I used to be a chronic procrastinator.

In school and my first university years, I struggled to get things done. I would put off studying and working on projects for as long as possible. The only thing that could get me to work was usually the stress caused by an upcoming deadline.

Things always followed the same pattern: Weeks of procrastination were followed by all-nighters in the days before the exam or deadline. I told myself: “I work better under pressure”. But in reality, I only worked under pressure.

I knew I was wasting my potential. My procrastination problem made me feel guilty, and my self-esteem started to decline. It made me miserable. So I decided that life’s too short to live this way. I had to make a change.

I spent months researching the psychology and neuroscience of procrastination. I started to apply my knowledge and tested different science-based strategies to overcome the problem.

Today I can say I have managed to solve the problem for the most part. And it changed my life.

Here are the things that allowed me to make that change. I hope some of you can do the same.

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1. Understand the problem.

For most people, procrastination isn’t a time management issue. It isn’t laziness either.

It’s an emotional regulation problem.

It usually goes like this: you associate negative emotions with a task. Some common ones are fear of failure, overwhelm, or simply the expectation that the task will be hard or boring. So you avoid the task.

The problem is that we are evolutionarily hardwired to do so. Avoiding everything that causes negative emotions increased the chances of survival for our ancestors 10,000 years ago. But nowadays this mechanism no longer protects us from predators but leads to procrastination. It is an evolutionary mismatch.

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2. Identify the negative emotion.

Understand why you feel the urge to procrastinate on a task. The simple act of naming the fear reduces it

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3. Break your task down.

Break larger tasks into small, concrete parts. You will find it easier to start because your interim goal seems achievable and you know exactly what needs to be done.

Example: Don’t aim to write an entire paper. Set out to write the first 200 words.

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4. Implementation intentions.

Formulate specific plans for when you will engage in the desired action.

Use this formula: “I will (Activity) in (Location) at (Time)”

Research shows that this simple habit increases your odds of following through significantly.

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5. Visualize failure.

This might sound counterintuitive, but it works.

Imagining how bad it will feel to not reach your goal can be a great motivator to get to work when you don’t feel like it. The reason this works is loss aversion. We tend to work harder to avoid losses than to achieve success.

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Finally, it’s important to note that beating procrastination is a process.

It is a habit you have to gradually get rid of. The strategies mentioned above are effective, but they are not a magic pill.

But if you follow them over a longer period, I’m sure you can do it. You got this!

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P.S. I’ve started a free newsletter to help others overcome procrastination and become more productive as well. I’ll leave the link here as I think it can help some of you:

https://timetactix.beehiiv.com/subscribe

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