{"id":28282,"date":"2021-03-07T19:23:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T23:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=28282"},"modified":"2021-03-10T19:52:21","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T23:52:21","slug":"creative-procrastination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Procrastination: Choose What to Ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is creative procrastination? How can procrastinating be a good thing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creative procrastination is the practice of consciously deciding not to do certain things. You put them on the back burner, so you can focus on more important things instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn more about creative procrastination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Is Creative Procrastination?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people procrastinate unconsciously or without thinking about it. As a result of not thinking, they put off important tasks that can have significant long-term consequences in their lives and careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, <strong>there\u2019s another kind of procrastination you <\/strong><strong><em>should<\/em><\/strong><strong> practice: creative procrastination<\/strong>, during which you consciously decide <em>not to do certain things<\/em>. You put them on the back burner, so you can focus on more important things instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Since you have too much to do, you really have no choice but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/to-procrastinate\/\">to procrastinate<\/a> on the small, unimportant ones<\/strong>. Put off, delegate, or eliminate activities that don\u2019t add much value to your work or life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Power of &#8220;No&#8221;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Saying \u201cno\u201d is essential to time management. Investor Warren Buffet said a key to his success was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/saying-no\/\">saying no<\/a> to everything that wasn\u2019t critical to him at the moment. You should say no to everything that isn\u2019t optimal use of your time because you don\u2019t have extra time. Doing something new can only mean eliminating or first completing something else you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continually review your activities to identify tasks you can jettison or reduce without any real cost. Look especially hard at time-consuming activities. For instance, you may not realize how much time a nonproductive activity is eating up\u2014for instance, golfing three times a week for three or four hours at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some activities that you can stop altogether\u2014for instance, watching television or spending time on social media. Instead, do something that enhances your life or career, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/spending-time-with-your-loved-ones\/\">spending time with your family<\/a>, exercising, or furthering your education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is creative procrastination? How can procrastinating be a good thing? Creative procrastination is the practice of consciously deciding not to do certain things. You put them on the back burner, so you can focus on more important things instead. Keep reading to learn more about creative procrastination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,30],"tags":[224],"class_list":["post-28282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","category-work","tag-eat-that-frog","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Creative Procrastination: Choose What to Ignore - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is creative procrastination? It&#039;s the practice of deciding not to do certain things so you can focus on more important things instead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Creative Procrastination: Choose What to Ignore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is creative procrastination? It&#039;s the practice of deciding not to do certain things so you can focus on more important things instead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-07T23:23:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-10T23:52:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/procrastination.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1177\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"726\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hannah Aster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hannah Aster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f39f52830e4f7039a16e45d12354542f\"},\"headline\":\"Creative Procrastination: Choose What to Ignore\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-07T23:23:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-10T23:52:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\"},\"wordCount\":326,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/procrastination.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Eat That Frog!\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Motivation\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Procrastination: Choose What to Ignore - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/creative-procrastination\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/procrastination.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-07T23:23:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-10T23:52:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"What is creative procrastination? 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