How to use productive procrastination to actually reclaim your time!
Sometimes you need help maintaining your motivation – check out this post if you haven’t already for tons of advice on that. But sometimes we need to take a break to gain distance and perspective before we can return to the project at our best. And what we do during those breaks can make all the difference in not only your day, but also your week!
While I love to batch my work flow and try not to multi-task – both things which you would normally think discourage breaks, I’ve come to learn needing breaks throughout the day is normal! And it’s healthy!
If you’ve been listening to Solicited Advice to Live Your Best Life for a while, you might remember back in Episode 18 I talked about breaks being a critical piece of productivity. I cited several studies which found that when people take breaks they come back to the task at hand with more novel ideas and ignited creative problem solving.
And the same research also found that the longer someone works at a task without a break, the more likely they are to simply be reinventing the wheel over and over again.
Taking a break vs. procrastination
When you’re struggling to focus on a project and you turn your attention elsewhere, we often label that as procrastination. And just as often we think of procrastination as a bad thing. It’s something we struggle to justify but often feel the need to do.
But the reality is, it isn’t taking a break that’s the problem, it’s what we choose to do with that time that can be the difference between feeling like it was time well spent, or time wasted.
When we seek to simply distract ourselves from the task at hand, or anything else going on in our lives, that’s often time we end up viewing as wasted. Think of things like scrolling social media for an hour before you realize what you’re doing. Or playing a game on your phone – I’ve even seen games advertised to help you kill time. I often refer to these activities as distractions or time leaks – because your time is slipping away without a lot of conscious awareness.
However, we can also take breaks and use that time to reset our bodies and minds so we’re ready to return to the primary task refreshed and inspired. And in the process, we can check other items off our to-do list – effectively reclaiming time.
If you’re struggling to give yourself permission to take a break from what you’re doing, go back to listen to Episode 18 of Solicited Advice to Live Your Best Life to discover all the research backed benefits of taking breaks while working on a project or task.
How to know when it’s time to take a break
I find myself slipping into distractions or time leak activities when I need a mental or physical break. Sometimes I’ve been sitting and working for a long time and my body has gotten stiff or restless. Other times I’ve reached a mental block, and just need a break so I can return to it with fresh eyes.
There might also be something which keeps distracting my focus – either mental or physical. I work from home, so not only am I confronted with all my work tasks each day, I also have house work taking up my mental (and visual) awareness.
I actually took a break from writing this podcast to take some flowers – which had passed their prime – from my desk out to the compost. Even if you don’t work from home, it’s not unusual to have all the things on your to-do list swirling around in your mind at any given time.
A great sign it’s time to take a break is if you realize you’re trying to force yourself to keep digging into something when you’re struggling with it. If you find yourself saying things like – “I just have to power my way through this and then I’ll take a break” – it probably means you needed a break ten minutes ago. Honor your body and mind and give them a chance to shift and move when they need it.
You also might suddenly realize you’re engaging in one of your distraction or time leak activities without having made a conscious decision to take a break from your task. I find this happens most often when I’m loooong overdue for a break, or my resilience is low.
Optimize your breaks with productive procrastination
So now the question becomes – how do we take these breaks and turn them into a good use of time? The answer is one of my favorite productivity tools and one I’ve been using for years.
Productive procrastination is the technique of consciously choosing what you do when you take a break. It can help you get more of your to-do list done each day. And even better, it helps you reclaim time to spend doing what you want to do – not just what you need to do!
I’ve employed productive procrastination for as long as I can remember, but I didn’t have a name for it until several years ago when I was sitting in a seminar for work. The speaker discussed productive procrastination and then gave it a name. At a break, several of my co-workers came up to me and remarked I’d been using this technique for as long as they’d known me.
In past episode’s of the podcast we’ve talked a lot about removing tasks from your to-do list. In fact, I frequently remind you of the limitations of 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 52 weeks in a year. However, productive procrastination is one way to squeeze a little more time out of each day. It involves swapping distractions and time leaks for items you need to do – this little swap actually reclaims time – making it feel like you’ve got an extra hour or more each day.
Where does your time go
To employ productive procrastination, first, it’s important to understand where your time is going every day. While there can be many applications for what you discover in a personal energy audit, for these purposes, we’re focused on identifying your time leaks.
Have you ever had a home energy audit? Someone comes out with an infrared camera and figures out where hot or cool air is escaping your home. They help you determine if new windows, extra insulation, or maybe just weather stripping around the door will help you save energy by keeping more of the air you’re heating or cooling inside your house.
A personal energy audit is basically the same thing, you’ll take stock of what you do each day. Bringing real conscious awareness to where you’re leaking time and energy. You might be surprised to discover how much time seeps out when you’re not paying attention! These time leaks are activities which neither take care of something which needs to be done, nor nourish you in any way.
Check out the full process of conducting a personal energy audit.
Many of us (myself included) often lose time scrolling through social media, playing games on our phones, or just mindlessly watching tv. While these activities are often distracting, they’re not replenishing, and even cutting the amount of time spent on them each day in half could make a huge difference in your life!
What time leaks aren’t
Before we move on, it’s important to note that time leaks are NOT things that help nourish you – mentally, physically, and/or emotionally. Those activities that nourish you are self-care. And self-care is a necessary part of your everyday, and not something to be regarded as a time leak.
If you’re not clear on the distinction between self-care and distraction, check out Episode 4 of Solicited Advice to Live Your Best Life and grab your copy of my Free Self-Care Toolkit.
Now let’s get to those alternative tasks
Ok, so now that you know where you’re leaking time. It’s also important to have a list you can refer to of what you need to do so you can easily pick tasks when you need a break.
Here are some things to think about when creating your to-do list:
- Work projects and tasks – this includes both routine things like filing and cleaning up your inbox and one-off tasks that are associated with a specific project like writing a report or creating a slide deck for an upcoming presentation.
- Home projects and tasks – again, this list includes both routine things like laundry and emptying the dishwasher and special projects like dropping off the things you’ve decluttered at the thrift store. If you don’t work from home, you may want to divide this list into two categories – things you can do anywhere – like scheduling an oil change – and things you can only do at home – like vacuuming the house.
- And don’t forget self-care activities – you may include these in your home projects list, but make sure you include them somewhere. If you don’t currently have a consistent self-care routine, or if you feel you could use a little extra support in that area, productive procrastination is a great way to work it into your day. If you’re not sure how to build this list, the Self-Care Bingo in my Self-Care Toolkit is a great place to start.
Play around to find the system that works best for you. For a long time I kept all of these lists in my planner which allowed me to include all appointments or other time commitments in the same place. Now I put only things that must happen on a specific day in my planner and keep track of my other tasks on a series of lists which I keep next to my planner.
You might also find having this list electronically works better for you – the most important thing is that you’ll regularly refer to it and have it available for easy access whenever you need to take a break.
Set yourself up for productive procrastination success
Now you’ll have two lists which you’ll be referring to throughout your day.
These lists should be:
- Your time leaks – activities where you spend chunks of time almost every day distracting yourself (but not nourishing yourself); and
- Everything you want to get done that day – this should include all the to-do items we identified above.
It might seem like a lot of work to get started, but your first list will change very little over time and you’ll be able to use the same list over and over without needing to make any changes and updates.
Your second list will have a lot of repeat items each day (things like feeding your pet, watering plants, washing dishes, etc.). Consider typing up these recurring items and printing out a base list you can add onto each day to make the daily list preparation faster. Alternatively, if you keep an electronic list it will be as simple as copy and paste.
Start procrastinating – productively!
Throughout your day when you find yourself needing a break, instead of slipping into one of your time leaks, take the chance to be productive in your procrastination. Keeping the time leaks list front and center helps you remember to be alert for them and bring awareness to an often unconscious activity.
When you notice you need a break, look at your to-do list and find an activity or two that will give you what you need. If you’re stiff from sitting too long, take the time to water your plants. Perhaps you need a mental break, call and schedule that dentist or car appointment you’re due for. Or scroll through your work email deleting any junk or messages you don’t need to address.
Once you’ve completed a task, cross it off your list. Take a moment to pause and decide if you’re ready to go back to your primary task or if you need a longer break. If you still need some time, pick another task off your to-do list and get it checked off. When you return to your primary task you should feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle it.
Switch it up
A great rule of thumb when employing productive procrastination is you want to pick something that uses your mind and body in a really different way from what you’re currently working on.
If you’ve been sitting at a desk, get up and move. If you’ve been working with words, is there a visual project you can take care of. For instance if I’m struggling writing a podcast script or a blog post, I might switch over to designing Pinterest pins or another graphic project that uses my brain in another way.
Another great tip is if you batch work, use a productive procrastination break each time you finish one piece in your batch to keep you from feeling stuck and stagnant.
Assessing and celebrating
At the end of the day, take a look at everything you were able to accomplish! Hopefully you not only got your primary task or tasks taken care of, you were also able to cross off dozens of items on your personal and professional to-do list. Think about how that compares to your average day.
Try productive procrastination for a week. After a week, take some time to do a full week assessment. Do you have a bunch of free time because all the tasks you normally have to take care of on the weekend are already done? Perhaps you had time to have a nice leisurely dinner with your family each evening during the week.
Consider conducting another personal energy audit. See what a difference you’ve made in the amount of time you spend on your time leaks.
Make time to celebrate
And then pick something that will totally nourish you and use the time you would have otherwise spent trying to get through your to-do list engaging in that activity instead. If you need some ideas, get my Celebration & Gratitude Practice Quick Start Guide.
The celebration is an important part of this process. In recognizing all you’ve gained it makes it so much easier to productively procrastinate instead of reaching for your phone and mindlessly scrolling going forward.
Next steps
This is one of those lather, rinse, repeat things. You want to continue to have your two lists in front of you each day. And each time you find yourself slipping toward a time leak, instead get one or two tasks checked off your to-do list.
By keeping these lists front and center, you never have to think about what needs to be done. The easier you can make this process, the less likely you’ll be to fall back into distraction.
Don’t forget to download the worksheet for this week’s episode which guides you through the process of productive procrastination and includes a link to Canva templates you can use for your lists! You can get your copy using the form below.
And remember – living your best life isn’t about changing your life – it’s about changing the way you show up for your life!
Show Notes
Get your copy of the Productive Procrastination Process Worksheet along with the Canva to-do list templates using the form below!
Mentioned in this Episode
The science behind why breaks make you more productive.
Conduct a Personal Energy Audit
Get the Self-Care Toolkit
Learn more about the difference between self-care, self-work, and distraction.
Get the Celebration & Gratitude Practice Quick Start Guide
Schedule a Personal Roadmap Discovery Session.
Get on the VIP list to have all podcast worksheets delivered to your inbox on Tuesday mornings.
Submit your question to be featured on a future episode.
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