Procrastinate on Purpose
Rory Vaden · 2015
Most of us treat time like a fixed pie we can only slice more efficiently, but Rory Vaden argues you can actually multiply it by giving yourself permission to spend time today on the things that create more time tomorrow. Built around the Focus Funnel and the often-ignored third dimension of "significance," this is a self-management system for people who are busy but not getting ahead.
Introduces multiplying time by deciding what to eliminate, automate, delegate, or delay.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Procrastinate on Purpose pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Run every task through the Focus Funnel in order: first ask if you can Eliminate it, then Automate, then Delegate, then Procrastinate (on purpose), and only then Concentrate. Most tasks die long before they reach "do it now."
- Add a third dimension to prioritizing. Beyond urgency (how soon it matters) and importance (how much it matters), ask the Significance question: how LONG will this matter? Significant tasks create more time in the future.
- Multiply your time by spending time today on things that give you more time tomorrow. Stop being a firefighter reacting to emergencies and become a seed-planter who builds systems.
The other 4 — and the full 10-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 8 chapters
The whole summary runs about 10 minutes, read or listened to.
- You Can't Manage Time, Only Yourself
- How Multipliers Think Differently
- The Significance Calculation: Thinking in 3D
- The Focus Funnel: A Five-Step Filter for Every Task
- Eliminate and Automate: The Permission to Ignore and Invest
- Delegate: The Permission to Be Imperfect
- Procrastinate on Purpose: The Permission to Be Incomplete
- Concentrate and Protect: Defending What Multiplies
Finish Procrastinate on Purpose tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 10 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
More on Time Management
-
When Daniel H. Pink The science of timing, when to work, break, and act, to optimize daily performance. -
168 Hours Laura Vanderkam Shows how to audit and allocate your weekly 168 hours toward what matters most. -
Eat That Frog! Brian Tracy A short, actionable classic on beating procrastination by tackling your hardest task first. -
Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman A modern bestseller reframing time management around finitude and choosing what truly matters. -
Free to Focus Michael Hyatt A total-focus system to stop, cut, and act, doing less to achieve more without burnout. -
Make Time Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky A practical daily system of Highlight, Laser, Energize, Reflect to reclaim attention from distraction.