6 effective tips to use active procrastination to your advantage
In this article, I will explain to you how to procrastinate intelligently by using the process known as active procrastination.
Unlike passive procrastination, active procrastination is a form of intentional procrastination that is used strategically in order to perform the task at the most appropriate time.
But before we get to the practical tips, it is important to define what is active procrastination and how it differs from passive procrastination.
What is active procrastination?
Chu and Choi (2005) show that there are two types of procrastination and procrastinators.
On the one hand, there are passive procrastinators who postpone tasks until the last minute because of their inability to make the decision to act within the established time limit.
On the other hand, there are active procrastinators who decide to procrastinate intentionally, using their strong motivation when they are under time pressure and they are able to complete a task before the deadline and achieve satisfactory goals.
According to Chu and Choi active procrastination is characterized by 4 factors:
⦁ time pressure preference
⦁ the intentional decision to procrastinate
⦁ the ability to meet deadlines
⦁ satisfaction with the outcome
To summarize, some people decide to procrastinate intentionally but they are able to control their emotions and behaviors because they successfully complete their tasks and meet their commitments.
This form of procrastination is called active procrastination and it is an intelligent and relevant form of procrastination that can make it easier for you to achieve your goals.
Here are my tips on how to procrastinate intelligently using active procrastination.
1 – Give your time the right value
According to, Maohua and Yujuan (2014) active procrastination is positively influenced by the sense of time value.
In order to be able to actively procrastinate, therefore, you need to become aware of the value you assign to your time.
You need to understand that your time is the most important resource you have at your disposal.
If, on the other hand, you believe that your time has no value, you will not be able to accomplish important actions during your day.
By starting to value your time, you will use it more productively and you will be able to accomplish more valuable tasks in less time.
This will not only eliminate negative or passive procrastination but will also allow you to organize your tasks according to their importance.
As a result, you will be able to postpone less strategic tasks when needed in order to focus on essential tasks first.
Practical tip
Check if you are giving the right value to your time and if not, be sure to give your time the importance it deserves.
2 – Schedule more time for your tasks
According to Lay (1990), passive procrastinators have a tendency to underestimate the time needed to complete their tasks.
In order to transform yourself into an active procrastinator, you need to set aside more time for the completion of your tasks when you plan them in your schedule.
Doing this will maximize your likelihood of completing your planned tasks because you’ll also be planning to do fewer of them than before.
Alternatively, you can start measuring the time you spend on routine activities and measure the gap between your estimations and the actual time.
Practical tip
For one week, measure the time you spend on your most important tasks.
3 – Strengthen your self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief that a person can accomplish a given task.
As Hicks and Storey (2015) show self-efficacy is correlated with active procrastination.
One way to quickly boost your self-efficacy is to identify tasks that you are already performing well on and find alternative ways to complete them.
You can also choose more complex and unimportant tasks just to test new ways of working.
Your goal is to build up confidence in your ability to perform your tasks to the best of your ability.
Then, once you have reached a good level of self-efficacy and thus confidence in your ability to do your work, you will gradually begin to perform more creatively on more complex, high-stakes tasks.
By doing this, you can begin to use active procrastination more strategically.
Practical tip
Find an innovative way to accomplish a routine task in less time with the same or higher quality.
4 – Reduce the impact of your positive beliefs and reinforce the effect of your negative ones
People who procrastinate passively often have an optimistic view of their ability to accomplish a particular task at a specific time.
But, as Motlagh and al. (2021) show, negative beliefs about procrastination are more correlated with active procrastination.
This means that if you want to stop procrastinating passively and start procrastinating actively, you need to become aware of your positive beliefs about procrastination.
Once you have identified these positive beliefs, you will need to reduce their impact by, for example, understanding that your opinions have already had negative consequences in your personal and professional life.
Doing this will reduce your optimism bias about what you can accomplish in a given time frame.
You can also recognize your negative beliefs about procrastination that are helping you meet your deadlines and reinforce them further.
Doing so will allow you to use active procrastination even more to your advantage.
If you want to change your beliefs more quickly and effectively, you can take advantage of the experience of an online life coach.
Practical tip
Identify at least one of your negative and one positive belief.
5 – Appreciate your active procrastination
What do you do when you manage to procrastinate cleverly in an active way?
If like most people you do nothing, you will not consolidate this behavior.
In order to actively procrastinate, you can :
- acknowledge your behavior
- congratulate yourself
- reward yourself for your accomplishments
In this way, you will be able to facilitate the repetition of this action until it turns into a new habit that will become your second nature over time.
Practical tip
Reward yourself when you actively procrastinate.
6 – Focus on what you have learned
Choi and Yoo (2017) show that orientation toward a learning goal is positively related to active procrastination and negatively related to passive procrastination.
Next time you fail to complete a task in the time frame you planned, instead of getting upset, think about what you learned from this situation.
Then, think of 2 or 3 alternative ways to solve the problem and start testing them.
If you continue to learn from your mistakes, you will build this new habit and it will help you procrastinate smartly.
Practical tip
Constantly ask yourself: what can I learn from this situation?
Conclusion on how to procrastinate cleverly by using active procrastination
In this article, I have provided you with 6 tips on how to procrastinate strategically in order to accomplish your most important activities, the ones that will help you achieve your goals.
If you are interested in the topic of productivity, I invite you to discover all my articles on productivity.
If you are looking for tools to improve your time management skills, I recommend you read my article on the best time management apps.
If you want to learn how to manage your time, I invite you to find out more about our online time management course.
To take advantage of the expertise of a time management coach, write to us now using our contact form, call us at +33 6 69 46 03 79 or contact us on WhatsApp at +33 6 69 46 03 79.
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Français : Comment procrastiner intelligemment avec la procrastination active
Italiano: Come procrastinare in modo intelligente con la procrastinazione attiva