Figure out the underlying cause

Clare Evans, a productivity coach and author of Time Management For Dummies, says the main reasons for procrastinating are fear, perfectionism and not knowing where to start, or feeling overwhelmed or unmotivated. If it is fear, whether unfounded or founded, Evans says to confront the worst-case scenario: “It may not be as bad as we think.” Figure out what knowledge or skills you are lacking, and delegate if you can. If you’re paralysed by the need to get it right, Evans suggests honestly confronting whether “‘perfect’ is really what’s needed” – or if it is more important just to get it done. “Sometimes we procrastinate over tasks that aren’t really that important.”

Start with one small step

Tim Pychyl, founder of the Procrastination Research Group and associate professor of psychology at Carleton University, Ottawa, says procrastination boils down to an “emotion-focused coping response”: by putting off the task, we get rid of the bad feeling. Start by simply identifying the first step: “Ask yourself, ‘What is the next action I would take on this task, if I was going to do it?’” And make it really tiny. The idea is to move your focus away from how you’re feeling, and towards what Pychyl calls a “low-threshold entry to action”: “We can’t deny our feelings, but we can pay less attention to them … and our research has shown that getting started is key.” Evans suggests working on the task for 10 to 15 minutes and no more, just so as to have made a start.

Picture your future self

“Giving yourself a hard time only makes it worse,” says productivity expert Moyra Scott. “In order to beat procrastination you have to realise that it is very common. We are human. We procrastinate.” It can help to clarify or visualise what “done” looks like, she says: “What is the finish line you are aiming at?” Hal E Hershfield, an associate professor of marketing and behavioural decision making at UCLA Anderson School of Management, pictures himself having to do a task today that he actually completed yesterday.“ That’s most likely how I’ll feel tomorrow if I push off something that I’m meant to do today. The idea is to try to connect with the person I’ll be in the future and the emotions that I will eventually feel.”

Break the cycle

Judson A Brewer, a neuroscientist and director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Centre at Brown University, says procrastination has its origins in reward-based learning: a trigger (think about a deadline), a behaviour (scroll social media), then a reward (distract from the unpleasant thought). Willpower alone is often not enough to overcome such a powerful impulse, evolved to help us remember where to find food. But by making ourselves aware of our habit loops, says Brewer, we give ourselves the opportunity to break them. “Curiosity is like a superpower that can help us notice these urges simply as thoughts, emotions and body sensations, and then move on to the task at hand.” The reward can be reframed as the feeling of accomplishment, instead of the relief (tempered by guilt and building anxiety) of a momentary distraction. “Reflecting on the rewarding properties of not procrastinating builds healthy habits that become stronger than procrastination itself – hacking our brain in the process.”

Stop trying to fight the monkey

Productivity coach Grace Marshall says one common misconception about productivity is that it is “just about nailing yourself to the seat, and getting it done”. While that is sometimes effective (and, if a deadline is looming, necessary), it can be a stressful approach, she says – “and as willpower is a depleting resource, it’s not sustainable”. Her suggestion is to stop trying to overpower or ignore the primitive part of our brain driving procrastination, and instead try to distract it. Tell yourself: “I’m not really going to work on this right now, I’m just going to open the file and make some notes.” Play – turning the task into a game or an experiment – can also be an effective diversion. As Marshall writes: “Fighting the monkey is exhausting, and it doesn’t work very well.”