Is Productive Procrastination Productive?

Ever catch yourself playing Wordle or watching Reels as a way to distract from getting your work done? We catch ourselves after 15 minutes of going through Reels, take a breath and chuckle at our sneaky ways to avoid work and then get back to work. We reprimand ourselves because doing this is clearly not a good use of our time and clearly a distraction. However, it is much harder to spot productive procrastination—things we do that are a good use of our time, just not at that very moment.

For instance, I realized I have caregiver procrastination. This morning, while working on this very newsletter, I stopped what I was doing to reach for my phone to text a friend who has been struggling. Yes, I do need to check in on that friend. But do I need to check on her NOW? I’m working on something I need to focus on for me and immediately my procrastination response took me outside of myself to think about other people. Does that may make me selfless, or is it just another technique to take a break from thinking hard in a guise of being a good friend.

I see this all the time with my clients. Going to exercise, do laundry, walk the dog, water the plants, you name it. These are all “good” ways to spend our time. They look innocent enough. But these “good things” distract you from doing what you need to get done.

Now, let me clarify. If you intentionally decide to take a break and take a shower to clear your head, this is not the same thing as stopping something you are doing that is a priority in order to go take a shower because you convince yourself a shower is a more important way to spend your time. Do you see the distinction? Sometimes we need a break so we intentionally choose to do something to give ourselves a break. When I reached out to my phone to text my friend to check in on her, I was not mindfully saying, I need a break. I was choosing to check on a friend over getting my work done. I was prioritizing checking on my friend over focusing on my work.

Sometimes that makes sense—if my friend was headed off to a procedure and I wanted to wish her well, that should take precedence. If it is about to rain so I need to walk the dog now, OK. But if you can wait, give yourself permission to get your work done, to finish the task at hand. The very fact that these interruptions are productive make them all the more tricky.

What are your sneaky disruptions? Share you examples in the comments section. (YAY Substack lets you do that!). Click on the button below to comment.

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash