Moving on from last week, now we can take a peek at some proven strategies to overcome procrastination. We will start with feelings, not with willpower speeches. If procrastination is about mood repair, then your plan should make starting feel safer and the goal feel more rewarding. One proven tool is the “if-then” plan. It’s a tiny script you rehearse ahead of time such as: “If it’s 7:00 pm, then I open my sketchbook, set a 10-minute timer, and block in three values.” These if-then plans work because you’ve already decided what to do when your feelings flare. Studies show they help people reach goals more often. NYU Scholars
Make the first step ridiculously small and crystal clear. “Work on my series” is fuzzy, and fuzzy feels dangerous to your brain. Try something like, “tape two 6×9 panels and make a three-swatch test.” When the step is tiny and obvious, your body relaxes and you actually begin. Small starts teach your brain a new story: “starting isn’t scary; it’s just two minutes of setup.”
Make the reward feel real before you start. Spend 60 seconds imagining the finished piece on the wall, or the relief you feel turning in the assignment. Hear the sound of your signature on the panel. If you are a student see your teacher’s or facilitator's comment. When you make the outcome vivid, your brain counts the “later” reward more, and the urge to escape gets smaller. PubMed
Pair hard tasks with treats. Here are a few; Only listen to your favorite playlist while you gesso, only sip your special tea while you do value studies, or only play that audiobook while you when creating an underpainting. This trick is called temptation bundling, and field studies show it helps people follow through in real life. Use your own version in the studio or classroom. Harvard Scholar
Use short time boxes. Pick a small block like 20–25 minutes. Tell yourself, “Just this block.” When the timer ends, you can stop or do another. Short blocks lower the emotional wall and show your body that the discomfort fades quickly. Two or three small blocks usually beat one giant session.
Shape your space so the right choice is easy. Put tonight’s materials out before you leave the room. Put your phone in another place during work blocks. Remove streaming apps from the device you use for references. None of this is about being “good.” It’s about saving willpower for the art. A little friction on distractions goes a long way.
Practice self-compassion. Beating yourself up doesn’t help you start; it makes the stress worse and the loop tighter. Try, “this is hard, and that’s normal. What’s my next true step?” Research links self-compassion with less procrastination and better follow-through. It breaks the shame spiral so you can return to the plan. White Rose Research Online
Make it ugly on purpose. We talk about his often. I actually have a whole section for my students where we focus on making something ugly. Perfectionism makes the task feel dangerous. Give yourself permission to make a quick, messy first pass such as, five minutes of throwaway marks, a clumsy value plan, a too-bright color note. When the first thing can be wrong, the alarm in your head quiets down and you can keep going.
Write rescue plans for common traps. “If I start Googling ‘perfect brushes,’ then I close the tab and do three, two-inch swatches.” “If the blank page makes my chest feel tight, then I set a five-minute timer and write or draw ugly on purpose.” Pair the plan with a tiny reward like stretching, tea, or some other small rewardd special to you. (note:stay away from your social media for this. Research shows it takes over 25 minutes to get back on track for each social media distraction) Those if-then scripts train your brain to act even when the feeling says “run.” NYU Scholars
Collaborate wisely. Start at the same time as a friend, in person or on a silent video call. Say your first step out loud. Check in at the end. Short, near-term social commitments beat far-away deadlines because they feel immediate.
Rehearse the feeling. Before you begin, say, “The first 90 seconds might feel tight. That’s expected and it fades.” When that wave shows up, you recognize it and ride it instead of trying to fix it with a distraction. Add a tiny ritual, for example; stand, tape, two slow breaths, mark. Rituals give the body a job while your emotions settle.
Make progress visible. Keep a simple log you can see: panels prepped, studies done, minutes in flow. Each mark is proof for your brain that the goal is real and you are the kind of person who starts. End every session by writing tomorrow’s “Next True Step” so your next start is easy.
Lower the volume when you’re flooded. On tough days, begin with softer tasks, pre-choose a palette for the week, or work in a series so today is just “Variation 3” instead of “Invent something amazing.” In class sometimes I give students constrained choices so they can begin instead of freeze. Once they’re moving, then open up options. This works for me at my own studio as well.
Remember, change is practice. Procrastination is an old habit loop. You don’t smash it in a weekend. You replace it with many small starts that feel safe and rewarding. If you slip, that’s not failure. It’s another chance to run your play: notice the urge, name it, do the tiny start, leave a breadcrumb for tomorrow. Over time the studio becomes a place where discomfort can show up and you begin anyway. That’s not just willpower, that’s craft.
If you want a one liner starting prompt to tape above your table, use this: "I don’t have to feel ready. I need a tiny, timed, ugly start that makes the future feel more real than the scroll."
Sources for anyone wanting to go deeper: Steel on procrastination as self-regulation; Sirois & Pychyl on mood repair; McClure and colleagues on “now” vs “later” in the brain; Zhang and colleagues on how task “yuck” and outcome value travel different brain routes; Gollwitzer & Sheeran on if-then plans; Milkman and colleagues on temptation bundling; Sirois on self-compassion and procrastination. PubMed+1White Rose Research Online+1ScienceNYU ScholarsHarvard Scholar
Selected Sources and Further Reading
Piers Steel (2007), The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure, Psychological Bulletin.
Fuschia M. Sirois & Timothy A. Pychyl (2013), Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation, Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
Samuel McClure et al. (2004), Separate Neural Systems Value Immediate and Delayed Monetary Rewards, Science. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1100907
Shichen Zhang et al. (2021), Outcome Value and Task Aversiveness Impact Task Procrastination Through Separate Neural Pathways, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33839771/
Caroline Schlüter, Erhan Genç et al. (2018), The Structural and Functional Signature of Action Control, Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797618779380
Peter M. Gollwitzer & Paschal Sheeran (2006), Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Effects and Processes, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-19538-002
Katy Milkman, Julia Minson, Kevin Volpp (2014), Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling, Management Science. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/juliaminson/files/milkman_minson_volpp_2013.pdf
Fuschia M. Sirois (2014), Procrastination and Stress: Exploring the Role of Self-Compassion, Self and Identity. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/91791/1/ProcrastinationFINAL.pdf
Overcoming Procrastination: A Neuroscience-Based Guide for Creatives | Part 1