How to Increase Productivity Through Procrastination
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 8:08 am
Many of us dream of one day pulling ourselves together, finally defeating the hated procrastination and completing all the tasks from the endless list. However, clinical psychologist Nick Wignall believes that fighting procrastination is pointless. Instead, he suggests using three principles that help procrastinate productively and ultimately accomplish more tasks and achieve better results.
Here's what Nick Wignall writes about his experience with procrastination:
"People who know me consider me to be a fairly organized person. I always get up early and spend the first hour after waking up writing notes for my blog. Then I meditate for 20-30 minutes and start doing physical exercises. I manage to do all this before my work day starts at 9 am.
Most people don’t realize that I’m a huge procrastinator. I can spend an hour scrolling vietnam whatsapp list through social media or tinkering with my website design. But despite the procrastination, I manage to stay productive. The secret is that I don’t fight procrastination or try to avoid it. I embrace it.
In my experience, procrastination is inevitable. Human nature itself is built into the desire for novelty and variety. Resisting procrastination is very difficult, it takes a lot of energy. Often, the emotional consequences of fighting procrastination outweigh the benefits of the work done."
If you have been struggling with procrastination for a long time and have not succeeded, use the following three principles. They do not require you to exert more willpower, discipline, or work harder. This approach will help you stay productive and achieve results despite your tendency to procrastinate.
Avoid self-flagellation
In fact, primary procrastination, when we feel the urge to put off important work, is not as scary as the consequences of self-deprecation and self-flagellation with which we punish ourselves. Most procrastinators have a habit of harshly judging and reproaching themselves for procrastination. We feel inner anxiety due to the abundance of tasks that need to be done before the end of the day, and begin mentally torturing ourselves:
"I'm no good for anything except procrastinating all the time";
"My colleague does everything on time. I should be like him";
"I just don't have the willpower."
The problem is that these self-deprecating thoughts about procrastination only make things worse. In addition to the initial reluctance to do the work, we are now overwhelmed with negative emotions. Critical and pessimistic thoughts take over our consciousness, and we end up feeling like hopeless procrastinators. We are consumed by feelings of guilt and anger at ourselves.
In his work as a psychologist, Nick Wignall often encounters chronic procrastinators. He helps them recognize and gradually reduce the habit of self-deprecation due to procrastination. As a result, their ability to achieve results simply soars.
The following steps will help you get rid of the habit of scolding yourself for procrastination:
1. Accept that it’s okay to procrastinate. Just because you procrastinate occasionally doesn’t mean you can’t get things done.
2. Notice the derogatory words you say to yourself when you procrastinate. Write them down.
3. Change your internal monologue to make it more realistic. For example, you can tell yourself: “Yes, I often procrastinate. But despite this, I manage to get a lot done. Perhaps I am not very disciplined, but I am just starting out. With time, I will become more disciplined.”
When you're procrastinating, it's best to treat yourself with compassion and forgiveness instead of judgment.
Procrastinate on purpose
The tendency to procrastinate is not a virus or a defect in your genetic code, but a manifestation of a natural desire for novelty. For hundreds of thousands of years, we evolved in an environment where the ability to conserve energy and the desire to explore were essential for survival. In the modern world, things are different. If we spend an extra 10% of energy today, it is unlikely that we will become prey to a saber-toothed tiger tomorrow.
Let's say you consciously understand that you need to work on your presentation for a couple more hours to get the best result. But your reptilian brain resists because it hasn't had time to adapt to the rapid changes in the world around you that have occurred over the past few hundred years. The desire to procrastinate is not a sign of weakness or lack of willpower. Your brain is simply doing what it was programmed to do during the process of evolution.
Here's what Nick Wignall writes about his experience with procrastination:
"People who know me consider me to be a fairly organized person. I always get up early and spend the first hour after waking up writing notes for my blog. Then I meditate for 20-30 minutes and start doing physical exercises. I manage to do all this before my work day starts at 9 am.
Most people don’t realize that I’m a huge procrastinator. I can spend an hour scrolling vietnam whatsapp list through social media or tinkering with my website design. But despite the procrastination, I manage to stay productive. The secret is that I don’t fight procrastination or try to avoid it. I embrace it.
In my experience, procrastination is inevitable. Human nature itself is built into the desire for novelty and variety. Resisting procrastination is very difficult, it takes a lot of energy. Often, the emotional consequences of fighting procrastination outweigh the benefits of the work done."
If you have been struggling with procrastination for a long time and have not succeeded, use the following three principles. They do not require you to exert more willpower, discipline, or work harder. This approach will help you stay productive and achieve results despite your tendency to procrastinate.
Avoid self-flagellation
In fact, primary procrastination, when we feel the urge to put off important work, is not as scary as the consequences of self-deprecation and self-flagellation with which we punish ourselves. Most procrastinators have a habit of harshly judging and reproaching themselves for procrastination. We feel inner anxiety due to the abundance of tasks that need to be done before the end of the day, and begin mentally torturing ourselves:
"I'm no good for anything except procrastinating all the time";
"My colleague does everything on time. I should be like him";
"I just don't have the willpower."
The problem is that these self-deprecating thoughts about procrastination only make things worse. In addition to the initial reluctance to do the work, we are now overwhelmed with negative emotions. Critical and pessimistic thoughts take over our consciousness, and we end up feeling like hopeless procrastinators. We are consumed by feelings of guilt and anger at ourselves.
In his work as a psychologist, Nick Wignall often encounters chronic procrastinators. He helps them recognize and gradually reduce the habit of self-deprecation due to procrastination. As a result, their ability to achieve results simply soars.
The following steps will help you get rid of the habit of scolding yourself for procrastination:
1. Accept that it’s okay to procrastinate. Just because you procrastinate occasionally doesn’t mean you can’t get things done.
2. Notice the derogatory words you say to yourself when you procrastinate. Write them down.
3. Change your internal monologue to make it more realistic. For example, you can tell yourself: “Yes, I often procrastinate. But despite this, I manage to get a lot done. Perhaps I am not very disciplined, but I am just starting out. With time, I will become more disciplined.”
When you're procrastinating, it's best to treat yourself with compassion and forgiveness instead of judgment.
Procrastinate on purpose
The tendency to procrastinate is not a virus or a defect in your genetic code, but a manifestation of a natural desire for novelty. For hundreds of thousands of years, we evolved in an environment where the ability to conserve energy and the desire to explore were essential for survival. In the modern world, things are different. If we spend an extra 10% of energy today, it is unlikely that we will become prey to a saber-toothed tiger tomorrow.
Let's say you consciously understand that you need to work on your presentation for a couple more hours to get the best result. But your reptilian brain resists because it hasn't had time to adapt to the rapid changes in the world around you that have occurred over the past few hundred years. The desire to procrastinate is not a sign of weakness or lack of willpower. Your brain is simply doing what it was programmed to do during the process of evolution.