Procrastination Is Your Greatest Gift

The Price Of Hyper-Productivity

Watching YouTube while eating food.

Listening to a podcast while going for a walk.

Writing a newsletter while you tan so you don’t waste any time in the day. (Guilty.)

In this Information Age, it feels like if you’re not taking 3 steps forward every second, you’re taking 3 steps back.

The worst part about this problem is, it’s actually quite true.

Output is heavily favored over quality—and this is reflected in the cheap copies of furniture we buy, the mass-produced junk food we eat, and the indigestible speed of the short-form content we consume.

This is where I must make reference to a tweet I put out not too long ago, where I said that “quality is a byproduct of quantity”.

Because it seems like that tweet is painting output and speed in a more positive manner than I’m doing here.

What I really meant by that was, it’s very hard to make progress in anything if you aren’t being consistent—and the quality of whatever you’re trying to do will naturally improve as your brain looks for ways to do it better (which, it will, if you do anything frequently enough.)

But the biggest issue with prioritizing speed and output, is that it rarely produces something that was meticulously done with undistracted focus.

And it evokes a state of stimulation that feels unnatural to turn off.

A state in which many people spend their entire lives in, not knowing how much harm it’s actually doing.

That state is what I like to call, Passive Procrastination.

Productive Vs Passive Procrastination

On top of being hyper-stimulated, looking for the next piece of audio or visual content to feed their brain, most people, when procrastinating, choose to be a passive procrastinator.

If they are avoiding the work they have to do due to indecisiveness or overwhelm, they will seek another stimulus that distracts them from the fact that they are indecisive or overwhelmed.

I still have trouble with this type of procrastination until this day.

If I have a small window of time to relax and not think about our ever-changing, fast-paced world, I will sometimes default to using Instagram reels, or watching a YouTube video.

But I’d argue that your mind is even more stimulated through these things than the actual work you are procrastinating.

The consequences of this are disastrous; If your mind is given no time to wander, to explore, and to compartmentalize all the information you’ve been bombarded with, it will be like a donkey with a carrot tied to a stick dangling in front of it—convincing itself that the answer lies in keeping the movement going, when the movement doesn’t actually lead itself to anywhere but the same place it’s always been.

The antidote to this whirlwind lies in one of the rarest skills of the 21st century.

Something we all know deep down we should be doing more of, but never do, due to the temptations of the modern world.

Productive Procrastination.

Due to it’s name, this type of procrastination is deceptive—because, when you really analyze what you’re doing, there is no forceful act taking place.

What you are really doing when you are productively procrastinating is… nothing.

Productive procrastination is deliberately taking time away from the work you need to do to let your mind recharge and come back with a fresh perspective, and new ideas.

And the deliberate time away must not involve anything that diverts your attention away from the present moment.

There’s a great quote I read somewhere which goes, “boredom is to the mind what sleep is to the body.”

And while sleep is good for both the body and the mind, boredom is the key to a heightened self awareness, greater clarity of thought, and an increased sense of peace.

How To Be Bored

I wonder what people from 500 years ago would think if they saw that we needed a guide on how to ACTUALLY be bored…

Anyways, here’s what I have implemented into my life to productively procrastinate.

1. Timed Nothingness - Every day, set aside at least 10 minutes (but ideally, 30-45 minutes) to do absolutely nothing other than paying attention to what’s going on right now. This is similar to meditation in that it shifts your focus to the present moment, but without the deliberate practice of focusing on a certain thing that is usually associated with meditation. It’s just doing absolutely nothing.

2. Meditation - Then, taking time to actively meditate on things you want to contemplate or feel deeply, or just to feel less stressed, is also a great way to procrastinate your work. Personally, I like to meditate for 10-15 minutes within the first 60 minutes upon waking, and 10-15 minutes before bed. (I’ll save the timed nothingness for some other time in the day.) You can use a guided meditation, choose a specific part of yourself you’d like to think about more deeply, or simply just pay attention to what your nose is smelling, your ears are hearing, the way your mouth is producing saliva, and where your feet and body are touching the ground. (This is known as mindfulness meditation.)

3. Unstimulated Walk - The biggest cheat code to health, happiness, and discovery. Getting in close to 10,000 steps a day (without using any stimulating devices) will transform the entirety of your outlook on what proceeds afterwards. Never have I been able to produce so many original thoughts, video ideas, or comprehend something that was previously shrouded with an abundance of confusion than I have when taking a walk.

What you’ll notice the more that you start to do each of these practices is that, when you end up going back to your work:

• It will be easier for you to maintain focus for a longer period of time

• You won’t feel as stressed while doing the work

• You’ll get a better sense for when you’re starting to reach your work limit (and when you need to take some time to do nothing.)

When you create that space in your life—by paying closer attention to the nothingness surrounding each object that creates the illusion of separation, the distance between what happens to you and how you react to it, and the void of untapped ideas that only becomes accessible when you aren’t trying to access it—you realize this fundamental truth about the universe:

Everything must first come from nothing.

And by becoming nothing, if only for a little while, you will attain everything you thought you could only get by becoming something.

Building The Habit Of Nothing

It’s easy to give you the tools you need to implement in order to start getting the benefit from doing nothing.

But it’s another thing entirely to have the discipline and mindset to be able to push through the discomfort you will feel when first trying to be bored.

If you want to truly master yourself for good, learn how to build habits that last for the rest of your life, and you want to join a community of like minded individuals all looking to improve, you should check out my Ultimate Self Mastery Course.

The course features 14 videos with 15+ worksheets, a guided meditation, and an exclusive community where we all hold each other accountable and give further advice.

This course is a culmination of years of research on behavioral science, psychology, and of course, trial and error from my own life.

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Hope to see you in the community.

Quote of The Week

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

-Cole