Structured Procrastination
Also known as: productive procrastination, Perry's method
Structured procrastination is John Perry's observation that procrastinators rarely do nothing; they avoid the top task by doing lesser tasks. The method is to exploit this: keep genuinely worthwhile tasks below an inflated top item, so the energy of avoidance produces useful work instead of scrolling. It is a philosopher's essay concept, offered with a wink, not a researched intervention.
| Origin | Stanford philosopher John Perry's 1996 essay Structured Procrastination, later expanded into his 2012 book The Art of Procrastination; the essay won the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature |
|---|---|
| Time required | None; a way of arranging your task list |
| Best for | chronic procrastinators, multi-project people, perfectionism about the main task |
| Difficulty | Easy, if you can live with the self-deception |
How to use structured procrastination
- Notice the pattern: when avoiding your top task, you happily do almost anything else.
- Keep a task list where the top items seem urgent and important but genuinely have more slack than they appear to.
- Stock the middle of the list with worthwhile tasks: real work, useful chores, things you would otherwise defer.
- When the urge to avoid the top task hits, deliberately steer it into the middle of the list rather than into feeds.
- Trust that the inflated top task usually gets done anyway, once something even scarier appears above it.
There is no research on structured procrastination; it is a humorous, self-aware essay by a philosopher, and Perry himself presents it as observation rather than science, noting it requires a degree of self-deception about how urgent the top tasks really are. Descriptively it fits something real: procrastination research treats avoidance as mood-driven task aversion, and avoiders do redirect effort to easier tasks. But no study tests whether deliberately arranging your list this way improves outcomes, and for deadline-critical top tasks the strategy is obviously risky. File it as a witty coping frame that many procrastinators recognise, with an honest cost: the top task is still being avoided.
Perry, J. (1996). Structured Procrastination. Essay, structuredprocrastination.com; expanded in Perry, J. (2012). The Art of Procrastination. Workman.
Sirois, F., & Pychyl, T. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: consequences for future self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12011
Common mistakes
- Letting the lesser tasks be scrolling. The method only works if the avoidance lands on genuinely worthwhile tasks.
- Using it on a top task with a real, hard deadline. Perry's trick relies on the top task having hidden slack; some don't.
- Taking it as licence. It is a way to salvage value from avoidance you were going to do anyway, not a reason to avoid more.
Related techniques
Eat The FrogThe UnscheduleTwo Minute Rule
Frequently asked questions
What is structured procrastination?
John Perry's idea that procrastinators avoid the top task by doing other tasks, so you should arrange your list to exploit this: an inflated top item, with genuinely useful tasks beneath it to absorb the avoidance.
Is structured procrastination a real, studied technique?
No. It is a 1996 essay by a Stanford philosopher, written with deliberate humour, and it won an Ig Nobel Prize. No study has tested it. It endures because many chronic procrastinators recognise themselves in it.
Doesn't structured procrastination just leave the main task undone?
That is its honest weakness. Perry's answer is that most 'urgent' top tasks have more slack than they claim, and they eventually get done when displaced by something scarier. For tasks where that is false, use a different technique.