How to beat procrastiworking

This morning on the way to the office, I saw a fellow sporting a T-shirt that declared: “I’m not LAZY, I just enjoy doing nothing.” For some of us, doing nothing comes with a low-level anxiety that we’re just one nap away from career failure. So, we get busy. Yet sometimes, the busywork gets in the way of accomplishing bigger goals. Like chasing inbox zero while a more pressing project deadline looms. There’s even a name for it: procrastiworking. 

Coach Amanda McKinney puts it this way: “Procrastiworking is when you’re doing something that could be considered work, so you feel justified in taking the action, but it’s not the thing you need to be doing. It’s you procrastinating by doing other work.”

McKinney argues that tackling your inbox is really just taking on someone else’s to-do list. And, she cautions, “If we aren’t careful, other people’s tasks will overtake our day. That’s how we end up feeling like we were busy all day but don’t feel productive.”

How can you beat this and work smarter (and really get stuff done)? Over the course of our coverage, we’ve amassed a cache of resources that can help you do several things, including understanding why you procrastinate and learn why it’s an emotional problem and what happens to your brain when you’re stalling. You’ll also learn mental strategies to beat procrastination and how to train that pesky mindset to not give in to “fake work.” For those who prefer to listen or watch, we’ve served up tips and tactics on our New Way We Work podcast and a quick video that outlines how to stop procrastinating, once and for all.