Understanding & beating

procrastination
A workbook & guide
An introduction

Procrastination affects us all. Even with all the planning, desire and good intentions, often we can fall victim to
procrastination. It has the power to delay our progress; to rob us of our belief in ourselves and what we are doing;
and to halt our achievements. Procrastination is powerful, but with a bit more understanding of what it is, some
considerations of how procrastination impacts you subjectively and some key steps in how to overcome it, you don’t
have to be at its mercy.

In this workbook, we will take a closer look at what procrastination is all about, where is comes from and how to
stop it. We will explore the meaning of procrastination, there will be tasks that help you explore what procrastination
means for you as an individual, and tips to help overcome it.

Page 1
Setting the scene – Jamie’s story
The alarm went off abruptly again at 5am on Monday morning. Jamie,
familiar with the sudden rush of anticipation when his phone jangled violently
at such an early hour, didn’t hesitate as he rose out of bed. He had things to
do, a post graduate degree dissertation in sociology and his own growing
and promising e-commerce business that helped fund his studies. He was
busy. As was commonplace with his morning routine, he brushed his teeth,
showered and had his energising morning breakfast. After that, he always
referred to his to-do list. He studied the list he had compiled the night before
intensely. The to-do list read, wake 5am…check, breakfast 5.30am…check,
data analysis for sociology dissertation 5.45am…”right” he said aloud, “now
down to business”. He was so close to the end of a degree in which he had
invested years of work, challenge, tears and cash. He could almost taste
graduation. His dream was almost a reality. All he had to do was to finish
his dissertation in time and the degree was his. Feeling motivated, he sat at
his desk, opened his laptop, opened his dissertation file, took a deep breath
and…stopped.

He stared at the document. He felt a rush of fear, anxiety, and even apathy.
He looked out of the window next to his desk and watched the tree in his
back garden sway in the morning breeze. He watched his elderly neighbour
across the road make his way down to his living room. He checked his
phone for the morning’s news, for his missed Facebook notifications from
during the night. He scrolled through some pictures on Instagram for a
while and then put his phone down. He returned to his laptop but was
overwhelmed by a sense of boredom and disengagement from what was
a really important task that he had dedicated so much time to already. He
shut his laptop, convinced himself that he had done plenty already and
turned on his TV. The latest recorded season of his favourite show remained
unwatched, “why not watch just a couple of episodes” he thought. Before
he knew it, the whole morning had passed, then the afternoon and all of a
sudden it was early evening. His intentions were good, he had a desire to
undertake the really important work he had planned, yet something stopped
him. What was it? He reflected on the day he had wasted, he had many days
like this one. Why was this happening? What could he do to change this
strange cycle he seemed to have invested in?

Page 2
What’s your own story?
Have you ever experienced what Jamie is going through? Take some
time to think about your own story and write it down below.

Thinking about your own situation

With all the best intentions, planning

and passion in the world, it can still
feel like a metaphorical barrier is in
your way to really getting on with the
things you want to do.

Perhaps you have dedicated years

of your life to a task or craft, and like
Jamie seem to be at a point where
the desire and intention is there, but
the execution is lacking?

Or perhaps you have planned and

thought about something you have
wanted to do for years but never felt
able to take that first step?

Perhaps you have put things off

or often found something more
engaging and interesting to absorb
your attention.

Perhaps you have found the task

you wanted to undertake too large,
or maybe you’ve witnessed others
achieve more, leaving you a bit
paralysed.

Perhaps after years of putting

“that thing” off, you have become
frustrated with your lack of progress
or even your ability to start.

Page 3
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is something that has been a part of human nature for
thousands of years. In ancient Greece, philosophers like Aristotle and
Socrates suffered from it. They said that procrastination was the act of doing
something when you know you should be doing something else. For you,
and for all of us, that might look like a number of things. For example:

• Scrolling Instagram when you know you should be working on a

university assignment
• Playing a game on your phone when you have work to be getting on with
• Watching your favourite TV show when you know you need to be cooking
dinner

Ultimately procrastination is the entity that stops you getting on with stuff
you know you need to be, and should be, doing.

To give you a little more insight, the word procrastination comes from the
Latin word “procrastinatus”, which is broken up into two parts. “Pro” means
“forward” and “crastinus” meaning simply “of tomorrow”. Ultimately the
word procrastination means forwarding something to the next day.

Why do we procrastinate?
If you think back to Jamie’s story, he had everything going for him. He had
the right intentions, he had planned, he clearly had passion and drive, he
even had the right opportunity to undertake the tasks he had set himself.
So why was he procrastinating? From the outside looking in, it might seem
difficult to understand why someone would procrastinate in a situation like
Jamie’s.

That is part of the difficulty with procrastination, it’s really hard to understand
why we procrastinate. What’s more, the answer is subjective. Jamie will have
his underlying reasons, and so will you.

____________________________________________________________________
Write down three of
____________________________________________________________________ your own reasons
____________________________________________________________________ for procrastinating

Page 4
Common reasons for procrastination
Time inconsistency
To bring a bit of science into the mix, behavioural psychology research has
argued that “time inconsistency” has a big role to play in the development
of procrastination.

Time inconsistency means that our brains are hard wired in a way that
gratifies immediate reward over long-term gain more often than not. Think of
it like this, whenever you set a goal or have a big task you want to complete,
you set that goal as your future self. You look 3, 6, 12 months into the future
and say, “I want to achieve that”. That’s your future self setting the goal.
You might look at that big goal down the road and think “yeh, I can do that,
I really want to achieve that”. That’s great, but setting that long-term goal
doesn’t really do much for you in the immediate moment. It is the future self
that sets the goal, but it is the present self that has to take action. When you
get to the daily routine of working towards accomplishing your long-term
goal, you are no longer working for the future self, instead you are working
for the present self, and that present self wants immediate gratification more
than it wants long-term payoff.

Look at it like this, maybe your future self has set a long-term goal that
you want to lose 20lbs. That’s great! You have set out how long it might
take you and what it will look like when you have achieved it. Again, great!
However, you wake up on Monday morning and your present self has to
get you to eat healthier and go for that hour-long workout after work. The
present self is trying to do this while working towards those long-term goals,
and it doesn’t like that as much as the immediate gratification it could get
elsewhere. Immediate gratification such as stopping off at McDonalds on
the way home from work or relaxing and watching TV instead of going for
that gym session.

Basically, the present self and the future self don’t really get along with
each other. The future self wants to lose all the weight, while the present
self wants a fast food meal. Of course, it makes sense that you have to put
down the donut and pick up a carrot if you don’t want to be overweight in
10 years’ time…but that’s ten years away. How is one donut going to have Do you have any
an impact? long-term goals
____________________________________________________________________ like achieving a
____________________________________________________________________
qualification or
losing weight?
____________________________________________________________________
If so, make a note
____________________________________________________________________ of them here.

Page 5
Decision paralysis
We live in a world where we are constantly distracted. In days gone by,
things moved at a slower, more manageable pace, but these days we
have smart phones, our favourite TV shows on demand, a comfy three
seater sofa in our front room and the ability to access and buy anything
we want online, all available to us at any time of the day. In other words,
an unlimited opportunity to get distracted and ultimately procrastinate.

Decision paralysis basically means that with more and more stimuli for
us to procrastinate over, it makes it harder and harder to focus on the
thing that is most important for us to be doing in the moment.

_________________________________________________________________
What are
your constant
_________________________________________________________________
distractions? Write
_________________________________________________________________ them down here.
Not understanding your motivation
Again, if we go back to Jamie’s story, we can see that he has the ability,
he has the opportunity and he has the will to continue to work hard
for his goals and dreams. However, there is something we don’t know
about Jamie – what are his reasons for doing what he is doing? What is
pushing him to finish his degree? What is driving him to continue to grow
his online company? Who is likely
From the outside looking in, we might see this as somewhat irrelevant. to be the most
As we have said, he has everything he needs to be successful. What motivated?
point would there be in understanding why Jamie is doing what he is
doing? Person 1
Person 1 is a university
Well, not really knowing why we are doing something can have a student. Her parents have
massive impact on our levels of procrastination. If we don’t understand bought her a flat and a car
our motivation for undertaking a task, then we are much more likely to and she knows that she
procrastinate when it’s time to work towards completing it. could have a secure job in
the family company after her
Let’s consider an example. Take a look at the green box (right). Who do degree.
you think will have the greater motivation to complete their degree and
why do you think this? Person 2
Person 2 is a single parent
_________________________________________________________________ who is fully reliant on
completing her degree
_________________________________________________________________ in order to open up more
opportunities in the world of
_________________________________________________________________ work.

Page 6
 I can’t do this!

Well, the single parent is likely to have a stronger sense of their own
motivation than the person who has been given lots of opportunities Why does self-worth
already. Now, this isn’t to say that people who have more opportunities
don’t have a purpose or can’t overcome procrastination. The point here and belief matter?
is that the single parent is likely to have a clear reason for studying (it
will probably have been a hard slog to get onto the degree course and A man is preparing to give a speech.
nobody does that without asking themselves why?), whereas the more He gets more and more anxious
privileged individual may not. about the prospect of standing up
and speaking in front of hundreds
Lack of self-worth and belief of people. He becomes increasingly
Self-worth and belief are massive contributing factors to our levels of apprehensive as the countdown
procrastination. If we don’t have a real belief in our ability to undertake continues to the big day. The anxiety
a task, or if we feel that we are not worth the effort to achieve our goals, develops so much that he convinces
then we will be more susceptible to procrastination. himself that the effort just isn’t worth
it. He simply won’t be able to do it.
Again, perhaps an example might be helpful - see the green box (right).
This lack of self belief has led him to
Perhaps with this example you can start to see just how much our procrastinate. Every time he sits down
belief in our ability to undertake the task may determine our levels of to write the first line of his speech,
procrastination. he remembers the fear of public
speaking and puts off the work until
Refer back to your own story. Is self-worth and belief a factor in your the night before.
own procrastination?

Page 7
Key things to consider when
understanding your own procrastination
The purpose of this workbook is to get you thinking, “maybe this is
part of the cause of my procrastination”, “maybe it’s a combination of
all of these things”. Some of the things we have discussed in ‘why we
procrastinate’ will apply to you and other things won’t. So, how do you
build a clearer idea of your own situation?

The first thing to do is to think about your levels of procrastination and

when they happened.

Maybe you woke up early and sat in front of your computer for an hour
not really doing much. What was the trigger that set procrastination into
motion there? Maybe you were still really tired at that point and couldn’t
face working just yet. Maybe your motivation and goal setting needs
work (remember our points on time inconsistency and understanding
your motivation).

So, in order to understand your own procrastination better, make sure

you understand the triggers to the real life examples that you have
experienced throughout the day.

Also, take some time to consider all of the points that we have explored
on why we procrastinate. We looked at:

• Time inconsistency
• Decision paralysis
• Motivation
• Self-belief and worth

It may be that one or two of these are most appropriate to you or you
may think that self-belief is the main factor in your challenges with
procrastination. Figuring this out for yourself sets you on the right path to
better understanding your procrastination, and ultimately overcoming it.

Make a note of your own situation on the next page.

Page 8
Sit down at the end of a day when you have tried to get things done, but
procrastinated. Make a note of what you were trying to get done and
when. What was the trigger that stopped you getting on with it? Some
examples of triggers include tiredness, lacking motivation, etc. Take a
look at the previous page if you’re stuck.

Task Time of day Trigger

Page 9
Ways to overcome procrastination
So, we have looked at why people procrastinate and we’ve looked at your
own reasons for procrastinating. Let’s now start to think a little bit about
how we might overcome procrastination. What can you do to actually end
procrastination in the future?

1. Forgive yourself
Forgiving yourself for your past procrastinations is our first tip. It’s going
to be challenging to overcome your procrastination in the future if you
can’t let go of all the times you procrastinated in the past. This isn’t easy,
particularly if you’re prone to self-criticism. However it’s easier if you
understand your reasons for procrastinating in the first place.

Think about Jamie’s story. As he tries to overcome his procrastination, he

needs to reflect on mornings like the one we looked at and forgive himself.
If he constantly looks back at such situations, he will likely punish himself
further. What will that do to his self-worth? It’s likely to reduce it further,
which we know can have a detrimental effect on procrastination.

If you really want to make progress and stop procrastinating then the first
step is to forgive yourself for all the times you procrastinated in the past.

2. Plan, plan, and plan again

Nobody intends to procrastinate. You may plan to wake up early, sit at your
desk and get your work done. If only it was that easy.

One of the ways in which procrastination can happen is due to lack

of proper planning. As in Jamie’s story, the intention to no longer
procrastinate was there and the desire to make the next day more
productive was evident. However, there was little planning. What are you
going to work on? When are you going to do it? How long will you spend
on each thing? What would your end goal be and how would you know
that you had done a good productive day of work?

Without a detailed plan containing all this information, you are much more
likely to procrastinate. Jobs may pile up throughout the day and you may
lose focus on what was most important.

Planning and organisation are the key.

Page 10
Before each day (perhaps the night before):

• Write down what you need to get done?

• Think about and rank the tasks in order of importance.
• Plan when you will do these things?
• Plan how long you will spend on them?
• Ask yourself how you will know when you are done/what are your goals for these tasks?

Planning is more than just arranging your time; it’s about considering exactly what you are going to do with that
time. Invest some time to plan and structure your day and you are much less likely to procrastinate and more likely
to get things done.

Make a plan for tomorrow

Order Task Key goals Time of day/
how much time to spend

Page 11
3. Break your goals down
Perhaps by now you have had more of a chance to think about Jamie’s
story. Initially, it seemed like Jamie had everything worked out. He had
ambition, motivation and a desire to be productive with his day.

However, a second look gives us a few hints as to the reasons why he

might have ended up procrastinating.

First of all, he didn’t have much of a plan for his day (see point number 2
above). All he knew was that he wanted to be “productive”. That is such a
wide-ranging statement. Productive with what? How was he going to be
productive?

Secondly, his goals seemed non-existent. He had a degree to finish…and

that’s all we know. We don’t know what exactly he was planning to work on
that day…and it doesn’t seem like he knew either.

It seems like his only goal was to finish his degree. I think we can all argue
that this is a massive goal. Too big to complete in one day, probably too
big to feel like he even made any progress in one day. No wonder he
procrastinated.

Jamie would have really benefited from breaking his huge goal down into
manageable chunks. This is a really effective way of reducing levels of
procrastination. It provides us with a set of smaller, more manageable
goals to contribute to our overall large goal. Like a set of stepping stones!

Let’s try and do this for Jamie now:

Main goal Finish degree

Secondary goal (to be completed Complete first draft of dissertation
by the end of the month) for supervisor
Mini goals (to be completed by Finish introduction section of
the end of the day) dissertation

Review data

Read over results section and make

changes where necessary

We can start to see that when breaking these goals down a little, there is
more opportunity for focus. If Jamie had done this, he may have been more
productive, had more of a focus and identity to his day, and ultimately have
procrastinated less. He would also gain a sense of achievement at the end

Page 12
of each day, which would make him feel happier and more capable, and
therefore less likely to procrastinate. “how do you eat
Maybe you have a big goal that you really want to complete. The enormity
an elephant?
of that goal can sometimes be overwhelming. As the old saying goes, “how One forkful at a
do you eat an elephant? One forkful at a time”. Break that big goal down
into monthly objectives and then weekly objectives and then daily goals time”
that contribute to the progression of your bigger goal.

Having a huge and overwhelming goal is a common cause of

procrastination. Always take time to plan your steps along the way and
reward yourself when you reach key targets.

What are your own long-term goals? Choose one or two and write them
down. Then write a secondary goal and mini goals for each.
Main goal

Secondary goal

Mini goals

Main goal

Secondary goal

Mini goals

Page 13
4. Eat the frog first
Bear with us on this one…we’re not actually recommending eating frogs
as a means of improving your procrastination. What we mean is that you
should get your biggest goal, or most challenging objective done first thing
in the day.

Eat the frog first basically means get the part of your day that you are
dreading the most out of the way.

It’s part of human nature to put things off that we don’t want to do. We
might not want to exercise today, even though we know we should, and
so we put it off…we procrastinate. However, all that does is make the
prospect of exercise all the more anxiety provoking and negative. The idea
of working out later in the day becomes less and less attractive, especially
after a full day of work for example.

That’s why eating the frog first is a really effective way to avoid
procrastination. When you wake up, you’ve planned your day effectively,
you’ve got a desire to overcome your procrastination, you will be much
more productive first thing.

Whether its exercising, cooking healthy meals for the day, getting on with
your university assignment or completing that big report for work, you will
feel so much better finishing it up before you move on to anything else.

_________________________________________________________________
Be aware of your frogs!
_________________________________________________________________
What are your own
_________________________________________________________________ personal ‘frogs’? Write
_________________________________________________________________ them down here.

5. Now eat the rest

OK so tackling the main task of the day first makes sense and it’s a great
way to manage any procrastination that might get in the way.

But what about the rest of the things you need to be getting on with?

Well, those are important too. You might be concerned that once you
tackle the main thing at the start of the day, that after that you might start
procrastinating on the other tasks on your list.

Page 14
A really effective way to get on with the rest of the things you need to
do and to avoid procrastination as you complete them is to make an
“importance list”

Creating a list of jobs based on their importance is a really helpful step in

overcoming procrastination and maintaining productivity.

An example of an importance list

1 Finish report for boss due tomorrow (the frog, the main thing that
needs to be completed that day).

2 Proof read introduction for assignment due for university next

week.
3 Draft up some ideas of topics I want to discuss for work
presentation at the end of the month.
4 Write blog post for my website.

Creating a list like this is a great way of maintaining your productivity and
reducing your procrastination. Simply work on the next task based on how
important it is.

1 What would your

own importance list
2
look like?
Note down four key
tasks for the next
3
month in order of
importance.
4

Page 15
6. Give yourself ownership over what you do “A recent study
Working out is hard. It can be a real slog. It’s difficult walking into a gym from Edinburgh
for the first time or heading out for that first jog after months of putting it
off. Exercising is one of those things that we as people are notorious for University found that
procrastinating over. We put it off time and time again, even though we
know we have to do it. people who made
Exercise is also one of those things that we are constantly reminded
the decision to run
we NEED to be doing. We see TV adverts about obesity. We watch five miles a week
documentaries about the importance of healthy eating. We read newspaper
articles about the impact that poor physical health is having on our were on average
economy. We may even be told by our doctor that we HAVE to exercise
more and that we MUST eat a healthier diet.
60% more likely to
In many ways it may feel that we often don’t have a choice. Eventually
stick with it after two
we might hear the message so often that we start working out more. We months than people
are so used to being told we HAVE to work out that we just go and do it.
However, after some time has passed, the likelihood is that we will end up who were told and
procrastinating to the point where we have stopped all together. Why is
that?
instructed that they
In part it’s because it was never our decision to work out in the first place.
must run five miles a
We were told by our doctor, the government, the TV, the newspaper, our week.”
partners, family or friends that we MUST start exercising more. It’s like we
never had ownership of going for that run or eating a healthier diet.

The way we phrase things and the way we think about things has a massive
impact on our procrastination levels. If you feel that going for a run is not
something you would choose to do, then you are much less likely to stick at
it.

Instead of buying into the mindset that “I have to exercise because my

doctor told me I MUST”, why not turn that into “I CHOOSE to exercise more
because I know it will be better for my health”.

Instead of thinking “I NEED to eat a healthier diet because my wife told me

I HAVE to lose weight”, why not try “I have DECIDED to eat a healthier diet
because I WANT to lose weight”.

The way we term things and the ownership we feel we have over our
decisions has a massive impact on our procrastination levels.

A recent study from Edinburgh University found that people who made the
decision to run five miles a week were on average 60% more likely to stick
with it after two months than people who were told and instructed that they
must run five miles a week.

Page 16
By taking ownership of your decisions and actions through the way you
term and think about your decisions, you automatically hold yourself
more accountable. Your accountability is no longer with your wife, the
government, or your GP…it’s with you.

Have a think about the things you regularly procrastinate over. Do you feel
you have ownership of them? Do you feel you have chosen to undertake
them?

If not, then think about how you might start to obtain more ownership.
Watch how that has an impact on your procrastination.

1. _________________________________________________________________
Write down two tasks
___________________________________________________________________
that you feel you lack
ownership over. You
2. _________________________________________________________________ will probably use words
like ‘I NEED’ ‘I HAVE’
___________________________________________________________________ ‘I MUST’

1. _________________________________________________________________
Now rewrite them and
___________________________________________________________________
take ownership of
them. You will probably
2. _________________________________________________________________ use words like ‘I WANT’
‘I CHOOSE’ ‘I HAVE
___________________________________________________________________ DECIDED’

Page 17
7 Manage the little things that get in the way better
Little things can really hinder progress towards your goals or objectives.

For example, you might be working on a big report due the next day for
your boss. While you are in the flow and working productively, you are
constantly hit with emails from colleagues. You remember that you had to
email a client and that you had to discuss an IT problem you have been
having with the head of IT in your department.

These kinds of issues pop up for us all throughout the day. They often have
the power to overwhelm us and as a result we may start to procrastinate.

There is a really helpful formula that can help you maintain productivity,
manage the little things that get in the way, and reduce the likelihood of
you procrastinating.

If you are in the middle of working on your main task for the day and you
remember something you need to do, you can do either of two things:

1. If it won’t take longer than three minutes then just do it now, tackle
it as soon as it arises, get it out of the way and get on with the main
task you were originally working on.
2. If it takes longer than three minutes then reserve it for the end of the
day (maybe set aside half an hour to tackle all those small jobs. Make
a note of it and remind yourself to do it at the end of the day and get
back to the task at hand.

If you remember a bunch of things you have to do that day all at once, or
within the space of an hour then write those things down and store them to
come back to during the half hour you have set aside at the end of the day.

Working in this way can really help keep you focused and prevent
procrastination.

Page 18
Summary of key points
There are many reasons why we procrastinate. Here are some:

• Time inconsistency
• Decision paralysis
• Lack of motivation
• Lack of self-belief and worth

If you haven’t already done so, take some time to review the reasons for
procrastination and think about why you personally procrastinate. Consider
all the reasons we have discussed above. Which ones make the most
sense to you? Remember, understanding why we procrastinate is the key
to overcoming it.

Key steps in overcoming procrastination

1 Forgive yourself
The first and most important step is for you to forgive yourself for all
the times you procrastinated in the past. Try not to get caught up in the
negativity of fixating on all the times you shouldn’t have procrastinated.
Forgive yourself and move on.

2 Plan, plan, and plan again

Organising your time, how you get your tasks done, how you will know
they are done and when you are going to do them is a vital step in keeping
procrastination at bay. Set enough time aside to really get to grips with
what you want to do and when.

3 Break those goals down

Having massive goals is challenging at times. Break the goal down into
manageable chunks. Set some weekly and daily goals that are achievable
and help you push towards your main goal. That way you will be more
determined and less likely to be victim to procrastination.

4 Eat the frog first

Do the biggest task on your agenda first thing in the day when you are
most prepared and ready. That way once you are done, you can feel a little
bit better about the fact that you have your main task out of the way.

5 Now eat the rest

Don’t forget about the rest of your tasks. Sometimes when we feel we have
too much on, we procrastinate. Arrange the rest of your daily tasks in order
of importance and make your way down it…

Page 19
6 Give yourself ownership over what you do
Be aware of how you feel about the tasks you are undertaking. Do you feel
pressured into them, or that you don’t have ownership over them? Change
the way you ‘frame’ your goals and the way you think about them to give
you more ownership.

7 Manage the little things that get in the way better

It’s normal that small things will regularly get in the way, distract us, and
fuel procrastination away from the main objectives we need to be getting
on with. Think about how to deal with these small things to ensure you
keep procrastination at bay.

Final thoughts
Procrastination is a daily challenge for us all, but there is plenty you can
do to better understand and manage it. Take some time to work through
this workbook and revisit it when you feel you are starting to procrastinate
again. Have a think about your reasons for procrastinating and take action
to overcome it using the tips we have discussed in this guide.

Page 20
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offers a variety of therapy services and works with people with a wide range
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• Therapy and coaching services for women, men, couples, children, young
people and families.
• Employee counselling, CBT & psychological therapies; promotion of
wellbeing in the workplace; and rehabilitation and personal injury support.

All First Psychology practitioners have excellent qualifications and

experience, so you can come to us knowing that you will see an experienced
professional.
First Psychology Scotland offers:
Therapy & coaching services for women, men,
couples, children, young people & families.

Employee counselling, CBT & psychological therapies;

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