1. Name the stuck thing
“Tax return” is an outcome. “Open the tax website” is an action. Find the first visible action.
Wellbeing · getting started
Procrastination
If the task is sitting there glaring at you, the first job is usually not to become a new person. It is to make the doorway smaller.
Try this before buying anything
2. Shrink it
If the first step still feels too large, make it smaller. Two or five minutes can be enough to cross the starting threshold.
3. Focus briefly
Once moving, try one bounded interval. Twenty-five minutes is a useful default, not a sacred number.
4. Reward and step away
A real break, walk, drink or enjoyable activity can be part of the system rather than evidence that you failed to grind continuously.
5. Restart cleanly
Missed yesterday? Do not make today's entry step larger as punishment. Recovery is a skill.
Aletheia
Aletheia AI Procrastination System
The portable Aletheia AI system behind this page is deliberately low-friction. Ordinary language works, and these shortcuts can get you moving quickly:
- I'M STUCK
- START ME
- 5 MINUTES
- TOO BIG
- BRAIN DUMP
- DISTRACTED
- SLIPPED
Choose AI:
Copy was blocked. Click inside the box below, press Ctrl+A to select it, then Ctrl+C to copy. Return to the AI window and press Ctrl+V to paste.
What does the evidence say?
Psychological treatments for procrastination appear to have a small overall benefit in the published evidence; a 2018 systematic review found a moderate effect for the small subgroup of CBT studies, while also warning that the evidence base was limited and heterogeneous. In other words: there are useful techniques, but no magic anti-procrastination switch.
Books worth considering
Learning How to Learn
Barbara Oakley & Terrence Sejnowski. Accessible explanation of learning, focused/diffuse thinking and procrastination.
Procrastination
Jane B. Burka & Lenora M. Yuen. A long-established practical book about why people put things off and what to do about it.
Deep Work
Cal Newport. Useful when the problem is distraction and sustained concentration.
Scope: ordinary procrastination is not automatically a mental-health diagnosis. Severe, persistent difficulty starting or functioning can occur alongside conditions that deserve professional assessment. This page and the Aletheia module do not diagnose them.