Stop Procrastinating – step-by-step guide (e-book)

The important task you've been pushing off for weeks. The bills sitting unopened. The project you'll start "tomorrow". Procrastination is rarely about laziness. It's about feelings, which is why more to-do lists don't work. This guide explains why we procrastinate, helps you find your own procrastination type, and gives you ten simple techniques that work in real life: the five-minute rule, the next concrete action, Pomodoro, "eat the frog", a phone-free zone and more. With exercises, examples from work, school and home, and a 14-day plan.

• Why you procrastinate, and why it isn't laziness
• Ten techniques that work in real life, explained simply
• Practical advice for work, school and paperwork at home
• Exercises and a 14-day plan you can start today
• Approx. 24 pages
• EPUB for e-readers and PDF for phone, tablet or print

Before You Start

If you've been putting off reading this book, that's a great start. You're in the right company.

Almost everyone procrastinates. Some people put off the dishes, others put off their taxes, and many put off the most important thing they have to do: the work project, the thesis, the conversation with the boss, the doctor's appointment, the move, clearing out the garage. Studies suggest that around one in five adults are chronic procrastinators, and among college students the number is even higher.

Procrastination is expensive. It costs money: late fees, interest, missed opportunities. It costs health: stress, poor sleep, guilt. And it costs time, because a task you're avoiding sits nagging at the back of your mind all the time, even when you're doing something else.

It isn't laziness

Here's the most important thing to take from this book: procrastination isn't laziness, and it isn't poor time management. Lazy people don't care. You do care, or you wouldn't feel guilty.

Researchers who have studied procrastination for decades have concluded that it's mainly about emotions. We put off tasks that give us unpleasant feelings: boredom, frustration, uncertainty, anxiety, self-doubt. When we procrastinate, we get a brief sense of relief. And that relief is the reward that makes us do it again next time.

That means the solution isn't more plans and more lists. The solution is to manage the feelings, and to make starting as easy as possible.

How to use this book

First we explain why we procrastinate and help you find your type. Then come ten techniques, each with a short exercise. At the back you'll find advice for work, school and home, and a 14-day plan.

You don't need to use every technique. Try them, and keep the ones that work for you.

… The excerpt continues in the book.

1. Before You Start
2. Why We Procrastinate
3. Find Your Procrastination Type
4. Technique 1: The Next Concrete Action
5. Technique 2: The Five-Minute Rule
6. Technique 3: Pomodoro
7. Technique 4: Eat the Frog
8. Technique 5: Remove Distractions
9. Technique 6: Deadlines and Commitments
10. Technique 7: Forgive Yourself
11. Techniques 8–10: Three Small Moves With Big Effects
12. At Work and at School
13. At Home: Paperwork and Bills
14. When It's Something More
15. The Procrastination Journal
16. The Weekly Review
17. Common Questions
18. The 14-Day Plan

Format: E-book as EPUB (Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, Kindle via “Send to Kindle”) and PDF.. Made with the help of AI and tested by our quality control. Not tax, accounting or legal advice. Terms and right of withdrawal