Why We Trick Ourselves into Productive Procrastination

And is procrastination worse when you have ADHD?

Attention all procrastinators, there’s a new method for your madness: Procrastivation. No, that’s not a typo. A mashup of “procrastination” and “productivity,” procrastivation is what University of Pennsylvania psychologist Dr Russell Ramsey calls the act of putting off something long-term important by doing something else you only need in the short-term. Like going to the grocery instead of preparing for a job interview, for example.

But wait, you might think, isn’t that plain old procrastination? In a way, yes. Ramsey says procrastivation is a subset of the traditional stalling technique, just “one that is particularly alluring because the [smaller] task is itself productive.” In other words, finishing that short-term chore makes you feel good because, as he says, “the person is being productive rather than simply wasting time.” It’s one thing to wile away the day on YouTube while your job search awaits — quite another to go buy food or clean the house. It isn’t procrastination if you’re being productive, right? But as empty as your fridge may be, ignoring the interview prep keeps you from getting ahead.

Everybody puts stuff off, but Ramsey says only 20 percent of us struggle with chronic procrastination — including those who procrastivate. And in a…