Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to beware of activity that is posing is productivity,
Speaker 1: but is actually procrastination. So we've probably all had a
Speaker 1: task we needed to complete, or an important project we
Speaker 1: needed to start, but that we kept delaying because it
Speaker 1: was hard or intimidating. As productive people, we don't like
Speaker 1: sitting around twiddling our thumbs, So if we are looking
Speaker 1: to avoid something, we often do something else that looks productive.
Speaker 1: That might mean preparing extensively for a meeting this afternoon
Speaker 1: that isn't really all that important, instead of returning a
Speaker 1: call from a prickly colleague. It could be getting to
Speaker 1: inbox zero instead of editing a book chapter. I have
Speaker 1: seen this referred to as procrastivity, a mashup of productivity
Speaker 1: and procrastination, and I'm guessing we have all been guilty
Speaker 1: of this at one point or another. I also think
Speaker 1: it is helpful to give this behavior a name. When
Speaker 1: a behavior has a name, it is easier to recognize
Speaker 1: it and redirect ourselves. So if you realize you are
Speaker 1: doing something that is not especially important in order to
Speaker 1: avoid something else. Ask yourself, is this procrastivity? If you
Speaker 1: have to say yes, it is time to make some choices.
Speaker 1: One option is to just decide to do your high
Speaker 1: priority task, or at least the next step for it,
Speaker 1: before you do anything else. Just get it done. If
Speaker 1: that seems like more than you can do, decide on
Speaker 1: a specific amount of time you will work on the
Speaker 1: priority task before you do anything else. Maybe you will
Speaker 1: spend ninety minutes planning an important presentation you've been putting off.
Speaker 1: After ninety minutes, you can decide whether to keep going.
Speaker 1: If you opt to shift gears to do something else,
Speaker 1: you make a plan for when you'll return to the original,
Speaker 1: more difficult task. Or maybe you decide that you are
Speaker 1: not going to do the high priority task now and
Speaker 1: you will do it at some specific time in the future.
Speaker 1: In that case, stop doing the procrastivity and do something
Speaker 1: enjoyable or truly productive instead. Un Tell it is the
Speaker 1: appointed time for the priority task. When you can recognize
Speaker 1: and name procrastivity, you can avoid it. There is no
Speaker 1: point doing fake work. Either do what you are supposed
Speaker 1: to do or choose what you want you'd actually like
Speaker 1: to do in the moment. My guess is that it
Speaker 1: isn't organizing your spice draw. What's something you have done
Speaker 1: is procrestivity while avoiding something else. I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: about it. You can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or where however you listen to your favorite shows.