Productive Procrastination is Ruining Your Life: Here’s How to Stop It

I’ve always been the type of person to wait until the very last second to start a project with a deadline. Didn’t matter if it was school work, a personal project, or even just cleaning my room. If there was a deadline, I was going to procrastinate.

For some people, this is a MAJOR problem. But not for me…

I somehow always managed to get things done just before the clock ran out. For years I thought I was just more efficient than other people, that I worked well under pressure, and that I didn’t need a long time to get a project completed.

But what I didn’t know is that this was secretly ruining my life and if this sounds like you… There’s a pretty good chance it’s ruining your life too.

What is Productive Procrastination?

Productive Procrastination:

When you ignore your most important task (either subconsciously or on purpose) and instead work on other, easier tasks that make you feel like you’re being productive.

Not only can it trick you into thinking you’re making progress, but because the activities you’re procrastinating with are semi-productive, it can mask the problem entirely — leaving critical tasks to rot.

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of consequences come from 20% of actions — this means that the most vital (and typically most difficult) tasks are what will actually make a difference in your life.

Productive procrastination is the act of neglecting these vital tasks.

Why It’s Ruining Your Life

Like I said before, this kind of procrastination is extra insidious because it makes you think you’re actually making progress on your goals when in reality… you’re not. Here are some of the ways productive procrastination might be ruining your life: