david j. garcia

If you’re like me, you have a well-developed ability to put things off if you don’t want to do them. I can form a fairly logical argument to avoid almost anything. And while procrastination usually has negative connotations, it can actually work to your advantage.

Now I’m not saying you should keep putting off what you need to do. Quite the opposite, in fact. You need to hack your procrastination reflex. Instead of putting off something more important, postpone the less important things. All those excuses we use to justify delay of productive things can also be used to delay non-productive things.

Think about it–what if you were able to convince yourself to waste your time on the internet later, because you’d rather write that paper now–instead of the other way around. It’s easy when you realize that (if you’re like me) you’ve already been honing that ability for a long time. Now we just need to redirect it.

The best way I’ve found to use procrastination for good is to embrace the concept of timeshifting. Timeshifting often refers to the ability to watch a television show some time other than when it originally aired. First VCRs and now DVRs make this possible. This is a perfect example. At no point are you truely tied to the TV. If there’s something more important, just hit pause–it will be there when you get back.

The internet? Still there after you leave for a while. Just save the links. That game? It has a pause button. Even sleep will always be available later on. You can come back to it whenever you decide.

I can’t say I’ve totally gotten the hang of it yet, but I think I’m on to something.