How to stop procrastinating
Procrastination is putting off something you intend to do, even though you expect the delay to leave you worse off. It has less to do with laziness or time management than with how the task feels right now, which is why the fixes that work change the task rather than your character.
What the research says procrastination is
A large review of the research found procrastination most strongly linked to how unpleasant a task feels, how far away its reward is and how easily a person acts on impulse. The pattern is that we choose what feels better now and pay for it later, and the further off the payoff, the easier the delay.
That also explains why deadlines work: as a deadline gets closer, its reward gets nearer, and at some point starting finally feels worth it. Often that point is the night before.
Steel, 2007. Psychological Bulletin 133(1)
Five things that help
- Make the first step smaller than your resistance. "Write the report" is a project; "open the file and write the first heading" is something you can do now.
- Decide when and where in advance: "At 9:00, at my desk, I will open the file." Plans written as if-then statements like this are one of the better-supported ways of acting on an intention.
- Bring the reward closer. Reward starting, not finishing, so that something good happens in the first minute rather than in three weeks.
- Remove the choice. A list of twelve things invites comparing them; one chosen thing invites starting.
- Forgive the last delay. Students who forgave themselves for putting off revision procrastinated less before their next exam.
Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38 · Wohl, Pychyl & Bennett, 2010. Personality and Individual Differences 48(7)
What does not help much
Waiting to feel like it, because the feeling tends to arrive after starting rather than before. Planning in more detail, when the plan is not what is missing. And guilt, which makes the task feel worse and so makes the next delay more likely.
When it is more than procrastination
If putting things off is constant, affects most of your life and has done for a long time, it can be worth talking to a doctor, because it is a common feature of several conditions, including ADHD and depression. An app is not a substitute for that conversation.
How Sailyn helps you start
Sailyn does three of the five for you. It picks one task from your deadlines and your week, so there is no list to compare. It pays you coins the moment you press Start. And a day off costs nothing, so there is no guilt waiting when you come back.
Sailyn is a planner and a focus timer. It is not a medical device, it treats nothing, and nothing on these pages is advice about a condition.
Know what you need to do, but can't get started? Sailyn gives you one next step, a plan that adapts, and no penalty for difficult days.