DobdobWhy vague plans drift
Procrastination usually isn't laziness. It's avoiding a task that feels unpleasant, boring or big, in favour of something that feels better right now. "Later" is always available, so the task keeps sliding. Then the real deadline appears and suddenly you can write 2,000 words in an evening.
That last bit is the clue. There's an old observation, often called Parkinson's law, that work expands to fill the time available. Give yourself all week and it takes all week, most of it spent not doing it. A close deadline shrinks the time available and the work fits.
What makes a deadline real
Most self-set deadlines don't work because they're not really deadlines. A real one has three parts:
- A specific time. Not "Friday". "By 8pm today."
- A clear finish line. You know exactly what done looks like.
- A consequence. Something happens if you miss it. Ideally, someone finds out.
Take away any one and you're back to "later".
Deadlines don't care how you feel. That's what makes them useful. Also me.
How to set one that works
Make the task small enough to finish
"Write the essay" by 9pm is a recipe for dread. "Write the introduction" by 9pm is doable, so you'll actually start. Break big things into pieces small enough to finish before the deadline you've set.
Set it close
Today beats this week. A deadline far away feels like no deadline at all. If the task is big, give each piece its own short deadline.
Pick a time you'll actually work
Be honest about your day. If you never do anything useful after 10pm, an 11pm deadline is just a delayed flop. Put the deadline right after the slot you'll use.
Remove the escape hatch
Self-set deadlines fail because you can quietly move them. So tell someone the deadline, and make it so they'll find out whether you met it. That's the step most advice skips, and it's the one that matters.
Example deadlines
- Send the invoice by 5pm.
- Revise for one hour by 8pm, proved with a screenshot of your timer.
- Reply to the three emails you've been avoiding by noon.
- Book the dentist by Friday at 6pm.
How Dobdob helps
Dobdob turns "later" into a promise with a deadline. Set what, by when, and pick a snitch who says yes first. Prove it with a tap, a photo, a screenshot or a location before the deadline, which runs on our server's clock, not your phone's, so there's no moving it. Miss it and your snitch finds out. More on keeping promises to yourself.
Questions
How do I stop procrastinating?
Make the task small enough to finish, give it a specific deadline that's close, and tell someone who will find out whether you met it.
Do self-imposed deadlines work?
They work much better with a consequence. On their own they're easy to quietly move, so add a witness who finds out if you miss.
What is Parkinson's law?
The observation that work expands to fill the time available for it. Shorter deadlines tend to mean less drift.