diff --git a/.changeset/clean-dancers-report.md b/.changeset/clean-dancers-report.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c21ef7302c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/clean-dancers-report.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@lit/reactive-element': patch
+---
+
+Adds `scheduleUpdate()` to control update timing. This should be implemented instead of `performUpdate()`; however, existing overrides of `performUpdate()` will continue to work.
diff --git a/packages/reactive-element/src/reactive-element.ts b/packages/reactive-element/src/reactive-element.ts
index 1d5d556fed..704ceffb82 100644
--- a/packages/reactive-element/src/reactive-element.ts
+++ b/packages/reactive-element/src/reactive-element.ts
@@ -1006,8 +1006,8 @@ export abstract class ReactiveElement
       // `window.onunhandledrejection`.
       Promise.reject(e);
     }
-    const result = this.performUpdate();
-    // If `performUpdate` returns a Promise, we await it. This is done to
+    const result = this.scheduleUpdate();
+    // If `scheduleUpdate` returns a Promise, we await it. This is done to
     // enable coordinating updates with a scheduler. Note, the result is
     // checked to avoid delaying an additional microtask unless we need to.
     if (result != null) {
@@ -1017,22 +1017,43 @@ export abstract class ReactiveElement
   }
 
   /**
-   * Performs an element update. Note, if an exception is thrown during the
-   * update, `firstUpdated` and `updated` will not be called.
-   *
-   * You can override this method to change the timing of updates. If this
-   * method is overridden, `super.performUpdate()` must be called.
+   * Schedules an element update. You can override this method to change the
+   * timing of updates by returning a Promise. The update will await the
+   * returned Promise, and you should resolve the Promise to allow the update
+   * to proceed. If this method is overridden, `super.scheduleUpdate()`
+   * must be called.
    *
    * For instance, to schedule updates to occur just before the next frame:
    *
    * ```ts
-   * override protected async performUpdate(): Promise<unknown> {
+   * override protected async scheduleUpdate(): Promise<unknown> {
    *   await new Promise((resolve) => requestAnimationFrame(() => resolve()));
-   *   super.performUpdate();
+   *   super.scheduleUpdate();
    * }
    * ```
    * @category updates
    */
+  protected scheduleUpdate(): void | Promise<unknown> {
+    return this.performUpdate();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Performs an element update. Note, if an exception is thrown during the
+   * update, `firstUpdated` and `updated` will not be called.
+   *
+   * Call performUpdate() to immediately process a pending update. This should
+   * generally not be needed, but it can be done in rare cases when you need to
+   * update synchronously.
+   *
+   * Note: To ensure `performUpdate()` synchronously completes a pending update,
+   * it should not be overridden. In LitElement 2.x it was suggested to override
+   * `performUpdate()` to also customizing update scheduling. Instead, you should now
+   * override `scheduleUpdate()`. For backwards compatibility with LitElement 2.x,
+   * scheduling updates via `performUpdate()` continues to work, but will make
+   * also calling `performUpdate()` to synchronously process updates difficult.
+   *
+   * @category updates
+   */
   protected performUpdate(): void | Promise<unknown> {
     // Abort any update if one is not pending when this is called.
     // This can happen if `performUpdate` is called early to "flush"
diff --git a/packages/reactive-element/src/test/reactive-element_test.ts b/packages/reactive-element/src/test/reactive-element_test.ts
index 23800b8610..0cb07faf63 100644
--- a/packages/reactive-element/src/test/reactive-element_test.ts
+++ b/packages/reactive-element/src/test/reactive-element_test.ts
@@ -2331,17 +2331,17 @@ suite('ReactiveElement', () => {
     assert.equal((el as any).zug, objectValue);
   });
 
-  test('can override performUpdate()', async () => {
+  test('can override scheduleUpdate()', async () => {
     let resolve: ((value?: unknown) => void) | undefined;
 
     class A extends ReactiveElement {
-      performUpdateCalled = false;
+      scheduleUpdateCalled = false;
       updateCalled = false;
 
-      override async performUpdate() {
-        this.performUpdateCalled = true;
+      override async scheduleUpdate() {
+        this.scheduleUpdateCalled = true;
         await new Promise((r) => (resolve = r));
-        await super.performUpdate();
+        await super.scheduleUpdate();
       }
 
       override update(changedProperties: Map<PropertyKey, unknown>) {
@@ -2365,21 +2365,21 @@ suite('ReactiveElement', () => {
     await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 10));
     assert.isFalse(a.updateCalled);
 
-    // update is called after performUpdate allowed to complete
+    // update is called after scheduleUpdate allowed to complete
     resolve!();
     await a.updateComplete;
     assert.isTrue(a.updateCalled);
   });
 
-  test('overriding performUpdate() allows nested invalidations', async () => {
+  test('overriding scheduleUpdate() allows nested invalidations', async () => {
     class A extends ReactiveElement {
-      performUpdateCalledCount = 0;
+      scheduleUpdateCalledCount = 0;
       updatedCalledCount = 0;
 
-      override async performUpdate() {
-        this.performUpdateCalledCount++;
+      override async scheduleUpdate() {
+        this.scheduleUpdateCalledCount++;
         await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r));
-        super.performUpdate();
+        super.scheduleUpdate();
       }
 
       override updated(_changedProperties: Map<PropertyKey, unknown>) {
@@ -2399,14 +2399,14 @@ suite('ReactiveElement', () => {
     const updateComplete1 = a.updateComplete;
     await updateComplete1;
     assert.equal(a.updatedCalledCount, 1);
-    assert.equal(a.performUpdateCalledCount, 1);
+    assert.equal(a.scheduleUpdateCalledCount, 1);
 
     const updateComplete2 = a.updateComplete;
     assert.notStrictEqual(updateComplete1, updateComplete2);
 
     await updateComplete2;
     assert.equal(a.updatedCalledCount, 2);
-    assert.equal(a.performUpdateCalledCount, 2);
+    assert.equal(a.scheduleUpdateCalledCount, 2);
   });
 
   test('update does not occur before element is connected', async () => {