Photo by Pedro da Silva on Unsplash SELF IMPROVEMENT This Will Make You a More Productive Procrastinator How to do other stu while being productive Lorenz Duremdes, Polymath Dec 5 · 2 min read ow, the title sounds a little bit ironic, namely the part about “Doing other stuff”, but I am dead serious. N It has been shown by research that just thinking about an activity you don’t want to do raises the activity in the insular cortex, a brain region involved in pain. Now, in order to use procrastination in our advantage, we can try to set up a less “painful” task that is still productive. Instead of procrastinating and doing nothing productive, now we at least do something productive. A very simple example of mine revolves around writing and reading. I like to write and read, but I absolutely dread to start such a process. Writing, however, seems to be more “dreadful” than reading, probably because it requires a lot more thinking and energy. So what do I do? I allow myself to procrastinate by doing something else: reading. Maybe not exactly what I have planned, but it’s still productive. Again to clarify, starting a process usually is the most “painful” part. After a minute or so, the pain usually goes away. What are some things giving you the feeling of procrastination? And how can you use that to your advantage to do something else that’s also productive? If you liked this article, you will probably like this one too: Everything Is an Opportunity: Turning Problems Into There’s no such thing as what we call “luck” medium.com Subscribe for more content like this: Subscribe See this to see why I write: https://lorenzduremdes.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/introd... mailchi.mp . . . This story is published in a Few Words, Medium’s publication that only accepts stories under 500 words. If you have a few meaningful words to say and want to be a writer in our publication, visit here. Some rights reserved Productivity Self Improvement Self Personal Development Personal Growth Discover Medium Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch Make Medium yours Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore Become a member Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade About Help Legal