Strategies to avoid procrastination
You've probably been told to "just start", and it's good advice, even if it rarely feels that simple in the moment. The hardest part of any task is usually the first five minutes; once you're past that, momentum tends to carry you. The trick is to lower the bar for starting until it's almost impossible to fail. Here are some quick, proven strategies you can try right now.
Commit to working for five minutes only and let yourself stop when the timer goes off. Five minutes is small enough that your brain's usual objections ("too tired," "no time," "later") stop being convincing. Once you're in the task, the resistance usually fades and you'll often keep going. But even if you stop, you've made a start and have got the hard part out of the way.
You don't have to begin with the hardest part. Pick something easy to get moving – jotting rough ideas on a whiteboard, formatting your document, re-reading last week's notes, or talking the task through with a friend. These are warm-ups, not the real work, and that's the point: by the time you've done a few minutes of something easy, the hard part feels far more approachable.
A task that lives only in your head tends to grow – bigger and vaguer the longer it stays there. Write the first step somewhere you can't ignore it: a sticky note, a whiteboard, the top of a blank page. Keep tasks small. Instead of "finish the essay", write "create an essay outline". Seeing one concrete step stops your brain looping through the whole project and gives you an obvious place to start.
The three strategies above work even better in combination. A good example is the "blank page brain dump". It is quick, low-effort, and visible proof that work has begun. Set yourself a five-minute timer, open a blank document or grab a sheet of paper, and get whatever's in your head out of it: sentences, a rough mind map, bullet points, even illegible scribbles are fine. It doesn't need to be coherent or correct. The point isn't to produce something good; it's to make a start by creating something that you can build on.
Addressing the elephant in the room: your phone
If you're honest about it, your phone is probably the single biggest reason you're not starting. Nearly half of procrastination episodes are triggered by digital distraction, and willpower is no match for a device designed by some of the world's best engineers to hold your attention. Try these three tips:
1 Lock it away – physically. Put your phone in another room. Not face-down. Not on silent. In another room. Nearly half of procrastination episodes are triggered by digital distractions, which helps explain why chronic procrastination has quadrupled since the 1970s.
2 Don't use it for study tasks. Notes, flashcards, readings, and timers can all live on your laptop or on paper. Using your phone as a study tool or a secondary screen puts the most distracting object on Earth one swipe away from every notification you have. A cheap kitchen timer or a browser tab does the same job without the trap.
3 Have an honest conversation with yourself. If putting your phone in another room feels genuinely difficult, that's something worth taking seriously. If you find yourself reaching for it without deciding to, or feeling anxious when it's not nearby, you may be addicted to your phone. This realisation is an important one and the strategies above may not be enough on their own. If that sounds like you, it's worth talking to someone at Monash counselling services about it.
Matching the strategy to the cause
Procrastination usually comes from one of three places and the most effective strategy depends on which one you're facing. Use this as a quick diagnostic when you're stuck.
| If you’re feeling… | The fix is to… | Try… |
|---|---|---|
| Overwhelmed | Break down the assignment into smaller tasks | Making a timeline or a checklist with mini-steps. Eisenhower Matrices are useful to organise priorities. Goblin Tools is also useful at breaking down tasks. |
| Bored or disengaged | Add interest, novelty, or stakes | Changing your environment. Use new tools, like Forest or the quiz feature in NotebookLM, or listen to music while you study. Gamify your studies by using timers or habit trackers such as Pomodoro or Streaks. |
| Afraid of the outcome, due to perfectionism or a fear of failure. | Change the story you are telling yourself. | Rewriting your self-talk: I have to finish. → I just have to start. |
Talking to someone can genuinely help, especially if they can help you isolate the cause of your procrastination. Speaking to a Learning Adviser is a great way to address how you’re feeling and to gain new perspectives, strategies and advice.