MEPX
Chapter 6 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Deciding what matters
  2. 2Getting it out of your head
  3. 3Estimating time
  4. 4Attention and interruption
  5. 5Structuring the day
  6. 6Procrastination
  7. 7Meetings
  8. 8Saying no
  9. 9Systems and tools
  10. 10Sustainable pace

Chapter 6 of 10

Procrastination

Usually emotion, not laziness.

What is happening

Delay is generally avoidance of a feeling: the task is ambiguous, boring, or carries a risk of failing publicly. Naming which one points to the fix.

  • Ambiguity is solved by defining the next physical step.
  • Fear of judgement shrinks when the first version is allowed to be bad.

Starting

Commit to a few minutes rather than the whole task. Starting is the expensive part, and momentum usually carries past the point you promised to stop.