The Top 10 Ways of Being Unproductive

1. Never say no
   Be careful not to say no to other people in case you cause offense. And of course never say no to any of your own impulses - that would be to limit yourself.
2. Don’t be systematic
   Establishing good systems would take a lot of time which you don’t have - mainly because of the huge amount of time you have to use sorting out the mess caused by your lack of system.
3. Keep starting things you don’t finish
   Having loads of unfinished projects is a sign that you are a person with huge potential - even if it hasn’t yet translated itself into any form of achievement.
4. Build up huge backlogs
   Backlogs are a sign that you are a really busy person, and therefore a really worthwhile person.
5. Take more work on than you can possibly do
   Too much work provides the perfect excuse for not actually achieving that much.
6. Keep chopping and changing
   If you stick to projects until they come to fruition you will miss out on loads of opportunities (which you will also fail to stick to).
7. Don’t sort things out
   When something goes wrong you have two possible courses of action: 1) give up, or 2) work round it. The third course of action - sort it out - would obviously be far too impractical.
8. Don’t identify any long-term goals
   It’s much more fulfilling to live in the present.
9. Avoid doing anything that takes you out of your comfort zone
   Life is for enjoying, so why spend your time struggling to make things happen?
10. Do first things last
    Always have plenty of easy trivial tasks to give you a reason for not tackling the more difficult things which really matter.

Comments

[Paul B]

11. Seek out interesting diversions/distractions like watching TV or surfing the internet or posting inane comments to blog posts.

[Ben H]

Bang on the money Mark (and Paul B!). I'm hoping this isn't too inane...

[Mr Unproductive]

Sadly, I am 9 out of 10 with this list.

But this list is spot on.

[Mark Forster]

Mr Unproductive:

<< Sadly, I am 9 out of 10 with this list. >>

Which is the one that you don't suffer from?

[Mr Unproductive]

Hi Mark,

Because I seldom say No, I get pushed to do #9:

9. Avoid doing anything that takes you out of your comfort zone

[Mark Forster]

Mr Unproductive:

That's an interesting thought. One I hadn't consciously put together before.