Trying to stop procrastinating? Start with this simple trick.

The first step to beating procrastination is catching yourself in the act.

A few years ago, I was working with a college engineering student who was dangerously close to losing his scholarship. He was a bright kid who loved engineering. Unfortunately, he loved watching old movies even more.

I asked him to track how he spent his time for a week. Being an engineering student, he created an elaborate spreadsheet, recording his activities hour by hour.

The results surprised him. He was spending about 10% of his waking hours doing schoolwork and 70% doing pretty much anything else. Yes you guessed it, rewatching Casablanca and Some Like it Hot.

He knew he was procrastinating. He just had no idea how much.

And that’s something I see all the time with my ADHD coaching clients. They know they are leaving their work to the last minute but they are often not aware when they are procrastinating.

The Sneaky Art of Productive Procrastination

Suppose you’re a college student with a giant chemistry exam tomorrow. You sit down to study, but remember that you also have an English paper due next week. You like English, so you spend the next three hours working on your paper.

This is what we call productive procrastination. You’re getting things done, just not the things you really need to get done. Over the years my clients have done laundry, organized the files on their computer, cleaned out their emails, and written to their Grandma instead of doing the most important task on their list.

For people with ADHD, who often find it much easier to engage with interesting activities than boring or anxiety-provoking ones, productive procrastination can be a particularly inviting trap.

Start by Catching Yourself

One of the first things I do with clients struggling with procrastination is ask them to track it.

Nothing fancy.

• Keep a piece of paper handy and make a checkmark whenever you notice you’re procrastinating. Or use the notes app on your phone. Whatever works.
• I’m not even asking them to stop procrastinating. Just to notice it.
• If you catch yourself after spending 45 minutes researching the best noise-canceling headphones instead of writing your report, make a mark.
• After a week, take a look at what you’ve recorded. You might be surprised by how often you’ve wandered off course.

Awareness Isn’t Enough

My engineering student had one of the fastest turnarounds I’ve seen. Within about six weeks, he went from almost losing his scholarship to getting A’s and B’s.

Problem solved!

Well, not quite.

He stopped coaching, feeling like he had succeeded. But the following semester he came back, again in danger of going on academic probation.

Overcoming procrastination takes more than noticing it. We need to identify our favorite procrastination activities, understand the emotions driving our avoidance, and develop strategies to get ourselves moving.

But before we can do any of that, we need to recognize what we’re doing.

So here’s my suggestion. Spend the next week keeping track of every time you catch yourself procrastinating. Don’t worry about changing anything yet. Just pay attention.

And if you’re reading at midnight the night before an important math test, go ahead and make your first checkmark.