Making procrastination work for you doesn’t mean gutting it out with more discipline: use it as a prod to evaluate.

If there is a task you don’t like and have been procrastinating, first make sure you evaluate whether it is something that actually needs to be done, “What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t do this thing?” Sometimes it was just something you thought you needed to do or something you thought you wanted to do, but not essential to you moving forward. If that is the case, “can” it (use the trash can delete button!) or move it to a “maybe something I’d like to do in the future” kind of list.

If it is something that does actually need to be done soonish, evaluate your plan to complete your goal and see if there is a different way to reach it, a way that fits your strengths or personality or timeline better and will ensure that you do it.

If you just don’t feel like working on something when you have it scheduled and it is something you really need to do, evaluate your overall schedule. What is its deadline? Can you rearrange anything so that you can work on it at a different time when you might feel more like tackling it? Can you find something you had scheduled for a later time that you feel like doing NOW?

“Discipline” can be manipulated and softened and reworked! It doesn’t have to be puritanical: set in stone and stiff and stern! Make your calendar and task schedule work for you, don’t work for it or you’re bound to get fired!