How to stop procrastinating
You already know that putting it off is making things worse. That's the strange part of procrastination: knowing has never been what's missing. Here's what's actually going on when you avoid something, and what helps.
It's about how the task feels, not about time
Procrastination looks like a time management problem, so people try to fix it with calendars and planners. Then they procrastinate on the planner.
Tim Pychyl and Fuschia Sirois, two researchers who have spent much of their careers on this, describe it differently. Procrastination is mostly about mood. The task makes you feel something unpleasant: bored, anxious, confused, not good enough. Avoiding it makes that feeling go away, right now. Your brain is doing exactly what brains do, picking the option that feels better in the next five minutes, and it keeps choosing that option because it works. For five minutes.
Seen that way, a lot of the usual advice stops making sense. Telling yourself how important the task is just adds pressure, which makes it feel worse, which makes you avoid it more. The fix has to be about the feeling.
Name the feeling the task gives you
Next time you catch yourself avoiding something, stop for a second and ask what it feels like to think about starting. The answer changes what helps.
It's boring
Pair it with something you like. Katherine Milkman at Wharton tested this with gym-goers: people given gripping audiobooks they could only listen to at the gym went noticeably more often than people who got nothing. She calls it temptation bundling. Save a podcast for the ironing, or do the expense report in the good coffee shop.
It's confusing
You often can't start because you don't know what the first step is, and working that out is its own unpleasant task. So make that the task. "Do the tax return" becomes "find last year's return and write down what I'll need." That's a real step, and a finishable one.
It's scary
Usually this means someone will judge the result, possibly you. Make a version nobody sees. A draft you're allowed to delete. A practice run with nobody watching.
Just start. Start slow if you have to. Start small if you have to. Start privately if you have to. Just start.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
It's huge
Big, open-ended tasks are the worst for this, because there's no point where you can feel done. Cut off a piece you could finish today, and only look at that piece.
Start for a fixed amount of time
The discomfort of a task tends to be worst right before you begin it. Once you're a few minutes in, it usually drops. Pychyl's most repeated advice is just to get started, because what you're dreading is mostly the starting.
A timer helps a lot. The Pomodoro Technique, which Francesco Cirillo came up with as a student using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, is simple: work for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, repeat. There's nothing special about 25. What matters is that "work on the report for 25 minutes" has an end, and "work on the report" doesn't.
If 25 minutes sounds like too much today, make it five. Most people keep going once the timer rings. You're allowed not to.
Decide the when and the where in advance
"I'll do it later" is where tasks go to die, because later never arrives with a time attached. A more specific plan does much better. Psychologists call these implementation intentions, and they're written as if-then statements:
- "When I sit down after lunch, I'll open the spreadsheet before I open email."
- "When I get off the train on Thursday, I'll call the dentist from the platform."
- "If I notice I've opened social media during work time, I'll close it and write one line."
Peter Gollwitzer, who introduced the idea, and Paschal Sheeran reviewed close to a hundred studies of it in 2006 and found a clear effect on whether people followed through. It works because the decision is already made. When the moment comes, you don't have to weigh anything up. You just recognize the cue.
Forgive yourself for yesterday
This one sounds soft. It's one of the better-evidenced ideas here.
In a study at Carleton University, researchers asked students how much they'd procrastinated on studying for their first midterm, and how much they'd forgiven themselves for it. The students who forgave themselves procrastinated less when the next exam came around. The ones who were still beating themselves up didn't get better.
Guilt makes the task feel worse. A task that feels worse gets avoided harder. So yesterday is gone, and the useful question is what you'll do in the next twenty minutes.
Make a mistake? Release the guilt, remember the lesson.
James Clear, 3-2-1 Newsletter
A word about the phone
Nobody needs another article telling them their phone is distracting. But it's worth knowing that the phone is the perfect procrastination machine by the definition above: it offers instant relief from any unpleasant feeling, in a second, with no effort at all.
The easiest fix is distance. Not face down on the desk, where you can still feel it. In another room, or in a bag, or behind an app blocker for the hour you've set aside. You'll reach for it a few times out of habit, find it gone, and get back to work.
When it's something else
Everybody procrastinates sometimes. But if it's constant, if it's costing you jobs, grades or relationships, and nothing above makes a dent, it can be tied to something like ADHD, depression or anxiety. Those are worth talking to a doctor or therapist about, because the fix for them is different, and there's no reason to fight them with a kitchen timer alone.
Questions
Why do I procrastinate even on things I want to do?
Because procrastination is mostly about avoiding an unpleasant feeling, and things you care about often come with the strongest feelings: fear of doing them badly, pressure to get them right. Avoiding the task makes those feelings go away for a moment, which is why it keeps happening even when you care.
Is procrastination just laziness?
No. Lazy people are content to do nothing. People who procrastinate usually feel bad about it and often stay busy with other things. Researchers describe procrastination as a problem of managing emotions, not a lack of effort.
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
A time management method created by Francesco Cirillo: work for 25 minutes with a timer, take a 5-minute break, and after four rounds take a longer break. It helps with procrastination because it gives a task a clear end point.
What is the fastest way to stop procrastinating right now?
Pick the smallest possible first step, set a timer for five or ten minutes, put your phone in another room, and start. Give yourself real permission to stop when the timer rings. Most of the discomfort is in the first few minutes.
Can procrastination be a sign of ADHD?
It can be. Chronic procrastination is common with ADHD, as well as with depression and anxiety. If it's persistent and affecting your work, studies or relationships, it's worth talking to a doctor.
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