Fix Procrastination in Seconds
How to Solve Procrastination Forever
I want you to look at that image above. This is from a course outline (sorry to call them out) that will supposedly teach you how to beat procrastination. Now, we all know that procrastination is a big problem, perhaps the biggest problem among entrepreneurs and other high performers because 1) they are usually intelligent and 2) intelligent people tend to overthink and over-plan.
Anyway, the ironic thing about that course above is that it is itself a great, perhaps even the perfect example, of over-thinking and over-planning. I mean, “identity protection mechanisms” and “threat detection analysis” and I think this course goes on for 6 weeks. It’s a procrastination course that is itself procrastination! This is madness.
The Problem
I used to suffer from this badly (literally hundreds of plans, notes and tasks!) and I see this all the time. The problem with procrastination is:
Every delay drains energy
It becomes an “open loop” that can drive you crazy over time
It increases avoidance of other tasks (you give up on the whole day because you don’t “feel ready” or can’t “get started”)
It increases frustration because you’re waiting for clarity, energy, motivation or the perfect plan and those simply never come
You begin to mistake “planning” and “research” for getting things done (yes, planning and research are important as we’ll see below)
In short, it causes stress and things don’t get done, so you fall behind on your work and life in general
Most productivity advice, like that course above, is way off base. They’re trying to solve for something using the logical brain (“threat detection analysis!”) and I’m here to tell you, it is the logical brain itself that is the problem. It’s not a motivation problem at all. The real enemy is those critical 5 seconds before your brain hijacks you. After 5 seconds or so you then can get into the “thinking trap:”
Do I feel like doing this?
This may take a long time, should I wait until I have more time?
Is this the best thing I should be doing?
I think I need to do more research.
I better make a plan.
I wonder what’s happening on Facebook or on my phone?
That last one is for those of us that have ADHD and one of the things I want you to stop letting ADHD be an excuse for not doing things. Like a wild animal, your mind can be trained, it may be harder for us, but it’s not impossible. The majority of ADHD meds just boost chemicals in your brain that you can generate naturally by taking the advice in this article.
The Solution: The Starting Habit
Don’t laugh, the solution is ridiculously simple: “Don’t think, just start”
I’ve been preaching and teaching a variation of this for years and it works. Why? Because it doesn’t give the thinking brain time to come up with all the excuses above. It won’t have time to start doing the energy calculation of the task. Like I said, you have about 5 seconds before the thinking brain kicks in so it’s important at first to just get started and that means literally anything: open the document you need to work on, go into the room you need to clean and pick up one thing, pick up the phone and call the person you need to talk to, etc.
Can I Just Do It Now?
The second part to that rule is: “Can I just do it now?”
There’s a viral video on TikTok about the daughter who is astonished about her mom’s ability to “just do things.” In this example, her mom needed to make a dentist appointment and didn’t understand why her mom didn’t write it down in her task app, add “find dentist phone number” “call to make appointment” and the other subtasks to that and let it sit there all week. Her mom just googled the dentist, clicked on the phone number to call and made the appointment in seconds. This is exactly the type of mindset switch that will smash procrastination forever. Don’t think, just start.
The science behind this: once you begin the habit of starting, you’ll train the mind. The mind prefers default behaviors and patterns. Doing will feel better than hesitation because hesitation activates all those bad feelings and stress I listed above. Action literally interrupts the loop.
The Planning Trap
I know what some of you are thinking: my work is complex! I need to be strategic! I can’t just jump in without a plan!
I understand that. But the point of beating procrastination is to install the starting habit first, solve that problem forever. Learn to start first, then you can be more strategic about prioritizing and planning and focusing. I think if Napoleon (pictured above) can conquer most of Europe without overthinking it, you can try it too.
One thing I’ve noticed is that people who do great or interesting things tend to just dive in. One person will spend weeks planning the trip to Europe, overthink it, paralyze themselves with picking an airline, itinerary, etc. whereas a person with the starting habit checks their calendar real quick, searches up the flights on a comparison site and books it. Then sort of fills in the blanks with hotels, car rentals, etc. as the date gets closer. Will they miss out on some better deals, better options or the “perfect experience?” Maybe. But they’re going while you’re planning and they’ll probably have more fun because they’re not overthinking it and probably will do more interesting things by not planning.
We have to crawl before we walk. So even if starting means getting started on research or planning, that’s fine, just make sure it’s real work and not an excuse to avoid the real work. Even literal researchers and planners have to submit their work eventually so if you’ve spent more than say, a few hours on a plan (short of rocket and skyscraper design), then be careful that you may be in fact, massively over-planning.
Besides, one of the best things on earth is feedback. Feedback is how you correct course when something doesn’t work and honestly, most things in life don’t work on the first try. So take the action, don’t think, just start and then that will give you feedback and then you’ll try something else until it eventually works. Whoever gets the most feedback the fastest tends to win at whatever endeavor they are pursuing. Feedback is a big topic itself but that’s the most important aspect: acting, listening to feedback, changing strategy until you win. This is very important for entrepreneurs and other high performers to understand.
How to Start Today
Very simple: add “Don’t think, just start. Can I just do it now?” as a post-it note on your computer/phone/whatever or on the top of your task list. Or email it to yourself and keep it in your inbox. Anytime you feel internal resistance: count 1–2 and move. Make it automatic.
Still feeling a bit of resistance from this? Change it to: “Don’t think, just start, it doesn’t have to be perfect - just do 5 minutes.” Anyone can do something for 5 minutes even if you’re just getting the stuff ready to work. Some examples of things you can do to start right now:
Open the doc
Put on your shoes
Fill the water bottle
Start the timer
Pull up the spreadsheet
Draft the first sentence
When you catch yourself hesitating, take a physical action within 5 seconds. Not the whole task. Not the perfect start. Just a small physical movement that moves the task forward, again, like opening the document. This bypasses the mind’s negotiation loop and shifts the body into motion. If you’re still getting distracted away then consider placing your phone in another room and putting some focus software on your computer or working device (it limits what sites and apps you can use).
Why It Works
This works because almost instantly, starting becomes addictive. You’ll realize that motivation comes after starting, not before. You’ll realize that all those terrible feelings from procrastinating simply never happen anymore. You’re starting to become a high agency person, an “I do what I say” person and others will notice this too. You’ll realize why so many high performers say “amateurs need motivation, professionals just do the work.” You may even start to get into “flow” and that’s where the magic really happens, where people who can work deeply for hours on end live.
Most importantly, you’ll start to get over your perfectionism or fear. See the maze above? That’s probably the best example I’ve ever seen of the “don’t think, just start” mentality and why it works. 1 hour of doing results in more than 10 hours (or 1000 hours!) of thinking about it.
The Next Level
Now, I hesitate to even mention this because we just want to be able to start without thinking about it, so I’ll write more about these concepts later, but once you’ve adopted the starting habit, you can then start doing things like:
Doing a focus ritual: devices silenced, email closed, maybe a time-blocked part of your day
Prioritizing: ideally the night before you will identify the ONE task that is most important to work on (not most urgent, most important!)
“Finding your way back” - adding what you were working on and how to get back to that to your tasks (helps overcome the “where was I?” aspect of bigger tasks)
5 minute planning and how to use AI to help plan your next step or priority
But for now, let’s just focus on adopting the starting habit and so many great things will follow from that.
Summary
“Well begun is half done.” - Aristotle
“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” - Plato
I lost literally years to procrastination, even though I was insanely busy. I’d do busy work all day and keep rolling over the big projects that would have made a difference. This affected my employees, my health, relationships - everything. Don’t make the same mistake I did and let your own brain terrorize you. Building this habit was the first step in the system I eventually built to take back control of my time and energy. I share the full framework at Zorga.io.
Adopt the habit now:
“Don’t think, just start. Can I just do it now?” or
“Don’t think, just start, it doesn’t have to be perfect - just do 5 minutes.”
I challenge you to do this for one week. Add the phrase above to your task list, post-it on your phone or wherever you will see it and resolve to start taking immediate action.
Now, pick one task you’re avoiding and don’t think, just start!