Productivity Adjacent Procrastination

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about risk-taking and failure. He drew an insightful parallel between real-life behaviors and his approach to video gaming. He and his wife will game together as a way to bond. In one game, players have the opportunity to collect extra-life potions before progressing past the first level.

My friend tends to overcautiously amass an abundance of potions, fearing potential failure. So much so, that sometimes he won’t even move past level one. His wife, conversely, adopts a more agile approach. She gathers minimal resources and advances swiftly, recognizing that even if she falters, the experience gained will accelerate her progress in subsequent attempts. This gaming analogy illustrates two contrasting life strategies: one driven by fear of failure and overpreparation, the other embracing calculated risks and valuing experiential learning.

In every project, creative or otherwise, there exists a component that elicits more anxiety or trepidation than the rest. This phenomenon often leads to what I term "productivity-adjacent procrastination"—a tendency to invest disproportionate time and energy into peripheral tasks while avoiding the core objective. 

Perhaps you can relate. It’s when you excessively focus on designing a logo or selecting brand colors, rather than taking meaningful action, such as publishing your website. Or you might be the collector-type, spending countless hours gathering research, facts, and data on a subject, without ever progressing to the crucial stages of analysis and synthesis. Or maybe you have a habit of making a to-do list for your to-do list—one that you've reorganized multiple times, and meticulously color-coded for added structure, all in the name of preparation. 

This proclivity for ancillary activities is seductive. In "Anatomy of Determination”, Paul Graham writes, "If you're sufficiently determined to achieve great things, this will probably increase the number of temptations around you." Productivity-adjacent procrastination allows you to skirt the intimidating aspects of your work while maintaining a false sense of productivity and the illusion of progress.

We procrastinate because we secretly hope our work will be a “great thing” and we fear perhaps we are more successful in our imagination than our reality. 

If we’re honest, we aspire to produce something groundbreaking, emotionally resonant, or profoundly meaningful. This desire isn't merely about the work itself; it's intrinsically linked to our sense of self-worth. We yearn for our creations to validate our existence, to prove that our time on this planet has been well-spent. 

As the pressure to create something transcendent increases, the temptation to become sidetracked proportionally increases. The closer we get to potentially realizing our ambitious visions, the more we find ourselves grappling with the fear of falling short. 

Oliver Burkeman offers insight into this phenomenon in "The Truth About Distraction." The avoidance of a challenging task isn’t about the task itself, it is the desire to escape "disturbing emotional experiences."

Meaningful work, by its nature, pushes us to the limits of our capabilities, forcing confrontations with our inner doubts and insecurities.

And let's be honest, our inner demons have a lot to say when we get close to doing something exciting, new, or interesting. 

We find ourselves wondering: What if no one likes this? What if they think I’m stupid? What if this upsets my parents? What if I make a wrong decision and it’s not as fun as I thought? What if this causes a fight? What if I’m disappointed and fail?  

While fear is an adaptive response, and was crucial for the survival of our evolutionary past, it often takes a maladaptive form in our modern context. The saber-toothed tigers of the ancient world have been replaced by psychological threats to the ego. And the ego does not like feeling bad, so it makes up imagined scenarios of emotional discomfort, and persuades us to not take the risk at all.

So how do you sideline fear?

CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

Adjusting Expectations

• One of the primary obstacles in tackling personal projects is unrealistic expectations. As Burkeman observes, "Just stop expecting hard, important, meaningful things to feel constantly comfortable and pleasant." Emotional unpleasantness is the "price of doing things you care about." Accept that fear, anxiety, and discomfort are natural companions when pushing the boundaries of your capabilities.

Shifting Perspective

• As John Doerr notes, “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.” Instead of making the task more daunting than it needs to be, approach your work as if you're running an experiment. You are simply collecting data points with every important project you execute. Tim Ferriss has built a career off of his self-experiments. This mindset shift can significantly reduce the pressure and fear associated with tasks. The public embarrassment we fear is more a figment of our imagination than a likely scenario. Remember, most people are far more focused on themselves than they are on scrutinizing your actions.

WORK WITH THE EMOTION

Get Honest

• When fear arises, actually take the time to figure out what the root is. Stay curious and ask, What specifically am I afraid of? Which emotions am I trying to avoid? Where does this fear come from?[Warning: Don’t allow deep self-reflection to be another way you procrastinate.]

Lean into the Discomfort

• Instead of viewing emotions as problems to be solved, recognize them as experiences to be lived. There is a tendency I often see in therapy. When I ask someone to describe what their fear feels like, they intellectualize their emotions, offering explanations or analyses rather than truly engaging with and experiencing the feeling itself. Talking about a feeling rather than feeling the emotion is just a defense mechanism to avoid the feeling.Sitting with difficult emotions is inherently uncomfortable, but the more you practice it the easier it is to move through you. So next time you notice yourself being productive on the wrong tasks, slow down and notice the fear, anxiety, or other emotions. Where do you feel fear in your body? What physical sensations accompany it? How is it to notice that? What narratives or memories surface alongside these feelings? Acknowledging its existence is the first step to quieting it.

Invite Fear Along

• Elizabeth Gilbert suggests an innovative approach to dealing with fear. Rather than attempting to eliminate fear, invite it along for the ride—acknowledging its presence while limiting its influence. Gilbert recommends having a frank conversation with your fear: "You're allowed to have a seat, and you're allowed to have a voice, but you are not allowed to have a vote. You're not allowed to touch the road maps; you're not allowed to suggest detours. ... But above all else, my dear familiar friend, you are absolutely forbidden to drive."

  
  

TRY A NEW OUTCOME

Rewiring Neural Pathways

• Research from the Huberman Lab indicates that overcoming fear involves more than merely extinguishing fear. The key is to attach new positive experiences to previously fearful stimuli, effectively "rewiring" the brain. This process leverages neuroplasticity—the brain's ability to form new neural connections—to replace negative fear responses with positive associations.If you're about to take on something frightening and fear public backlash or ostracism, consider asking a few trusted people to support you as you face the challenge. For example, when I published my website I texted a handful of friends saying “Hi. I just published my website. I’m really proud of myself. I’m practicing doing something scary and celebrating myself in the process. Can you support me and be proud of it with me? [insert link]” I received resounding encouragement back. I gave myself the positive outcome I was looking for and it, in turn, boosted my confidence to keep producing.[Don’t assume people know when or how to be excited for you. It’s okay to ask for what you need.]

• 
  

Hack the System

• While he admits this strategy isn’t for everyone, Jay Clouse, suggests publishing “a very barebones version – publicly – first”, as a way to "hack" oneself into prioritizing improvements. This strategy of creating "minimum viable versions" can serve as a powerful motivator for taking quick action and practicing ongoing refinement and development.

• 
  

Ultimately, the path to genuine productivity requires embracing uncertainty and recognizing that the emotional discomfort we seek to avoid is often the precursor to significant achievement and personal growth.