I had a friend in university who when faced with a deadline would have an uncontrollable urge to clean her personal space, and everyone else’s space if they would allow her.  It wasn’t just vacuuming and dusting, it was the cleaning to end all cleaning.  Grout was scrubbed, ceilings washed, windows taken apart to get to the dirt between the panes.  All to avoid the looming deadline of a paper being a due.  I am not sure if the term ‘productive procrastination’ was coined by her, but that is how she described the urge she would get to avoid facing writing her papers.

I am never inclined to clean, procrastinating or not.  My inclination is to make things;  fabulous meals, delicious baking, all those new recipes to try, or new images.  These are the fruits of my constructive avoidance.