Kill Procrastination-12 Ways To Take Action…Every Time

12 tactics to kill procrastination –

Reclaim your time for what matters most:

1. Count Down
↳Say “5-4-3-2-1” out loud and then physically start moving toward the task
↳Example: Pick up your pen, take your first step, start typing

2. Five Minutes
↳Tell yourself “I will do this for 5 minutes only”
↳Then start the timer and begin – and repeat for 10, 15, 20 minutes…

3. Close Loops
↳If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it right now
↳Do not add it to your to-do list or schedule it – just act

4. Hardest First
↳Choose your most avoided task (your “frog”) and do it first thing in the day
↳Force yourself to start with it before anything else – your day will feel amazing

5. Phone Away
↳Turn on do not disturb, put your phone in the other room, throw it in the toilet
↳Seriously, there’s nothing worse for procrastination – do what you have to do

6. Peak Energy
↳Identify your natural high-focus time and schedule your hardest work in that window
↳Protect that time – no meetings then, no calls, no exercise

7. Next Action
↳Break things down into the smallest step possible, and keep moving forward
↳Don’t think about working on a report, think about opening a doc, then writing a title…

8. Use Incentives
↳Pair the task with a reward you enjoy – straight up self-bribery
↳Example: Make a cold call, get an Oreo

9. Use Disincentives
↳Set a painful consequence for delay, linked to a person for accountability
↳Example: Give a dollar to your sibling for every minute you delay

10. Mini Deadlines
↳Break big projects into small milestones, with interim deadlines
↳We’re pretty good at deadlines, but they rarely exist at helpful intervals

11. Verbal Start
↳Say out loud what you are about to do, then do it
↳Example: “I am going to open the doc and write the first paragraph” – then immediately act

12. Change Space
↳When something isn’t working, physically change it
↳If you’re just sitting there doom scrolling, get up and move to a new environment


No one is “just a procrastinator.”

Procrastination is a behavior that is learned –

And can be unlearned.

Use these to take back control of your time,

And free up more space for the things that matter most.