If you’ve casually heard the phrase productive procrastination, you might have dismissed it as a ridiculous concept and not given it a second thought. Even if someone tried to explain it to you, framing it as the latest productivity hack, you’ve probably left the conversation still wondering “is productive procrastination real?”

This post will clear the confusion around this seemingly contradictory term, explain why productive procrastination can indeed be a thing and show you how you can reframe task avoidance so that you still inch closer to reaching your goals even when you’re stuck in the depths of distraction. Towards the end of the post, you’ll also find the caveats of harnessing avoidance for productivity, so definitely don’t postpone reading it. 😉

What is productive procrastination?

The term “productive procrastination” is used to describe the phenomenon of avoiding your most urgent task by doing other useful things. In contrast to regular procrastination, which involves distracting oneself with entertainment or low-value activities, this type of task avoidance actually increases overall productivity by checking off smaller items on one’s to do list, even if the most important one remains unfinished. 

To better understand the difference between productive procrastination and your garden-variety postponement of duties, think cleaning the house instead of writing your term paper vs. watching YouTube videos to avoid doing your homework. They are not the same.

What is productive procrastination called? How does it differ from structured procrastination?

Productive procrastination is sometimes called “structured procrastination”. This term was coined by philosopher John Perry, who used it to describe his particular way of postponing tasks by replacing them with other (at least remotely useful) ones. His essay on the matter is a wonderful read and explains how the method turns chronic avoiders into task-completing fiends. This quote sums it up beautifully: 

“The procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.” –J. Perry

As you can see, Perry took a personal characteristic and built a philosophy of procrastination around it. (He even wrote a paper and a book about it!) Now that’s the kind of self-awareness I want to see more of in the world!

You could argue that there is a subtle distinction between structured procrastination and productive procrastination. “Structured” is an adjective one would use to describe something that already exists (procrastination as a personality trait) to denote that it manifests in an orderly fashion, while “productive” implies some level of intentionality. As a lifehack to be implemented, I prefer to call it productive procrastination to hint at the fact that it can be a system, rather than just a serendipitous exploitation of a character flaw. OK, that’s just being pedantic - the terms are mostly the same.

The Definition of Productive Procrastination

If one were to venture a definition of productive procrastination, it would probably sound something like this:

If you think there was a lot of wasted potential for a funnier definition in the previous paragraph, you’re probably right. I’ll put a link somewhere in this post to the Urban Dictionary entry on productive procrastination to scratch that itch, but you’ll have to read till the end to find it.

What leads to productive procrastination?

Productive procrastination has only one prerequisite: an overflowing tasklist. If you’ve struggled with procrastination before, I’m sure you’ve experienced this: the more you have to do, the more you seemingly get done. The opposite is also true: the less you have to do, the more likely you are to watch Netflix or browse the internet and postpone even the easiest things that need to get done. To paraphrase Perry, a procrastinator with a single item on their to do list will turn into a couch potato. 

Of course, you still need to be responsible enough to only put value-add things on your to do list for this system to work, but I trust that you’re an adult and that this won’t be an issue.

How to practice productive procrastination: an example

If productive procrastination is starting to look like the Holy Grail of getting your life in order - and it might very well be - let’s look at an example of how you’d go about applying it in a structured way (pun intended). 

To turn procrastination into a good thing, the idea is to structure your tasklist such that you provide yourself with guilt-free alternatives when avoiding your most important task. These alternative tasks should still be furthering other goals you might have or ensure that unavoidable chores with deadlines don’t slip through the cracks. 

Let’s say your task list is sorted based on priority and looks like this:

• write chapter for novel
• review draft of previously written chapter for novel
• file taxes
• do laundry
• order groceries and pet supplies online

Obviously, writing another chapter for your novel will have the most impact on your existence, as it helps you get closer to your dream of being a published author (and potentially allows you to keep a New Year’s resolution for the first time ever). But the other tasks are not completely useless either: there is a tangible benefit from not getting a fine for submitting your tax return late or having clean clothes to wear. 

Perry's article mentions that even though he is productive on the whole, he frequently misses most of his inconsequential deadlines. I don’t recommend you do that, since it makes other people perceive you as unreliable, which is never a good thing. Even if other people’s opinion of you is not something you usually take into account, there’s a second downside you need to consider: it also doesn’t allow you to get the most out of the productive procrastination system. Here’s why. 

A deadline is an opportunity to change your perception of what the most critical task is. If you tend to get stressed by deadlines, use this to your advantage: plan to work on something 1-2 weeks before its deadline expires (adjust the timeframe to make it work for you). If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you can be counted on to not immediately jump to working on that task and pick something else off the list. Since at least some of the items on your to do list at any given time will have a deadline, this is a way to add some randomization to the way you work through your tasklist, which indirectly ensures that the top task also gets some attention. 

In the previous example, as the tax filing deadline draws nearer and this becomes your most important task, you might find yourself struck by a sudden burst of inspiration to work on that novel chapter. There isn’t much downside to this, on one condition: that you commit to not missing any deadlines. This ensures that you’ll submit the appropriate work at the latest exactly on the day the deadline expires, so nothing truly spirals out of control. (I admit, this might mean you have to put structured procrastination aside sometimes - usually on the day of the deadline - to get that most critical task done. It’s something you have to learn to live with.)

The downside of productive procrastination & how to mitigate it

Not everyone is as enthusiastic about structured procrastination as Mr. Perry, though. Its opponents see it as a trap, rather than a lifehack, and they argue that giving in to the urge to postpone your most critical task is a sure-fire way to appear busy, but never get anything meaningful done. 

While that sounds like a plausible argument, it misses a crucial point: your tasklist is under your control. If you train yourself to limit the activities you can choose from even when you’re avoiding the main one, you don’t stand the risk of only working on low-value tasks. Most people probably have more than a single important goal, so as long as each item on your to do list helps you get closer to one of those goals, go ahead and procrastinate productively. I also think you’ll stand a better chance of conquering yourself if you have a system, rather than rely on motivation alone, which is why I think the opponents of productive procrastination are overly optimistic when it comes to wielding their willpower. A habit will always beat a spur-of-the-moment decision, even if it doesn’t appear as glorious as forcing yourself to ‘work on the right thing’ every second.

Alternatively, you can fall back on productive procrastination on the days when you’d really just rather lie on the couch, despite having a lot to do. It’s an excellent way to squeeze in that extra bit of work in what would otherwise be a wasted day. It’s by no means a silver bullet, but it does have its place in your toolbelt. 

That’s a wrap! Kudos to you for getting this far into the post! I hope this blog becomes your first stop when procrastinating productively; I strive to make every post jam-packed with information, so come back when you’re looking for a little distraction that helps you, rather than keeps you from getting to where you’re going. 

Now raise your hand if you were actually supposed to do something else right now, but chose to read this post instead. (And then high-five me, cause I sure as hell wasn’t supposed to write this today! Productive procrastination FTW!)