Productivity versus procrastination is the ever-present angel and devil on our shoulders. The one voice in your head telling you that you should be more productive, and the other voice whispering devilishly to go ahead and watch another episode of your favorite show, that task can wait. But procrastination doesn’t always have to be a negative thing, despite its bad rap. In fact, there are ways you can use it to your advantage!

John Perry, an emeritus philosophy professor at Stanford, proposed an idea in 1995 called structured procrastination. His belief was that people who procrastinate are still doing useful things—they just need to learn how to be intentional about the little things they do to put off larger tasks. He argued that by putting structure around everything you do, important or not, you could trick your mind into getting the larger tasks done.

Let’s explore 7 simple ways you can utilize structured procrastination to turn procrastination into productivity.

1. Put Off Morning Tasks by Time Blocking

If you aren’t a “morning person”, it can be hard to get started in the morning, especially if you start your day early. Instead of diving into a larger task right away, try doing some time blocking as your first small task. Time blocking is blocking off time on your calendar for all your tasks, even breaks! It helps you to structure your day, so you know exactly what to work on in a given time block, so you don’t need to waste your mental energy thinking of what to do next.

Your time-blocked calendar could look something like:

• 6:00am to 6:30am – Work out

• 6:30am to 7:00am – Shower

• 7:00am to 7:30am – Coffee and light breakfast

• 7:30am to 8:00am – Time block calendar

• 8:00am to 9:00am – Make prospecting calls

• 9:00am to 9:15am – Prep for client meeting

• 9:15am to 10:15am – Client meeting

• 10:15am to 10:30am – Finish any actions from client meeting

• 10:30am to 11:00am – Respond to emails

• 11:00am – 12:00pm – Make prospecting calls

• 12:00pm – 12:30pm – Eat Lunch

• Etc.

Having a laundry list of to-dos can be overwhelming, so setting aside a specific time for each activity takes away the burden of deciding when to do that task and makes you more intentional with how you utilize your valuable time.

2. Break a Larger Project Down into Smaller Tasks

As you’re blocking time on your calendar, you can break larger projects down into smaller tasks which makes them much easier to do and you feel like you are making good progress on your list of activities that need to be done. Let’s say you’re launching a new website and need to put final touches on it before you can launch today. The larger project is “launch a new website,” and smaller tasks could be giving the copy a final overview, making sure all images have alt tags for accessibility, double-checking that the DNS is set up for launch, reviewing the marketing email that is going out to clients and prospects, etc.

With each small task you accomplish, you get closer to completing the larger project!

3. Tackle the Simplest Tasks First

Tackling easier tasks first can help give you a sense of accomplishment, which will carry over to larger tasks. When you complete a simple task, that can lead to a flood of dopamine that will make you want to repeat the behavior.

There’s also a satisfaction that comes from checking off items from your to-do list, so if you give yourself easy things to check off, you may not be as likely to push off future tasks. However, don’t put off the other tasks that make not be as easy because you are only doing the easier ones.

4. Delegate Tasks to Others

The beauty of having a team around you is being surrounded by people with differing strengths. There may be tasks on your list that you’re not looking forward to because you don’t enjoy them, and you’re not great at them. Instead of trying to get good enough to complete the task, learn to delegate all those tasks you aren’t good at and don’t