🔍 Identify your avoidance pattern
Not all tasks are procrastinated equally. Knowing your personal pattern radically changes what type of if-then plan you need.
How are you now? (before the exercise)
0 = no resistance · 10 = maximum resistance
The 4 types of tasks most likely to be procrastinated
Pychyl (2013) identified four characteristics that predict the likelihood of procrastination on a specific task: boring, frustrating/difficult, ego-threatening, or ambiguous. Each type requires a different if-then plan structure.
Urgent-Important Matrix
Add up to 4 tasks and assign them to the correct quadrant. Procrastination tends to cluster in Q2 (important, not urgent) — exactly where the greatest long-term impact lies.
For tomorrow: observe at what time of day you feel the most resistance to the task you identified yesterday. That information is key for placing the if-then plan cue at the optimal moment — not the worst one.
How are you now? (after the exercise)
Journal — Day 2: Your avoidance map
Look at the tasks you procrastinate on most. Do they have anything in common? Are they boring, threatening, ambiguous, perfectly avoidable? What time of day is avoidance worst?