Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time

by Rory Vaden

Perigee     2014

236 pages     Self-Help

Want to be inspired to make changes in your work and personal life in 2015? Procrastinate on Purpose by Rory Vaden may just fill the bill. Rory Vaden is a salesman, motivational speaker, and self-discipline strategist (although aren't we all to some degree or another). Although primarily geared to organizations and businesses, Procrastinate on Purpose is filled with practical advice that nearly anyone can use to their advantage.

I started  underlining  his pithy statements and good advice and soon found that I could have  underlined the entire book! Vaden first discusses the concept of prioritizing time. He feels that prioritizing time is a better concept than managing time. He suggests that using his advice, the leader can learn to multiply time. Here are his five prescriptions for stalled productivity:

• Eliminate. This is an easy to understand concept. This means stopping the behaviors or the tasks that are stifling productivity or saying no to things that will take time but not effectively produce something. Yesterday, I just took on a task, and wondered why I did it. 24 hours later and I still don't know. I should just have said no.
• Automate. This involves investing in the technology that will speed up the tasks that you do.
• Delegate. Pretty self-explanatory.
• Procrastinate. Vader notes that timing is everything. This is what he means by procrastinate. I know in my own work life that if I step away from a writing task and don't return to it for a while, I can finish it much quicker than if I just kept pounding away. My mind keeps working even though my fingers stop writing.
• Concentrate. Just the opposite of procrastinate. The tasks that fall into the concentrate category are the ones that you fervently desire to get done. These are the tasks that will change the world.

At the end of each chapter, there is a terrific summary to remind you of what you just read and to point out the most important bits of information. Each of the five prescriptions also has an example from the experience of a businessperson. 

Vader's message is as complex as it is simple: "You multiply your time by spending time on things today that will give you more time tomorrow." The part of his message I am going to take to heart is eliminate. I can do a lot more eliminating than I am currently doing.

Read Procrastinate on Purpose, multiply your time, and gain a new perspective on work. Vader's book came to me from the publicist and was on bookshelves on January 6. 

Rory Vader's other book is called Take the Stairs.

Procrastinate on Purpose website with a free video training.