No matter how perfect your organizational system, there will be times when you fixate on a project that you suddenly feel must be done right now , even though it’s actually not critical at all.

This is almost always procrastination in disguise.

Tonight, I should be writing a number of reports for clients, or working on my upcoming 31 Days to GTD Mastery series for the blog. Instead, I decided I absolutely had to add all of the 500+ personal development blogs at Priscilla Palmer’s list to my ever-growing (439 and counting) list of RSS feeds.

By the time I got to the letter D, I was bored to tears, but I have a hard time letting go of a project once I’ve started it.

Then, I had a bright idea: I’d outsource my procrastination. I wrote up an RFP in about 20 seconds, posted it, got a bid for $50, and poof, all done.

This way, I satiate my current desire to have this project completed, but I free myself up to work for paying clients. It easily would have taken me three or four hours to add all those RSS feeds myself, and I earn more than $12.50/hour doing other work. I just made money AND took care of my procrastination project at once!

Now, David Allen of GTD fame does suggest that we all keep a healthy number of non-critical things that do have to be done eventually on our Next Action lists so that when we do, inevitably, procrastinate, we at least get something done instead of zoning out in front of the TV.

This is a great idea. However, there’s a difference between “change the light bulb in the front hall,” which is a good five-minute widget to crank when you just don’t feel like working, and “create a personal library of LOLcats and make a screensaver,” which is not a good way to spend your time.

The next time you decide you just HAVE to take on a mundane project, ask yourself: can I outsource this?