How to stop procrastinating: 11 methods ranked by evidence

To stop procrastinating, decide exactly when and where you will take the first small step, start a short timer with your phone out of reach, and write down what you finish. Be kind to yourself about the last delay. If putting things off has run your life for months, a structured cognitive behavioral program has the strongest track record.

That is the short version. Below are 11 methods ranked by how good the evidence behind them is, how much effort they take and when each one works best, so you can pick one and start today instead of reading about all of them.

Roomie Cafe is a free focus timer you share with friends. We make it, and working near other people is one of the 11 methods, so we mention it where it fits and near the end. It ranks ninth here, because that is where the evidence puts it.

The 30 second answer

Procrastination is mostly a way of escaping a bad feeling about a task, such as boredom, doubt or fear of doing it badly. Our guide to why you procrastinate covers the research on causes. The methods that work best tend to do one of three things: make starting smaller and more automatic, make progress visible, or make the bad feeling easier to sit with.

If you only try one thing, write an if then plan for the first step of the task you are avoiding, and do it at the time you named.

11 methods to stop procrastinating, ranked

We rated each method on the evidence we could check ourselves:

• Strong: randomized experiments or meta analyses that measured procrastination or goal attainment directly.
• Some: experiments on a closely related outcome, small studies, or mixed results.
• Anecdotal: popular and plausible, but no direct test we could find.

Evidence is not the only thing that matters. A method with some evidence that you will actually use beats a strong method you will not.

Each method in detail

1. If then plans (strong evidence)

An if then plan names the situation and the action in one sentence: "If it is 9 am and I have made coffee, then I open the report and write one sentence." Psychologists call these implementation intentions. They hand the decision to start to a cue in your day, so you do not have to win an argument with yourself in the moment.

They have been tested on procrastinators directly. In one experiment, 152 university students were asked to come to a session. Those who wrote an if then plan about when and how they would get there were nearly eight times more likely to show up than those who did not [1]. A 2021 meta analysis of a related technique, which combines imagining the obstacle with an if then plan, pooled 21 studies with 15,907 participants and found a small to medium effect on reaching goals [2].

Try it: write one plan for the first step of your hardest task, with a time and a place.

2. Track and share your progress (strong evidence)

A meta analysis of 138 experiments with 19,951 participants found that interventions that got people to monitor their progress helped them reach their goals. The effect was larger when progress was physically recorded and when it was reported to others or made public [3].

For procrastination this matters because big tasks feel like nothing is happening. A line written after each work session, "drafted the intro", "fixed two bugs", turns invisible progress into a record you can see.

Try it: keep a notebook or a note on your phone, and after every session write one line about where you got.

3. A structured CBT program (strong evidence, high effort)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for procrastination teaches you to break tasks down, plan, notice the thoughts that trigger avoidance and change your habits over several weeks. In a randomized trial with 150 people, Alexander Rozental and colleagues tested an internet based CBT program, with and without guidance from a therapist, against a waiting list. Both versions reduced procrastination by a moderate amount, and between about a quarter and two fifths of participants showed clinically significant change [4].

A later meta analysis by the same group, of 12 studies with 718 participants, found that psychological treatments in general had a small effect on procrastination. The CBT studies within it showed a moderate effect, though there were only a few of them [5]. This is the most tested option on the list, and also the most work.

Try it: if procrastination is causing you real distress, ask a psychologist about CBT, or look for a structured program from a university or health service.

4. Make the task rewarding now (some evidence)

Long term rewards, like a good grade or a finished thesis, are poor at getting you through the next hour. In five studies, Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach found that immediate rewards, such as enjoying the activity, predicted whether people stuck with goals like exercise and studying better than the delayed rewards people said they were working for [6].

One way to add a reward now is temptation bundling: only allow yourself something you love while doing the task you avoid. In Katherine Milkman's original experiment, people who could only listen to gripping audiobooks at the gym went 51 percent more often at first, though the effect faded over time [7]. A much larger follow up with 6,792 people found a smaller boost of around 10 to 14 percent in the chance of a weekly workout [8].

Try it: pick a podcast, playlist or drink you only allow yourself during the task you keep avoiding.

5. Timed work blocks with set breaks (some evidence)

A task with no end feels endless. A timer gives it an edge. In a one day study with 87 university students, those who took fixed breaks, either the Pomodoro rhythm of 24 minutes of work and a 6 minute break, or a shorter 12 and 3 rhythm, reported less fatigue and distraction and more concentration and motivation than those who chose their own breaks. They finished similar amounts of work in less time [9]. It was one day and a small sample, so treat it as a good sign, not a settled result.

Try it: start a Pomodoro timer and promise yourself you can stop when it rings.

6. Learn to sit with the bad feeling (some evidence)

If procrastination is mood repair, then getting better at tolerating a bad mood should help. Marcus Eckert and colleagues tested exactly that. In a randomized trial, training people to tolerate and change unpleasant emotions reduced procrastination [10].

A simple way in is to name the feeling before you start: "I am avoiding this because I feel stupid about it." In a brain imaging study, putting a word to an emotion reduced the response of the amygdala and other limbic regions [11]. Naming it will not make the feeling vanish, but it often shrinks it enough to begin.

Try it: finish the sentence "I am putting this off because I feel ___", then start anyway for five minutes.

7. Be kind to yourself about the last delay (some evidence)

Shame about procrastinating is one more bad feeling to escape, so it can feed the next round. Across four samples, Fuschia Sirois found that people who procrastinate more tend to have lower self compassion and higher stress, and that self compassion helped explain the link between the two [12]. These are correlations, not a trial, so we rate it as some evidence. It costs nothing to try.

Try it: say to yourself what you would say to a friend who missed the same deadline, then plan the next step.

8. Put the phone out of reach (some evidence, mixed)

In two experiments, having your own smartphone nearby, even face down and switched off, reduced available working memory, especially for people who depend on their phones most [13]. A 2023 meta analysis of 56 studies found that effect on working memory was real but smaller than first thought, and found no effect on other mental abilities [14]. The stronger case is practical: if your escape is the phone, distance makes the escape slower.

Our guide to doom scrolling goes deeper into why the feed is so hard to put down, with eight steps to break the loop.

Try it: put the phone in another room for the length of one session.

9. Work next to other people (anecdotal)

Working while someone else is present, often called body doubling, is popular, especially among people with ADHD. Direct research on body doubling itself is still thin. The closest evidence comes from two vignette studies with 320 and 193 students: people imagining group work where others depended on them reported less procrastination than people imagining working alone, especially habitual procrastinators, and more so when they had committed to finishing on time [15]. That is a promising hint, not proof, so we rate this method anecdotal. Our guide to what body doubling is covers the ways to try it.

Try it: work in a library, call a friend who also has work to do, or open an app where others are focusing.

10. The two minute start (anecdotal)

James Clear's version of the two minute rule says that when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. He credits the idea to David Allen's productivity rule that if something takes less than two minutes, you should do it now [16]. Applied to procrastination, the first step should be so small it is almost silly: open the file, write the title, put on running shoes. We found no trial of the rule itself, but it uses the same idea as methods 1 and 5: make starting cheap.

Try it: shrink the first step until it takes under two minutes, then do only that.

11. Time blocking (anecdotal)

Time blocking means giving each task its own slot in your calendar instead of working from a to do list. It turns "write the report" into "write the report, Tuesday 9 to 11". A meta analysis found that time management in general was moderately related to job performance, academic achievement and wellbeing [17], but those are correlations across many techniques, and we found no direct test of time blocking for procrastination.

Try it: block two hours this week for your most avoided task and treat it like a meeting.

Pick your method

Answer the first question that fits and start there.

• You cannot make yourself begin. Write an if then plan (1) and make the first step a two minute start (10).
• You begin, then drift after ten minutes. Use timed blocks (5) and put the phone in another room (8).
• The task makes you anxious or ashamed. Name the feeling (6) and go easy on yourself about the last delay (7).
• The task is boring and you have to do it every week. Add a reward you only get while doing it (4).
• Nobody is waiting on you, so nothing happens. Work next to other people (9) and share your progress (2).
• Your week is chaos and the important task never gets a slot. Try time blocking (11).
• It has gone on for months and it is hurting your work, studies or mood. Look into a structured CBT program (3) and talk to a professional.
• You have ADHD and freeze in front of tasks. Our guide to ADHD paralysis covers what tends to help, and a clinician is the right person to talk to.

On a bad day, a quote can buy you two minutes of resolve. Our list of procrastination quotes pairs each set with a small action, so the two minutes turn into a start.

Where Roomie Cafe fits

Roomie Cafe combines a few of the methods above in one place. You press start and pick what you are working on, which is a small if then plan (1). The timer gives the session an edge (5). You see who else is focusing right now, with no webcam, no microphone and nothing to book (9). When the timer ends you write one line about what you got done, and it goes to your history and, if you like, to friends' feeds, where they can cheer you on (2). Your history shows a heat calendar, totals and weekly goals.

On iPhone, Focus Shield blocks the apps you choose for the length of a session (8). Roomie Cafe is free with no limit on sessions, on the web and as an iPhone, iPad and Mac app. We have not run a trial of it, so treat it as a convenient way to use the methods above, not as a method of its own.

FAQ

What is the fastest way to stop procrastinating?

Write an if then plan for a tiny first step, put your phone in another room and start a short timer. In one experiment, students who wrote if then plans were nearly eight times more likely to show up for an appointment than those who did not [1].

Why do I procrastinate even on things I want to do?

Wanting the result does not make the task feel easy. Research describes procrastination as a way of escaping bad feelings about a task, such as fear of doing it badly, so tasks that matter a lot to you can be the hardest to start. Our guide to why you procrastinate explains the research.

Can procrastination be cured?

It can be reduced. Randomized trials of cognitive behavioral programs found moderate reductions in procrastination [4][5]. Most people still delay sometimes; the aim is to delay less and start sooner.

What is the 2 minute rule for procrastination?

It means making the first step so small it takes under two minutes, such as opening the document. James Clear popularized this version, building on David Allen's rule of doing any task under two minutes right away [16].

How do I stop procrastinating with ADHD?

The same methods help, with extra weight on making steps tiny, using timers and working near other people. If freezing in front of tasks is constant, talk to a clinician; our guide to ADHD paralysis has practical steps.

References

1. Owens, S. G., Bowman, C. G., & Dill, C. A. (2008). Overcoming procrastination: The effect of implementation intentions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(2), 366 to 384.
2. Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Gai, X. (2021). A meta-analysis of the effects of mental contrasting with implementation intentions on goal attainment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.
3. Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P. I., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., Benn, Y., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2).
4. Rozental, A., Forsell, E., Svensson, A., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2015). Internet-based cognitive-behavior therapy for procrastination: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(4), 808 to 824.
5. Rozental, A., Bennett, S., Forsström, D., Ebert, D. D., Shafran, R., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2018). Targeting procrastination using psychological treatments: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 9.
6. Woolley, K., & Fishbach, A. (2017). Immediate rewards predict adherence to long-term goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(2).
7. Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A., & Volpp, K. G. M. (2014). Holding the Hunger Games hostage at the gym: An evaluation of temptation bundling. Management Science, 60(2).
8. Kirgios, E. L., Mandel, G. H., Park, Y., Milkman, K. L., Gromet, D. M., Kay, J. S., & Duckworth, A. L. (2020). Teaching temptation bundling to boost exercise: A field experiment. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161.
9. Biwer, F., Wiradhany, W., oude Egbrink, M. G. A., & de Bruin, A. B. H. (2023). Understanding effort regulation: Comparing "Pomodoro" breaks and self-regulated breaks. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(S2).
10. Eckert, M., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Sieland, B., & Berking, M. (2016). Overcome procrastination: Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 10 to 18.
11. Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5).
12. Sirois, F. M. (2014). Procrastination and stress: Exploring the role of self-compassion. Self and Identity, 13(2).
13. Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one's own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2).
14. Parry, D. A. (2024). Does the mere presence of a smartphone impact cognitive performance? A meta-analysis of the "brain drain effect". Media Psychology, 27(5), 737 to 762.
15. Koppenborg, M., & Klingsieck, K. B. (2022). Social factors of procrastination: Group work can reduce procrastination among students. Social Psychology of Education, 25(1).
16. Clear, J. How to stop procrastinating by using the "2 minute rule". Retrieved 24 October 2026.
17. Aeon, B., Faber, A., & Panaccio, A. (2021). Does time management work? A meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 16(1).