by the things that absolutely have to get done right now or the world would come to an end. Please do those things because I have plans for tomorrow and the world is an integral part of those plans.
Now. Give me your full attention. Turn off the t.v., put away your cell phone and close down your twitter screen. How many times in your life have you made a list and not completed everything on it, and everything worked out fine? How many times have you put something off and then discovered that it wasn’t that important after all?
And how many times have you skipped tea and shoelaces and cookie jars in order to do something that turned out to be of absolutely zero consequence? Circumstances changed so the work was no longer relevant. Or you had to do it all over because circumstances had changed.
And how many times have you discovered that something you thought, in the moment, was the most important thing on your list, turned out to be completely unimportant, or founded on false premises? And how many of those times was this after you had spent a day or a week or a month, a dollar or a hundred or a thousand?
Summary and Dispensation
Now then. I had a point three and I don’t think we really need to take it that far. So let me sum up points one and two of the Power of Procrastination.
Point one: The more you do the more there is to do. That’s life.
Point two: Most of the stuff you think you need to do is really not as important as you think, and much of that is just a time sink–better to put it off for another day, preferably one occurring after your death.
So now let us lay to rest our fears and misunderstandings about procrastination, and build up an alter of praise for this liberator from lists and wasted time. Go on your way free from the oppression of getting things done just to get them done, safe in the knowledge that if you keep putting something off there might be very good reason for that.
And please–take some time today to enjoy the fruits of your labors, knowing that any time you need it, the Power of Procrastination is waiting for you to employ it. Now go have some tea.
At Creative Lifestyles they help people transform their eating habits, increase their strength and endurance, revitalize their personal relationships, manifest their life purpose, and so much more.
Update: From the four places, I now only have one left for June on my Life Coaching for bloggers and solopreneurs offer. If you’re interested you’d better get your finger out.
Don’t Ask Stupid Questions is absolutely flopping off the shelves after my offer of $5.99 for the hardback and ebook version. At this rate I’ll be sold out by February 2036 so don’t hang around. I know a couple of people had trouble with PayPal although I think that has been cleared up by now, so whatcya waiting for?
Tim Brownson is a Certified Life Coach and has been unsticking people and helping them reach their true potential since 2005. If you would like to know how he can help you
Great post, Charlie. I’m fairly convinced that one of the big reasons why people get obsessed with productivity is because they want to look busy and important.
This doesn’t pan out so well when the to-do list includes items like “drink coffee” or “eat lunch.”
Joely Blacks last blog post..How the books get written
Hi Charles,
I do get where you’re coming from, but I don’t think procrastination is the best word to describe “not doing too much.”
The word procrastination, to me, connotes fear — not conscious practicality — as the reason for avoiding your commitments. It definitely makes sense to deliberately do less, but ‘procrastination’ means to avoid something out of laziness or worry.
But I guess I’m just splitting hairs on your word choice though; there is a valuable lesson in this post. It’s pretty common to sustain a panicked, doing-doing-doing state, as if the whole world depends on emptying your inbox. Good post, thank you.
David Cains last blog post..The Results Are In — Experiment No. 1, Day 30
Hi Charles! This post really hit home because as a mom, the pressure to do so much is unreal. I wonder why on earth we feel we have to do so much, when our kids would probably be just as happy and learn just as much puttering around with us. We create these inflated expectations of how much can be crammed into a day and then wonder why everyone is grumpy and tired and stressed.
We don’t have to do it! And for so many things, the answer to “if I don’t do it nobody will!” is “yes and so what?”
Tracys last blog post..How Life Coaching Helped My Blog
Hey Charlie, I totally agree with you: most work is busy work. Something about drawing a black line through a list just makes us all warm and fuzzy. I’m guilty of this as well, though better than I used to be. The more I add to my plate, the more concise (and honest) my todo’s tend to become.
Writer Dads last blog post..A Mother’s Day Poem
i’m all for procastination, but good procastination :)
when you procastinate, do it fully. when you work, do it fully. when you’re procastinating, don’t think about how you should be working – fully go into it and lie down and relax instead of being tense because you’re not getting anything done.
In fact, the way i get things done is to “procastinate” a lot, gets me into an awesome mode, and then have bursts of power focus.
just wrote an epic article on focus at my blog, would be cool to hear your thoughts.
awesome stuff. really like the take of being for procastination for a change. the perspective really makes you think =D
talk to you soon
alex
Alexs last blog post..3AM Speed Chess Focus
Great post! I think there are some really good ideas in here that a lot of people can get a lot out of. :) Thanks for posting this. I particularly liked the way you summed it up at the end. Very reader-friendly!
Positively Presents last blog post..the ABC’s of loving yourself
This reminds me a lot of Stephen Coveys 4 quadrants malarkey and mots people loitering for too long in the urgent but not important sector.
OTOH, procrastination for some people is a horrible overwhelming feeling and a very real problem that can be caused by the inability to tap into their emotions rather than there pre-frontal cortex.
You may think I’m no brain expert, but I have just finished reading a brilliant book called ‘How We Decide’ that talks about this. Now I’m quite rightly convinced I am an expert and intend to dive in left right and center offering my little knowledge and being very dangerous indeed.
So in conclusion I think a labotomy is called for and I have an ice pick ready.
I’m the type that tries to clean her desk by the end of each day. Realizing the desk will never be clean (or not as clean as I want it to be), so I might as well relax and slow down, is a slow process.
Vered – MomGrinds last blog post..Bloggers Who Quit
Ha! Great post!! It’s always good to get a little laugh in about something that causes so much unnecessary stress. :-)
@Joely Well i’m not going to go on record as promoting procrastination of coffee breaks or lunch hour!
@David Oh my! I hope I didn’t come across as being promoting the power of “not doing too much”. I was hoping to save that for another post! And seriously, there’s no reason to link fear, avoidance, laziness, or worry with procrastination. I’m more like the opposite, procrastinate free of fear, avoidance, laziness, or worry. In fact, Powerful Procrastination requires something close to rejoicing!
@Tracy I love that the answer to the question is a question, and the question is an exclamation! That rocks! Love the answer, too. “Yes. And so what?”
@Writer Dad Try filing that list up with things you are going to do anyway…
1. Get up.
2. Go to the bathroom.
3. Breathe.
4. Check email.
5. Sleep.
Then you can get plenty of nice black lines going on !
I was giggling about your blog, because here is where my mind went: I tried to read a blog about procrastination, but it had too many words so I put it off for later.
In twitter style summary, here is what the blog said:
Caffeine tweets (no sense) stop everything to wham! Notice you are overwhelmed. Do less, everyone wins. Yay!
Julie Jordan Scotts last blog post..Thursday: Conscious Action
@Alex Sounds like you have learned to harness the Power of Procrastination. Hope you are out there spreading the word! One thing I really love is how waiting waiting waiting to do something can harness Synchronicity…like how after I submitted this post to Tim I was challenged by Havi Brooks (@havi) to make some money online, so that the timing of this post tied right into the launch of my Spring Cleaning program. How awesome is that?
@Positively Present Thanks for the Props!
@Tim Yeah…but is that ice pick rusty?
@Vered Please don’t stress out about slowing down. Please?
@ Leah I’m glad you are laughing now. Just wait until the next laying down of the Gauntlet!
@Julie Alright! Twitter Haiku! Remember though, it’s not about doing less, it’s about putting things off!
I find I am a big procrastinator when I fear failure. I feel I can’t control the outcome and have doubts in myself. So I keep putting off the task. Except for cleaning the house, I just don’t want to do that.
Chas,
I so needed this reframe today. I spent the week in a series of wonderful face to face meetings, and wasn’t fully appreciating them because of all the work that got put aside to do it. Mind you, they were all work meetings, but still that to-do list is tormenting me. Until I looked at it with the eye of world-ending. Ok, so not so much.
Christine Martells last blog post..Two years of blogging
Procrastination can be really productive. I highly recommend this essay called Structured Procrastination:
http://www.structuredprocrastination.com
Thanks to everybody that has commented today and especially to the main man Chas! A really cool post bud as has been demonstrated by the responses. Thanks a lot!
Chas, love this, and here’s what especially stood out for me: “And how many times have you skipped tea and shoelaces and cookie jars in order to do something that turned out to be of absolutely zero consequence?”
TOO MANY TIMES. Yay procrastination!
@Laurie I’m with you on the failure thing, Laurie. And controlling results. Very difficult. I’ve pretty much given that up. It seems to be helping.
@Christine I hope you were able to enjoy some of that face time. Glad the world hasn’t ended!
@Kelvin I love the jumping rope with seaweed thing!
@TIm Dude! How many times I gotta tell you? You the man!
@Janet Please tell me no more skipping tea and shoelaces and cookie jars. Okay?
chass last blog post..Spring Cleaning vs. Detox
[...] months of procrastination playing out with the publication of a guest post on The Power of Procrastination over at Tim Brownson’s Discomfort Zone, [...]
[...] here comes Charles Faris with his pro-procrastination post: Procrastination will do things for you that no planner can. Procrastination will create space. It [...]
I have a point three: When you have that project on your drawing board just begging to be finished, how fabulous is it to vacuum a floor, wash some dishes, write a chapter of that novel you’ve stuffed in the back of a drawer? I have never been so up to date with everything else in my life than when I am putting myself under pressure to get a particular thing done.
Hilarys last blog post..Teenage sex and other parental soap-boxery
yeah, we doing too much
especially if we work with multitasking
new task will always come, never ending
that’s bad, make us confused and tired qucikly
Aldohas Personal Developments last blog post..Personal Development For More Succesful Life
I had a friend who once worked for AT&T or IBM or somesuch. They had an office policy that every desk had to be cleared at the end of the day. So, Mike gets ready for a two-week vacation – scrapes everyting off the desktop into a drawer. Comes back and gets back to work.
A year or more later, when he quits to be Mr. Mom, he cleans out the desk. Finds the pre-vacation pile – lots of URGENT and ASAP memos that he never got to. Know what? The world didn’t end, the company didn’t fold, he didn’t even get a reprimand.
I thank him for this story – a great life lesson.
W
@Hillary: Beautiful! Double reverse punk procrastination! I love it! Something in there about Creative Deadline Management. Well said!
@Aldohas: Nice summary, dude! A big fat Aloha to you.
@Wally: Nice story…Reminds me of a de-cluttering tactic I developed back in the 80′s. I used to move a lot…like every year if not more. So I could not afford to gather any moss, if you know what I mean. So Whenever I moved I would pack everything up in marked boxes: Essential and Unessential. At my new home i would unpack the Essentials and leave the Unessentials until I thought of something that I wanted. Next time i moved, i would pitch out all the Unopened Unessential boxes. No peeking. Thanks for your wonderful illustration of the hyperbole of Urgent and Asap!
chass last blog post..Monday Morning Motivator! 24, Cry Baby Cry
[...] Got To Do day. One of those super focused sorts of days that are a blessing and an inevitability to a procrastinator like me. I had things that I had to do–no way around it–and everything came into clear focus [...]