Positive Procrastination

Yesterday's New York Times article, "This Was Supposed to Be My Column for New Year’s Day" is a  fascinating look at how we procrastinate and how to positively manipulate procrastination.

In 1995, Dr. Perry noticed that “Procrastinators, seldom do absolutely nothing.”  He began to develop "structured procrastination" to prioritize tasks.

At the top of your to-do list, put a couple of daunting, if not impossible, tasks that are vaguely important-sounding (but really aren’t) and seem to have deadlines (but really don’t). Then, farther down the list, include some doable tasks that really matter.
“Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list,” Dr. Perry writes. “With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.”

It's an interesting concept, just today I have already found implementing the method helpful.  I got a lot done before finally writing this post. . .

Gemma Correll