How To Maximize Your Procrastination Potential In 8 Easy Steps

If you’re reading this article, chances are you’re currently putting something off. Good. You’re on the right track.

Procrastination is an art that need not be rushed by the burden of responsible time management. After reading this guide, you’ll be procrastinating more effectively than ever.

1. Passionately consider why procrastination is actually awesome.

Non-procrastinators will tell you that poor time-management is the plague of productivity and engaging in it will result in subpar performances, late work, and an overwhelming desire to half-ass it whenever humanly possible. This is a narrow-minded way of thinking, and to prove it, here are just a few of the reasons why procrastination is actually amazing:

Procrastination can highlight the things that don’t really need to be done. It allows you to see what really matters in a given situation.  Think bare minimum.

Instead of plunging right into your work, procrastination allows your ideas to marinate a little, soak up some creativity, and thereby develop in more imaginative ways.

Procrastination can make boring tasks to seem less boring with time. Maybe you’re putting off a task because it’s pointless and it sucks (totally valid). If you avoid it for long enough, you just might reach a state of acceptance instead of violently opposing the task at hand.

Take the time to think of your own benefits, as this will help you accept procrastination as valued part of your life.

2. Imagine how the work can be done in a better way. Chances are, whatever you’re trying to do is boring. Even if it has to get done, maybe there are superior avenues to your destination. Ways that don’t directly involve you, perhaps? It would be a shame not to consider all the possibilities.

So how can you accomplish your work in a more mediocre way? This is going to take some creative thinking. Better take some time to mull it over between bouts of relaxation. After all, a stressed-out mind can’t effectively contribute to this process. Speaking of which…

3. Embrace the distractions, as they are an inevitable part of this practice.

Recognize that a well-rested mind works twice as effectively on any given project. Avoiding breaks and downtime only hurts you in the long run.

A great way to ensure a satisfactory amount of distractions is to update all of your social media platforms before doing anything else. This way you’ll get a steady number of notifications throughout your work time.

4. Listen to Taylor Swift’s new album, 1989. Because why not? It served as a pretty good distraction while I tried to write this article. Anyway…

5. Don’t dwell on the future. There’s no time like the present! Daydreaming about what your life will be like years down the road is exhaustive and counter-productive to your procrastination. What happened to living in the now?

6. Leisure and productivity should be valued equally. Balancing work and play is a procrastinator’s specialty. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. I think that’s a proverb or something. Maybe you should take some time to look into it, though. I could be wrong and you could draft a long comment about how uneducated and inadequate I am as an author. That’s a solid 30 minutes right there! You’re welcome.

7. Stop worrying. If you spend time worrying about all the work you haven’t done, then you’re completely missing the point. Just take a deep breath, chill out, and give all your attention to your pointless and non-work related desires. Focus, dammit!

8. Always remember that time you enjoy wasting isn’t wasted time.