Procrastinators have a reputation as loafers, laggards and lollygaggers. A bit harsh, believes University of California, Riverside philosopher John Perry, a self-described procrastinator who asserts that, unlike their reputation, most people who excel at postponing the inevitable actually lead productive lives by busying themselves with many tasks to avoid others deemed more onerous.
Perry calls it structured procrastination, a strategy of completing less-important tasks to avoid those higher on an individual’s priority list. He has written an entertaining, philosophical self-help book for procrastinators, “The Art of Procrastination, A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing,” which was published in August by Workman Publishing.
Structured procrastination can convert procrastinators into “effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of their time,” he says.
Procrastinating does not mean doing nothing, he explains. Nor is it the worst flaw a person can have.
Here are suggestions from Perry on becoming a successful structured procrastinator:
• Leave things until the last minute as a way of budgeting your time. […]
• Lots of tasks disappear if given a chance. […]
• Non-procrastinators are inevitably ignorant. […]
• Procrastination encourages productive subconscious thought. […]
• When it comes to email, procrastination is a powerful survival technique. […]
I must admit, sometimes I am a structured procrastinator (arguably right now by posting this article).