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How to Use Procrastination to Improve Your Creativity

Stop wrestling with the procrastination monster

Jason McBride
5 min readFeb 6, 2025
Collage illustration by Jason McBride; all illustrations by Jason McBride

I used to feel like procrastination was a monster that lurked inside of me. It felt completely out of my control. My whole life, I would be doing great — then, without warning, something inside of me would surface and choke my will to be productive. I was told I was self-sabotaging, but procrastination felt like a separate entity with its own will and agenda.

Haiku comic by Jason McBride

I tried all kinds of tricks to be more productive. I was once high-functioning. I did well in college, went to law school, and graduated in the top third of my class despite my regular bouts of procrastination.

However, I was always getting things done at the very last minute. This increased my stress levels and meant I would throw up each morning before heading off to work at the law firm.

Eventually, I learned that I had an anxiety disorder and ADHD. This seemed to explain the origin of my procrastination, but it did nothing to help me conquer the beast.

It wasn’t until I decided to study my procrastination like Jane Goodall embedded with a troop of…

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Jason McBride
Jason McBride

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