by Max Leibman

Created on: July 01, 2007

The best way to beat procrastination is to use it to get more things done. What are you doing when you procrastinate? Some people tend to procrastinate by doing nothing; most of us, however, procrastinate by doing nothing much-by finding entertaining, diverting, or trivial things to do to take our mind off of what we're putting off doing. Or we tell ourselves that we're working on real work that really needs to get done (it just doesn't happen to be the real work that we're really afraid to start).

As you've probably discovered, the best way to avoid worrying is action, and the best way to keep from doing something you fear . . . is to do something else. The trick is to leverage that fear, confusion, or whatever other emotion causing you to procrastinate to boost your productivity.

Turn Online Time-Wasters Into Real Work
If you tend to aimlessly surf the web or check all of your e-mail accounts while procrastinating, that's fine; there's a lot of value to be found on the web. The trick is to keep a list-preferably in an online e-mail account or in your wallet or purse-of everything you could possibly want to look up about every project in your life. If you've been thinking about a vacation or have a business trip to plan, you can use "scout hotel deals" or "collect ideas of things to do in Maui" as a way to avoid your real work. You can compare prices on cars or auto service, look up entrance requirements for your (or your children's) college, scout for a new job, or shop for a gift for someone you love.

Doing these things just lets you justify avoiding real work, right? Actually, no-if you are working off a list of things you really need and want to surf the web for, you are doing real work. You may be putting off planning your speech or having an uncomfortable conversation or starting a project you aren't sure how to finish; however, if you do have travel to plan, educational dreams to research, or a gift to buy, that's real work, too, and it will have to be done sometime. Get into the habit now of writing down any project or creative idea that you may need to research online, and the next time you sit down for an aimless websurf, knock one or two out. You may be avoiding some of your responsibilities, but you will still be accomplishing work.

Maintain Big Lists of Easy, Simple Things That You Really Need To Do.
A similar idea to the last one, but more generally applicable: Make a list of everything you could do that needs to be done but isn't important or complicated.

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