The Art of Putting Things Off

By Landy Chase

All of us are taught from an early age that procrastination is a bad habit, that postponing tasks until the last minute is a work-management style that is best avoided. I strongly disagree with this assumption. Actually, my experience has been that procrastination, if used properly, is a superb productivity skill. Allow me to explain.

 If you are like most people, there is simply not enough time in the typical week to complete everything that resides on one’s to-do list. Given that we have more things to do than we have time to complete them; the ability to properly prioritize work becomes the key element in being productive. Let’s face it: every request that is made of our time is, to the person requesting it, a red-hot emergency. Whether it actually is or not is subject to interpretation. We ourselves must make that decision; we must separate that which is important from that which is not, and do the important things first. Unfortunately, this may mean that some things don’t get done on time. How does one go about determining what must be done now, and what can wait?

 A priority is defined as a task that has significant negative consequences if it is not completed on time. When looking over your task list, you can immediately see that some of the items will have more severe consequences for non-completion than others do. If a task on your to-do list has little to no consequences for lack of completion – in other words, if there is no significant downside to putting it off – it does not meet the definition of a priority, and should therefore be procrastinated upon in favor of completing another item for which there are greater negative consequences.

 This means, of course, that you must learn to use the skill of procrastination wisely. You must know what needs to be done now, what can be done later, and allocate your time usage accordingly.

 Using this logic, task management becomes an exercise in ranking priorities. In practice, your to-do list should be always sorted from top to bottom in order of the consequences associated with failure to complete each task. Have a report due to a key client on Friday? This task would be found near the top of the to-do list, because failure to complete the report on time would result in significant negative consequences: an unhappy client, and potentially a lost account. Have an appointment to look at a new copier on Friday, while the existing one is in good working order? This would be found at the bottom of the list, as the negative consequences for failure to have that meeting would be minimal – you can look at the new copier at a later time without a problem. In that case,  it would be prudent to delay (read: procrastinate) the copier appointment so that the scheduled report gets to the client in a timely fashion. Get the idea?

 No matter how efficient you are at task management, you will continue to inevitably find that there will be some tasks remaining on your to-do list that were not completed at the end of the week. The only issue of relevance here is whether or not those uncompleted tasks are “felonies” or “misdemeanors”.  If you have some unfinished business on Friday afternoon which all fall under the description of “misdemeanors”, congratulate yourself for having managed your time efficiently. Take a slap on the wrist if need be. You can always get to those items when time allows. The only thing that matters is that you arrive at the weekend felony-free.

 In closing, it is worth noting here that there is one set of tasks on your to-do list that must always be assigned immediate priority whenever  they appear, because they have the most impact on your career advancement. I am referring, of course, to things that your boss asks you to do. Next to loyalty, dependability is the most valued trait of a subordinate. This means that when your boss asks you to do something, it always gets done, on time, without any further follow-up. Every single time.

 If you desire to advance your career, I cannot stress enough the importance of developing a reputation for dependability with your immediate supervisor. Don’t make the mistake that so many sales people make when it comes to promotions – the assumption that having good sales numbers entitles one to a job promotion. That, unfortunately, is not how the real world works. Instead, having good sales numbers entitles you to consideration for promotion – and then the issue of dependability will usually make or break your promotion opportunity. Is that playing politics? Absolutely. So what? We don’t dictate the way that the game is played. Play the game properly and your career will benefit as a result.

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