How to Combat Procrastination: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Combat Procrastination, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Practices that may help
- Use precommitment devices to compensate for low motivation
Lock in behavior in advance so you are not relying on in-the-moment motivation to start.
The Procrastination Equation, Made Practical - Track procrastination episodes to identify patterns, not to judge yourself
Data on your own procrastination is more useful than guilt about it.
Self-Forgiveness and Procrastination - Do the hardest task first
Tackle your single most important, most-dreaded task before anything else in the day.
Eat That Frog, Made Practical - Review the list to prevent permanent deferral
Structured procrastination works only if the top item eventually gets done — build in periodic forcing.
Structured Procrastination, Made Practical - Place an important-seeming but deferrable task at the top of your list
Put a compelling but non-urgent task first, so everything below it gets done in avoidance of it.
Structured Procrastination, Made Practical - Use the unschedule: schedule leisure before work
Block out guaranteed leisure and social time first, then fit work into what remains.
The Now Habit, Made Practical - Self-imposed deadlines
Bind yourself to interim deadlines instead of one distant due date.
Precommitment Devices (Ulysses Contracts) - Diagnose which variable is your bottleneck
Use the four-variable equation as a diagnostic: find the weakest factor before picking a fix.
The Procrastination Equation, Made Practical - Use structured self-compassion after delay — not self-criticism
Responding to procrastination with self-criticism predicts more procrastination, not less.
The Procrastination Equation, Made Practical - Stock your "avoidance zone" with genuinely useful work
Fill the tasks you do while procrastinating with things that actually matter.
Structured Procrastination, Made Practical
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’ve given up waiting to feel motivated because it just never comes for this
- I keep avoiding the same kinds of tasks over and over but I have no idea what actually sets it off
- There’s one hard thing I’m dreading, so I "warm up" on easy busywork to feel productive
- There’s a task that’s been sitting at the top of my list for months now, never urgent enough to force itself, never done
- There’s one big thing glaring at me from the top of my list that I just won’t touch
Related concerns
- How To Combat Extreme Procrastination
Bind yourself to interim deadlines instead of one distant due date.
Self-imposed deadlines
- How To Deal With Extreme Procrastination
Bind yourself to interim deadlines instead of one distant due date.
- How To Avoid Procrastination At Work
Block out guaranteed leisure and social time first, then fit work into what remains.
Use the unschedule: schedule leisure before work
- How To Avoid Procrastination For Students
Put a compelling but non-urgent task first, so everything below it gets done in avoidance of it.
Place an important-seeming but deferrable task at the top of your list
- How To Beat Procrastination
Data on your own procrastination is more useful than guilt about it.
Track procrastination episodes to identify patterns, not to judge yourself
- How To Beat Procrastination Once And For All
Block out guaranteed leisure and social time first, then fit work into what remains.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.