Page 153 - The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

wander. That extra time spent mental wandering gives you the ability to come up
with more creative, “divergent” ideas that enhance your project.

Productive procrastination was a hugely liberating concept for me to learn,
especially while struggling to write this book. Before I learned about productive
procrastination, I beat myself up constantly because I kept feeling burnt out, I had
writer’s block, and I thought it meant I was a bad writer, lazy, or incapable. In truth,
a creative process of this magnitude just took time.

My mind needed breaks and time to wander. It took me seven months longer
than I thought it would to finish and the book is 100 times better for it. If you’re
not getting the results that you want, give the project some time, go focus your
energy somewhere else, and then come back later with fresh eyes.

So, if you are working on a creative project, and you don’t have a fixed deadline,
it’s not procrastination if you let your work sit for a few weeks so you can let you
mind wander. It’s the creative process. Those fresh new ideas you have as you
procrastinate productively will make your work even smarter.

Destructive Procrastination

Destructive procrastination is an entirely different animal. It’s when we avoid
the work we need to get done and know there will be negative consequences. This
habit really comes back to bite you in the end.

Every one of us has a pile of stuff we can’t seem to get to: updating photo
albums, analyzing a spreadsheet, finishing a proposal, cleaning out Dad’s house, or
plowing through a to-do list that would grow your business. It’s anything that we
find ourselves deliberately avoiding that really needs to get done.

Evelyn found herself procrastinating and beating herself up: “I have questioned
everything about myself for years.” She put the Rule into effect and it’s been