Procrastinate on Purpose

5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time

Rory Vaden

Who should read: Those that feel they are overwhelmed with too much to do, and are not making headway, or those that feel like they aren’t doing enough. 

Favorite quote: Success is no longer related to the volume of tasks you complete, but rather the significance of them. 

I am a tried and true procrastinator. I’ve even been known to procrastinate on my procrastination. This book was very useful, but for reasons I didn’t expect. It didn’t cure my procrastination (as I secretly hoped), but rather focused more on the concept of multiplying your time. In other words, prioritize the few things that create more time in the future, and ignore or delegate the things that don’t. The author stresses that you actually can’t manage time. Time is time- you get 24 hours a day. He gets 24 hours a day. That person that always seems to have it together and appears to be doing 10 times more than you- yup. They got 24 hours. What you can manage is yourself. Those that seem really productive have mastered the skill of self-management rather than time management. And a component of that self-management is prioritizing their time. They tend to categorize tasks as 1) Urgent, 2) Important or 3) Significant. Rather than fitting more into their time, they produce more results by focusing on the important and significant tasks, thus multiplying their time. 

The author proposes the following strategies to multiply your time:

1. Eliminate

Mr. Vaden suggests that deciding what not to do is just as critical as it is to decide what you will do. “You are either consciously saying no to the things that don’t matter, or you are unconsciously saying no to the things that do.” So, getting comfortable with saying no is a critical component for a successful strategy. 

Try to get in the habit of asking yourself before saying yes, what you will be saying no to by default, and using this as a screening strategy for choosing things to eliminate. 

Elimination includes a permission to ignore certain things. 

2. Automate

Mr. Vaden convincingly argues that time is not money- it is worth more than money. “Automation is to your time what compounding interest is to your money.” Many times, automation requires an investment of time to get a system in place, but it accrues a rapid saving of time in the long-run.  A good strategy to tackle this strategy is to ask yourself what you are doing over and over again. This would be a good area to focus time and money to develop an automated process. 

Giving yourself permission to invest (time and/or money) will pay back dividends in free time. 

3. Delegate

If you can’t eliminate something, and it can’t be automated, the next best thing is to delegate. Becoming a master delegator can multiply your time exponentially! When learning this strategy, start asking yourself before each task if it requires your unique skillset, or if other people are capable of doing it. If others can accomplish the task competently, let them! We tend to fall into the trap of being in a hurry, and thinking that we can do something faster than we can teach it. And that is a valid argument- ONCE! Remember that time is worth more than money, and if you invest it now so that the task doesn’t require you in the future, you save exponential time. It is also a really important consideration as we struggle to retain technicians. Many are highly underutilized and have very little challenge or stimulation in their day to day work. If you start delegating appropriately, they will have a much better engagement and be more likely to remain. Likewise, many of the cleaning tasks can be delegated to staff that aren’t your CVT’s! Their unique skillset could be better spent elsewhere. If that doesn’t convince you, consider this: “You are always paying someone to complete a task. You are either paying someone else at their rate of pay, or you are paying yourself at yours.” 

Delegating often requires giving ourselves permission to be imperfect, or accepting that tasks are completed at a satisfactory level rather than a perfect level. 

4. Procrastinate

Something I’ve failed to recognize many times over is that it is possible to do the right thing at the wrong time. Appropriate timing is just as critical as level of skill. Things and plans change, so if you are the type of person that rushes to get something done as fast as possible so you can check it off, you may actually be wasting time. If you are working on a project that is dependent upon others, you are likely going to have to rework some if you complete early. That means you’ll have less time for something else! The decision as to whether something is better off being pushed off can be guided by asking if results will still be OK, and if time may sort things out just fine. Remember that works in progress have the ability to improve with time, whereas completed projects are final! 

Giving yourself permission to have incomplete projects can save you loads of time if they should still be works in progress. 

5. Concentrate

This is where prioritization becomes critical. If something is worth your time, is important and significant, ignore all else until this is complete. Don’t allow interruptions, and don’t procrastinate. If it has made it through all your other assessments (can’t be eliminated, automated or delegated, and it is the right time), it is worth focusing on because you can’t manage multiple priorities at the same moment well. 

Concentration requires giving yourself permission to protect you and your time! 

Mr. Vaden suggests running each task through a funnel of assessment to determine if you need to focus on it, or procrastinate.

Which step do you think would make the most difference for your use of time?

Additional Resources:

How to Know When to Say Yes And When To Say No

The Real Reason You Procrastinate

Imposter Syndrome and Procrastination