How to start a task you keep avoiding: 6 ways in

Pick one task, pick its first step, shrink the step until it takes under five minutes, and say when and where you will do it. The other three ways below are common techniques for making that start easier.

Why a task gets avoided

Research on procrastination keeps finding the same pattern: the more unpleasant a task feels, the more people tend to put it off (Steel, 2007). Sirois and Pychyl (2013) argue that putting a task off gives a quick lift in mood, because you skip the bad feeling now and leave it for later. The six ways in below are aimed at the start of the task, where you decide whether to begin. One of them, planning when and where you start, has strong research behind it. The others are common techniques with little direct research.

1. Name one task and its next action

Write down the task in a line, such as “send the tax documents to the accountant”. Under it, write the next action: the next movement that would count as having started, such as “find the folder with last year’s return”. One task and one next action is enough for today.

2. Shrink the first step

If the next action still makes you wince, cut it down until it takes under five minutes. “Write the report” becomes “open the document and type the title and three headings”. The page on the 5 minute rule shows how to commit to five minutes and decide afterwards, and how to break a task into small steps covers tasks that are too big to see a first step in.

3. Say when and where you will start

Fix the time and the place before you get there: “If it is 6pm and I am at the kitchen bench, then I open the folder and find last year’s return.” Plans in this if-then form tend to make following through more likely. A review of 94 tests, mostly with university students, found a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals, d = .65 (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006).

4. Make the start easy

Set up the place before the time arrives. Put the tools out, open the tab or the file, and move your phone to another room. Each step you remove between you and the task is one less moment in which you can decide to do something else.

5. Start with a timer, and allow yourself to stop

Set a timer for the first step only, and allow yourself to stop when it ends. A timer gives you a set amount of time to work. The procrastination timer guide covers how long to set it for and what to do when it rings.

6. Reward the start

Give yourself a small reward for starting, whatever happens next: a cup of tea, a walk round the block, a tick on a list. We did not find a study that tests this technique on its own, so treat it as an experiment and keep it if it works for you.

If you start and stop again

Try a smaller first step, an earlier time, or a different task from the same list. Our guide to how to stop procrastinating sets out the main moves side by side, and the page on procrastination and laziness explains how researchers define procrastination.

When this is more than a habit

If putting tasks off is affecting your sleep, your work or how you feel day to day, a GP, doctor or psychologist can help. In Australia, Beyond Blue is on 1300 22 4636.

If you're thinking about ending your life, or you're not safe right now, call 000 in Australia or 911 in the US. You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or call or text 988 in the US, any time. Anywhere else, findahelpline.com lists free local lines.

Sources

1. Steel P (2007). The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin 133(1): 65–94. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
2. Sirois F, Pychyl T (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: consequences for future self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 7(2): 115–127. doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12011
3. Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38: 69–119. doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1