Procrastination is not laziness; it is avoidance of the feeling a task provokes. The pattern is recognisable - you sit down, the task looks large, you do something smaller and feel briefly better. That is why plans fail and tiny starts work: two minutes on the actual task removes the dread that caused the delay. Shrink the first step until it is too small to avoid.
For context: 67.0% of GCSE results in England in summer 2026 were grade 4 or above. — gov.uk, Qualification results in England, summer 2026
Procrastination. Unfortunately a behaviour which plagues us all. But we do need to learn how do deal with it because as Charles Dickens once said:
"Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him."
So today I'm going to explore how procrastination happens and how we should deal with it.
How do we procrastinate?
The scenario goes something like this (see if you recognise this):
A) You want to do a particular task, which is important for working towards your life goal.
B) You put it off, in favour of some short term fun activity such as watching your favourite series on Netflix.
C) You hope to complete your actual task in the future, but you never quite get around to it.
When I am faced with such a situation, I like to firstly think about how my mind is working. I found the blogger Tim Urban from "Wait but Why” excellently explain what is going on in our brain. Blog here or video here.
There is a controversial phenomenon known as Zeigarnik effect which states you are more likely to recall incomplete tasks than completed tasks. The reason often suggested for this effect is that our brain has a tendency to want to finish incomplete tasks. Thus we can use this effect to our advantage as it will potentially influence us to complete the task. [Zeigarnik effect is controversial because some dispute the effect’s credibility].
I also previously talked about discipline and how it can help overcome the instant gratification monkey (as explained in Tim Urban’s article). In truth however there isn’t really a better cure to procrastination then just getting started. So that housework you have been putting off for a while, the exam practice you want to start, or whatever project you want to work on, get started on it today!
"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” - said by many great people including my dear mother :)
Further Reading
1. Procrastinator’s mind [A really cool blog post on procrastination]
What else is worth reading?
- The Motivation Rainbow
- The Benefits of Studying Mathematics in the UK
- The Pros and Cons of Studying in London: A Comprehensive Guide
- The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Study Abroad Program in London
- This 1 reason is why so many intelligent students fail their exams
What are the honest limits of this advice?
The evidence behind study methods is measured as an average across many students, not a promise about one. The EEF toolkit reports months of additional progress on average, with real variation underneath. What works also depends on the subject and where the gaps are.
Officially, this is what a pass is worth — the government lists it as a Level 2 qualification:
“GCSE — grades 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or grades A*, A, B, C.” — gov.uk, What qualification levels mean
What research supports these methods?
The study techniques on this page are not our opinion. Each comes from published cognitive-science research, linked here so you can read the original:
- Karpicke & Roediger, Science (2008) — testing yourself beats re-reading, by a wide margin
- Cepeda et al., Psychological Bulletin (2006) — spacing sessions out beats cramming
- Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest (2013) — practice testing and spacing rated highest of ten techniques; highlighting among the lowest