Guides to procrastination

Free tools

• Free tool: get a 2-minute first step

  Type the thing you keep putting off and get it split into parts, with a first step you can do now. Works in any language, no sign-up.

• Free tool: Pomodoro timer

  25-minute focus rounds with breaks, adjustable lengths and a 2-minute warm-up for when you can't start. Runs in your browser, no sign-up.

Start here

• What is procrastination?

  What the word means, how psychologists define it, the common types, and how it differs from laziness and rest.

• Why do I procrastinate?

  Six common reasons, the research behind them, and what helps with each one.

• How to stop procrastinating

  Eight methods that research supports, from two-minute steps to forgiving yesterday, and a plan for the next ten minutes.

• How Startr works

  The app's five daily stages, what each one asks of you, and the research each one is built on.

Ways to start

• The two-minute rule

  David Allen's and James Clear's versions, why the rule works and twelve examples of two-minute first steps.

• Implementation intentions (if-then plans)

  Tie a step to a time and a place. What the research found, ten examples and the mistakes that weaken it.

• Mel Robbins' 5 second rule

  What the countdown is meant to do, what the evidence says, and how it compares with the two-minute rule.

• Eat the frog

  Brian Tracy's do-the-hardest-thing-first method, how to pick your frog, and what to do when the frog is too big.

• Time blocking

  How to plan your day in blocks, an example schedule, and how to stop the first block turning into more avoiding.

• Body doubling

  Why working alongside someone helps you start, what the research says and five ways to try it.

Motivation, energy and focus

• How to get motivated

  Why motivation often shows up after you start, and how to make starting small enough to do today.

• How to stop being lazy

  Work out whether it's avoidance, tiredness or a goal you don't want, then use the fix that matches.

• Task paralysis

  Why you can know what to do and still not start, and seven ways to get unstuck.

• ADHD and procrastination

  Why ADHD makes starting so hard, how it differs from ordinary procrastination, and what helps.

• Executive dysfunction

  What executive functions are, how problems with them show up day to day, and strategies that help.

• Revenge bedtime procrastination

  Why you stay up late when you're tired, what research calls bedtime procrastination, and a 7-night plan.

Studying and apps

• How to stop procrastinating on studying

  Why studying is easy to put off, what procrastination does to grades, and ten first steps for common study tasks.

• Apps for procrastination

  Starting apps, blockers, body doubling, timers and planners: which kind helps with which kind of stuck.

• Structured vs Tiimo

  The two most popular visual day planners compared, and what to use when the problem is starting rather than planning.

In other languages

• Español

  Guías en español: qué es la procrastinación, cómo dejar de procrastinar y la técnica Pomodoro.

• Português

  Guias em português: o que é procrastinação, como parar de procrastinar e a técnica Pomodoro.

• Français

  Guides en français : la procrastination, comment arrêter de procrastiner et la méthode Pomodoro.

• Deutsch

  Ratgeber auf Deutsch: was Prokrastination ist, wie du sie überwindest und die Pomodoro-Technik.

• Italiano

  Guide in italiano: cos'è la procrastinazione, come smettere di procrastinare e la tecnica del pomodoro.

• Polski

  Poradniki po polsku: czym jest prokrastynacja, jak przestać prokrastynować i technika Pomodoro.

• 日本語

  日本語のガイド：先延ばしの原因と直し方、やる気が出ないときの対処法、ポモドーロタイマー。