Get Good at Procrastination; Work on Important Things.

Tunde's Case

Fresh out of University, an acquaintance, Tunde, sat in isolation on the steps of a staircase. He was crying. Despite graduating with a CGPA of 4.76/5.00, he felt what he termed a log of unfulfillment wedged over his being.  He asked what have I done with my life? to hint at his frustration and his feeling of unproductiveness.

Tunde's agony is common. On a much smaller scale, It's that feeling of having another busy day pass by with nothing to pin-point as a worthy accomplishment. And on a much larger scale, it’s the old man in his deathbed who pours out his heart wishing he had lived life different.

An underlying premise, given Tunde's context, is the idea that his sole investment in a University course he had little care for was the reason for his predicament. And a quick diagnosis points poor decision, at the time of filling his JAMB form, as culprit that began his path to his state on the staircase. However, such argument is reductive. 

In this post, I share a simple premise surrounding the idea that proper time management is a skill that can help ease situations from ending in states similar to Tunde's . The premise is this: always work on something important; the way to do so is to get good at procrastinating.

Learn to procrastinate better summarizes Paul Graham's magnificent essay titled Good and Bad Procrastination. This is contrary to popular notion that suggests the right amount of willpower and good intentions keeps procrastination at bay. 

Graham groups activities we do into three categories; we either do:

1. Nothing, 
2. Something less important, or
3. Something more important. 

Something important, as I have defined before, is something you and/or others value that brings value to you and others. The University course that Tunde studied would fall under the category of something less important because he derived little value from it even though others may see value in it and it can in fact bring him and others value. Graham adds errands to this list. He writes:

[Something less important is something] that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary. [...] shaving, doing your laundry, cleaning the house, writing thank-you notes—anything that might be called an errand.

I know a handful of people who find it difficult to perform when errands are left undone. And this advice is far from a justification to maintain an overflowing laundry basket. Neglecting "less important" things is an ill strategy. However, what is insidious is the tendency to focus solely on them at the expense of more important things. 

Imagine a case where Tunde graduated with a his commendable CGPA and had a string of completed projects that tailored to things he cared about. I argue the sense of unproductiveness that troubled him would have been close to non-existent. 

The problem with doing more-important-things is that they are hard to do and they require a discomforting dose of focus and commitment. Hence the ease to why we procrastinate doing them so much. The hard solution, though, is to do them anyways. Most times, along side things we consider less important. 

How to Procrastinate Better

Tim Ferriss, in his bestselling book, highlights a series of interesting exercises which helps him to sidestep the urge to procrastinate important things. The third exercise requires making a list of three most important things to get done, deciding if they affirm to one of the following questions:

1.  If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?  

2. Will moving this forward make other to-dos unimportant or easier to knock off later?

And blocking three hours in that given day to complete one of the affirmed task. 

I first came across a similar exercise in Cal Newport's third book: How to Make Straight As. He used a portion of the book to deal squarely with procrastination (here is my note). In the book, he suggests keeping a work progress journal. That is, buying a cheap spiral notebook and jotting, every morning, the most important things to get done on that given day. And coming back to it at end of day to appraise by either writing a quick all completed or an explanation for why things were left undone.

This exercise is deceptively simple and utterly easy to neglect. However, it works wonders. When done with a host of other exercises, it can bring about profound life changes. 

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Post Author: P. W. Uduk 
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Photo Source: www.thecareermuse.com

Question of the week: What are actions/exercises that help you move important things forward? Please, share your responses in the comments.