Given two choices, one that’s ridiculously fun and one that’s insanely boring, which would you choose?
In her book Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Mignon Fogarty gives the best solution I’ve ever heard for dealing with procrastination.
If you’re going to procrastinate, force yourself to do something productive. Your choices are folding laundry or writing, not playing solitaire or writing.
As soon as I read this, I recalled a recent phone conversation I had with a broke friend who likes to spend her free time gambling.
Me: Where you at?
Friend: The casino.
Me: You won any money.
Friend: Girl, no.
Me: You really need to find something else to do.
Friend: Yeah, I need to go to church.
Me: ಠ_ಠ
My friend isn’t giving church a fair chance at getting picked. If she really wants to stop gambling, a more reasonable alternative would’ve been inviting friends over for beer and barbecue.
As much as you may want to judge my friend for such a silly suggestion, how often do your actions match her words?
Instead of tackling some soul crushing task you’d rather avoid, you read gossip blogs, watch viral YouTube videos, and catch up on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
You’re not going to flake out on your responsibilities. You’re going to deliver. You always do.
So why don’t you stop wasting time and get to work?
I wish I knew the magic words that would inspire you to act, that would encourage you to complete assignments well before their due date.
Time is peculiar in that, despite being infinite, eventually, you will run out of it. That simple truth is the only cure for procrastination. So when you’re battling a bad case of procrastination-itis, don’t beat yourself up. There’s only one thing you need to do: STAY PRODUCTIVE.
I have a long list of things I need to do, and I’m sure you do too. Although I only like to include a few items on my daily to-do list, I think it’s important to create a master to do-list: a list that includes figurative pills you can take when you’re fighting the procrastination bug.
Although nothing on your to-do list is as fun as happy hour, some items are definitely funner than others.
For instance, when I don’t feel like writing, I can do any of the following:
- Read personal finance or business magazines
- Respond to blog comments
- Make travel arrangements for conferences I’ve registered for
- Cook the hamburger meat that’s about to rot in my fridge
- Find someone to install a ceiling fan in my bedroom
- And countless other not so terrible things I need to do
You can also partially work on a project, saving the most tortuous components for last. Just break the project up into smaller pieces.
If you’re a natural born procrastinator, embrace it.
Some days you’ll feel like doing the hard stuff. Other days you’ll feel like doing the easy stuff. The important thing is that stuff gets done every day.
Shawanda Greene is a free thinking, frugal gal whose only vices are boxed wine, lip balm and money grubbing. You can find more of Shawanda's musings at 
As I was reading this I was thinking about how I don’t really procrastonate much in my life these days. I’m 28 and doing my masters degree and I also have two jobs. 6 years ago when I was doing my bachelors degree I procrastonated alllll the time. I think that the fact that I no longer procroastonate has to do with growing up, knowing that I truly cannot get behind because I am far too busy to ever catch up if I do, and also the fact that I sincerely love all of the things that keep me busy. I think that if people chronically procrastonate they need to look at if perhaps their heart just isn’t invested in what they are doing (in which case maybe its time to make a change) or if maybe they just have too much time on their hands! If I were to do my bachelors degree all over again I would work at least part time through the degree to give myself some kind of routine, structure, and motivation to stay on top of things.
This seems like a philosophy I could get in to….but it would take some time. I like the fact that she focuses on productivity. The problem with procrastination is that I normally feel guilty about putting off what needs to be done, but if I can at least say “Well I cleaned up my closet/kitchen or fixed this/that” then I won’t be so bummed. I’ll try it more often 🙂
I can understand why people procrastinate, I do that too sometimes specially when I think about how stressful the work ahead might be. But usually the work isn’t that stressful, it’s just the starting part and how we tend to overthink that mostly stress us. The worst part is the more I procrastinate the more I get stressed. It’s like a catch-22. Working right away has helped me alleviate stress and if I feel the need to procrastinate, I take a 15-20 minute break instead.
When I worked as an auditor, I used to lie in bed at night stressing over all the work I had to do. Since I couldn’t sleep anyway, I’d often just get up and work. The anxiety caused by not doing work was worse than the anxiety from doing work so I chose the latter.
Great post… Although school stress has turned me into a bit of a shopping addict. Every time I have an assignment to do I end up going grocery shopping first just to kill time and feel productive!
I don’t use grocery shopping to procrastinate, but I do find myself updating my Amazon shopping cart way too often. Fortunately, I’m pretty good about not buying things until I have $25 in items to qualify for free shipping.
I do the same thing except instead of grocery shopping I clean my apartment! I feel like I can’t study without a clean apartment. So weird!
So true, I find if I’m not constantly keeping on top of things, they just get so out of control it becomes too overwhelming. Then all I want to do is lay on the sofa and watch tabloid TV – certainly not a productive way to spend an evening, but I think it’s ok to be lazy every once in a while!
Also, it’s okay to just leave some stuff undone. Just because something is urgent doesn’t mean it’s important.
This is very true for many people who procrastinate. Staying productive is very important to avoid procrastination. I agree with breaking up with the hard stuff and the easy stuff. I do find that people who procrastinate the most don’t have their goals established and there is no sense of urgency.
I find that if you stay productive you don’t feel as anxious about the time you wasted. At least you got something done even if it wasn’t the most important.
I have gotten better with this lately, but for me its the gossip blogs that drain my time. When I get stressed instead of working I go lurking around the web seeing what Kim Kardashian is up to ahah because thats more important. I put off replying to important emails or planning to do these silly things.
I know what you mean. I pay way too much attention to the trending topics on Yahoo.
This rings very true for me. I have a bit of a thing for gaming. Some days I’ll sit down for a half-an-hour break, crack open a game, and before I know it, the stars are out.
Lately I’ve been trying to keep the gaming for the weekend, but there are game-like productivity tools I can allow myself to indulge in a little bit each day. One is Chains (https://chains.cc/) you set some daily habits you want to achieve, and then tick them off the list. It seems to hit the same reward centers of the brain as gaming for me! The kind of things I’m tracking at the moment include morning exercise, daily vitamins and bringing lunch to work.Another site I’m using is Duolingo (http://duolingo.com/). I’m using it to learn German, and every time you learn a few phrases or new words you get a little trophy, and man I love to see that little progress bar fill up!Other people swear by Chorewars (http://www.chorewars.com/) which also fills that weird niche of productivity and gaming, but I never really got into that one.
These are awesome websites. Thanks for sharing!
One of the biggest time sucks for me are cancelled television shows. Once I get started watching a series, I can’t stop. I lost an entire week on Prison Break.