7 Life Changes That Finally Ended My Chronic Procrastination (After Years of Struggle)

In The Full Story of Why We Procrastinate (Part Two), I shared with you my story on how I finally beat chronic procrastination. And don’t get me wrong, I still procrastinate now and then, but it’s not affecting my quality of life anymore. Or my self-esteem. 

In this article, I go deep into each of the seven strategies that allowed me to take back control of my life:

• Rewiring my mindset

• Regulating my nervous system

• Managing my emotions

• Finding my purpose

• Having the right support

• Building personalised systems

• Creating a healthy lifestyle

This seems like a lot because it is. But you don’t have to do it all at once. It took me more than three years to work on this and I’m still doing it. 

We'll take it slow and dissect each choice and transformation I went through so that by the end of this article, you'll know what it takes and how to approach it yourself.

Let’s go.

Strategy #1: The Right Mindset

The first obstacle I encountered on the way to overcoming procrastination was my mind. How’s the saying going? Your biggest enemy is your own mind? Well, yes and no.

The stories I was telling myself about who I was and what I was capable of guided my choices and my life. My mind had become this well-oiled machine for generating reasons why I couldn't do things. "You're not smart enough." "You don't have what it takes." "Who are you to think you can do this?" 

The thing about our minds is they're not trying to be mean to us. They're trying to keep us safe. And staying small, avoiding risk, procrastinating on the big scary things, that feels safe to our primitive brain. 

How I went from perfectionism to progress

I used to think that if I couldn't do something perfectly, I shouldn't do it at all. 

This limited way of thinking was the biggest procrastination fuel I had. I would spend hours researching the "perfect" way to start my coaching practice instead of just starting. I would rewrite the same email fifteen times instead of sending the imperfect version that would actually move things forward.

After a lot of introspection, I discovered this pattern of perfectionism was fear disguised as excellence. My mind's way of keeping me from putting myself out there where I might be judged, criticized, or, God forbid, fail.

But it was so well disguised that it took me a while to realise this blindspot I had. I truly believed I have high standards and that’s a good thing, but my brain was secretly hijacking my growth. 

So I started to reframe my thinking and focus on progress over perfection. I taught my brain that done is better than perfect. B+ work that exists in the world is infinitely more valuable than A+ work that lives in your head. 

I started celebrating small wins, messy action, and imperfect progress. Because progress, no matter how small, builds momentum. And momentum is what breaks procrastination cycles.

Failure means data

Another massive mindset shift was changing how I thought about failure. 

I used to see failure as evidence that I wasn't cut out for whatever I was trying to do. I would tie failure so closely to my own worth, and funnily enough, I couldn’t do the same with success. Succeeding at something didn’t inflate my self-esteem as much as failure would deflate it. (mic drop!)

I observed this flaw in my mindset and started reframing my relationship with failure. I watched others treat failure like data and saw they were growing rapidly. I thought they must be doing something right, so I tried it myself.

Now I see failure as expensive education. Every time something doesn't work out, I'm not seeing it as failure. Instead, I trained my brain to see it as gathering data about what doesn't work so I can try something else.

This reframe took the emotional charge out of taking action. When the stakes feel lower, procrastination loses its power. I’m not putting my entire self-worth on the line every time I try something new. I’m just running experiments to see what happens.

Self-compassion > self-criticism

The voice in my head used to be brutal. It would berate me for procrastinating, then berate me for berating myself about procrastinating. It was exhausting. Self-criticism never motivated me to take action, it just made me want to hide under the covers. 

I needed to separate myself from that voice so I gave her a name: Marcela. This worked wonders for my awareness as I started seeing that voice as someone else’s and started questioning it. 

Self-compassion was another button for reducing the volume of my inner critic’s voice. 

Self-compassion creates the emotional safety needed for action. When you know you'll treat yourself kindly regardless of the outcome, taking risks becomes possible. I started talking to myself the way I'd talk to a good friend who was struggling. With understanding, encouragement, and patience.

I didn’t lower my standards or make excuses. This is another easy trap to fall into. Self-compassion wasn’t a lie I was telling myself. It was a gift I was giving myself.

And it did create an internal environment where growth could happen. When shame shuts down action, compassion opens it up.

Create realistic expectations

The mind can play ingenious tricks on us, like blinding us to reality. 

In a digital world where we have access to millions of people's realities daily, it's easy to fall into the comparison trap. 

Let me tell you a short story about this. When I was 25, I used to train a lot at the gym. I wanted to be fit and strong, so I went on Instagram and followed a bunch of muscular men who were teaching amazing workouts and sharing valuable fitness tips. I didn't realize at the time that I would end up comparing myself with these guys. I would shame myself if I gained a pound or two around my period or if I couldn't lift as heavy during PMS. 

The fault in my thinking was that I didn't realize how unrealistic my expectations were. I was comparing myself: 1. With people without menstrual cycles 2. With people who were doing fitness as a full-time job 3. With realities that had completely different elements than mine.

I believe this was also tied to my perfectionism because I used to set these massive, overwhelming goals in my business as well and then wonder why I couldn't get started. 

"I'm going to build a six-figure coaching business in six months" is not a realistic first step when you haven't even figured out your niche yet.

I learned to break things down into ridiculously small next steps. 

Instead of "launch my coaching business," it became "research three successful coaches in my field." Instead of "create my signature program," it became "write down five problems I want to help people solve." 

Small steps don't trigger the overwhelm that leads to procrastination.

In my case, building the right mindset created mental conditions where action felt possible, safe, and manageable. When my mind stopped working against me and started working with me, I was facing one less obstacle.

Strategy #2: Safety in the body

When I first heard this, I thought it sounded ridiculous. "What do you mean my brain doesn’t care about my job and chores? I care, so obviously my brain does too." I thought nervous system regulation was just another wellness trend. 

I was wrong. Understanding how my body responds to stress became the missing piece in why I could plan perfectly but still freeze when it came time to execute.

Very early in my childhood, my nervous system became the world's most paranoid bodyguard.  As an adult, it ended up protecting me from the terrifying dangers of checking my to-do list and opening Google Docs.

Because I grew up in an environment where stress was the norm and yelling was the weapon of making everyone else shut up, my nervous system, well, learned this is normal. 

At a young age, the brain is like wet sand at the beach. It takes the shape of whatever keeps pressing into it. Every raised voice, every tense moment, every fight-or-flight response gets molded into the developing neural pathways like footprints in the sand. 

The difference is, unlike beach sand that gets smoothed over by the next wave, these patterns harden and become the default routes your nervous system takes for years to come.

There's much to write about the nervous system and its science, and I could go on for hours honestly (that's how much I love this topic). 

But for your sake, let's now look at some things I did to unfuck my fucked up nervous system so it could allow me to present a live workshop without my hands shaking like I was performing brain surgery or my voice cracking like a teenager asking someone to prom.

Awareness on activation patterns

Your body keeps the score (to quote the famous book) of everything, even when your mind tries to push through. I used to wonder why I could feel motivated in the morning but completely drained by 2 PM, even on days when I hadn't done much. 

That’s when I started to pay attention to what activated my nervous system. Checking my phone first thing in the morning, opening my laptop to 47 unread emails, or trying to tackle my biggest project when I'm already feeling scattered are big dysregulation factors for me.

They might seem like normal work activities, but they were sending my system into fight-or-flight mode before I even realized it.

So I started noticing my patterns. When do I feel most calm and focused? When does my chest get tight? When do I suddenly feel the urge to clean my entire house instead of working on that important project? 

I can confidently say awareness parachuted me half way onto the road to nervous system regulation. Being awake to this knowledge answered so many questions and allowed me to start doing things differently. 

Breathwork and grounding 

But awareness belongs to the mind, and to heal my nervous system I had to nervously press the ground floor button and take the elevator down to bodyland.

I would say timing is very important in this stage because if you force yourself too much to stay in your body, it could actually cause additional dysregulation. 

For me, starting breathwork and grounding techniques was uncomfortable, but bearable. It didn't feel forced, but rather like gently coaxing a scared cat out from under the bed. Slow, patient, and with the understanding that rushing would only make things worse.

So, I started with the most obvious regulation technique: meditation. I used to think breathwork was too simple to actually work. Turns out, simple doesn't mean ineffective.

When your nervous system is activated, your breath becomes shallow and quick. This sends a signal to your brain that you're in danger, which makes it even harder to focus on the task at hand. It's a cycle that keeps you stuck.

My go-to technique is the 4-7-8 breath: breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 7, exhale for 8. I do this when I meditate or three times before starting any task that feels overwhelming. It sounds almost too easy, but it works because it activates your parasympathetic nervous system, the part that says "you're safe, you can think clearly now."

Grounding works the same way. When I feel dysregulated, I literally ground myself. I put my feet flat on the floor, notice five things I can see, four things I can touch, three things I can hear. It brings me back to my body and out of the spinning thoughts in my head.

Physical safety around tasks

Your environment sends signals to your nervous system before you even start working. 

A cluttered desk, harsh lighting, or uncomfortable seating can all trigger low-level stress that makes everything feel harder than it needs to be.

I learned this the hard way when I kept avoiding working on my business plan. I thought I was being lazy, but really, I was trying to work in a space that felt chaotic. 

My desk was covered in papers, my chair hurt my back, and I was sitting directly under a bright overhead light. My nervous system read all of this as "not safe" and kept pulling me away from the work.

Now I create what I call "nervous system-friendly workspaces." Soft lighting, a comfortable chair, my desk clear except for my laptop, mouse, and keyboard. I even have a small plant and a candle that smells like vanilla because apparently my nervous system has expensive taste. 

It sounds almost ridiculously simple, but these small changes signal safety to your body, which makes it easier for your brain to focus instead of scanning for threats that don't actually exist.

The same applies to timing. I used to force myself to work during my most activated hours and wonder why everything felt like pushing through mud. Now I schedule my most important tasks during my naturally calm periods and use my activated energy for things like cleaning or organizing.

Manage overwhelm before it hits

The best time to manage overwhelm is before you're overwhelmed. Once you're in it, your thinking brain goes offline and everything becomes about survival.

I started tracking my overwhelm patterns the same way I tracked my procrastination. What situations consistently push me over the edge? For me, it's having too many open loops, switching between different types of tasks too quickly, or trying to work when I'm hungry or tired.

I created what I call "overwhelm prevention strategies." I close open loops before starting new projects. I batch similar tasks together. I eat regular meals and take breaks even when I don't think I need them. You know, nervous system maintenance.

When I feel overwhelm starting to show up, I have a simple protocol: Stop. Breathe. Ask myself what my nervous system needs right now. Sometimes it's water, sometimes it's stepping outside, sometimes it's just acknowledging that I'm trying to do too much at once.

I’m not saying I never feel overwhelmed. But if I catch it early and give my nervous system what it needs, it settles back into a state where clear thinking is possible. When my body feels safe, my mind can focus. It's that simple, and it's that important.

When your nervous system needs extra tenderness

One last word on nervous system regulation from a trauma-informed point of view. 

I had a traumatizing childhood. Not the big T traumas, but many, many small t traumas. Emotional neglect, bullying, microaggressions, domestic violence. My nervous system was scared and frozen, full of shame and completely alone.

It took me a long time in therapy and in my own self-healing to warm my nervous system up, to make it trust me, and open up to me. So, if you feel like techniques like breathwork, meditation, or others push you way over the edge and you dread them, it might mean you need to take a step back and realign with the rhythm of your nervous system.

That could mean, as it did for me, doing therapy, writing letters to my younger self, befriending my inner child, taking incredibly small actions to make her trust me, or simply doing nothing at all sometimes. Or maybe it means more walks in nature, less drama in your life, or distancing yourself from toxic people. 

Whatever it is, honor what your nervous system is telling you. It's been trying to protect you for a long time, and sometimes the kindest thing you can do is listen to what it actually needs instead of forcing it to do what you think it should need.

Strategy #3: Emotional management

I spent years thinking I was just bad at time management or lacked discipline. Turns out, I was actually a world-class expert at avoiding uncomfortable emotions.(second mic drop) 

The moment I felt even a whisper of anxiety, uncertainty, or potential failure, my brain would helpfully suggest that now would be a perfect time to reorganize my entire closet or research the optimal water temperature for houseplants.

Here’s how I escaped this nasty cycle. 

Identify emotional procrastination triggers

Your procrastination triggers are like emotional landmines scattered throughout your day. You don't see them coming until you step on one and suddenly find yourself three hours deep in a TikTok rabbit hole about people renovating vans.

I started tracking my procrastination for a few weeks to see more clearly what’s happening. Every time I found myself avoiding something, I'd ask: "What was I about to do, and what am I feeling right now?" The patterns became embarrassingly clear.

Fear of judgment made me avoid writing. Fear of failure made me avoid launching anything. Fear of success (yes, that's a real thing) made me sabotage projects right before they were ready. Fear of being seen as incompetent made me research endlessly instead of actually starting filming the bloody videos. Each emotion had its own procrastination signature.

The tricky part is that these feelings often disguise themselves. What I labeled as "I don't feel like it" was actually anxiety. What I called "perfectionism" was fear of criticism. What I thought was laziness was often overwhelm or shame.

Start paying attention to the emotion that shows up right before you reach for your phone or suddenly remember you need to clean the bathroom. That emotion is your trigger, and recognizing it is the first step to working with it instead of running from it.

Sit with discomfort without escaping

This is where things get really uncomfortable, which is exactly the point.

I used to think the goal was to eliminate uncomfortable emotions. Make the anxiety go away, push through the fear, think positive thoughts until the doubt disappears. This approach worked about as well as trying to hold a beach ball underwater. Eventually, it would pop up and smack me in the face with twice the force.

Learning to sit with discomfort is like building a muscle you didn't know you had. The first time I tried it, I lasted maybe thirty seconds before my brain started offering very compelling reasons why I should check my email immediately.

Here's what sitting with discomfort actually looks like: You feel the anxiety about starting that project, and instead of immediately scrolling Instagram, you pause. You notice where you feel it in your body. 

For me, anxiety feels like a tight knot in my chest and a fluttery feeling in my stomach. You breathe with it. You don't try to fix it or make it go away. You just acknowledge it's there but it also isn’t dangerous.

The weird thing is, when you stop running from uncomfortable emotions, they often lose their power over you. It’s like my therapist used to say: "When you try to stop being anxious, that’s where your focus goes, which turns up the volume on your anxiety." 

Grow capacity for handling uncomfortable emotions

Fear loves to dress up as logic. "I'm not ready yet," it whispers. "I need to research more. What if people think it's stupid? What if I fail?" Fear is very convincing because it often contains a grain of truth wrapped in a whole loaf of catastrophic thinking.

I learned to have conversations with my fear instead of letting it run the show. When fear shows up, I ask it what it's trying to protect me from. Usually, it's something valid like not wanting to be rejected or embarrassed. But fear's solutions are always the same: hide, wait, don't try. Which keeps us small, invisible, and miserable.

So I started making deals with my fear. "I hear you," I'd say. "You're worried people will think this video is terrible. That's possible. But I'm going to publish it anyway, and we'll handle whatever happens together." Sometimes I'd set a timer and agree to feel scared for exactly five minutes, and then do the thing anyway.

Your capacity for uncomfortable emotions grows the same way your physical stamina does, gradually, with practice. You start by sitting with small discomforts for short periods. Even 1 minute if that’s the maximum your nervous system agrees with.

Each time you choose to feel the feeling instead of escaping it, you're building evidence for yourself that you can handle more than you think you can. You're proving to your nervous system that uncomfortable emotions won't actually kill you, which makes it less likely to throw you into full panic mode the next time they show up.

Develop emotional resilience

Emotional resilience is a healthy relationship with the full spectrum of human emotions, including the messy, uncomfortable ones that make you want to hide under a blanket fort.

One of my false limiting beliefs was that resilient people didn't feel fear or anxiety or doubt. Turns out, they feel all of it, they've just learned not to let those emotions make all their decisions for them. They feel the fear and do it anyway, like Susan Jeffers would say. They notice the doubt and choose action over analysis paralysis.

From my experience, building emotional resilience was like learning to surf (I don’t know how to surf by the way.) But I’ve seen it in movies and I know people get knocked over by waves many times and it’s a perfectly natural part of the process.

For me, this looked like developing emotional flexibility. Instead of rigidly trying to control how I felt, I learned to flow with whatever emotion showed up while still moving toward my goals. Anxious about the presentation? Fine, I'll be anxious and prepare anyway. Scared about launching the course? Cool, I'll be scared and hit publish anyway.

The most surprising thing about developing emotional resilience is how much energy it frees up.

My god. 

All that effort I was putting into avoiding, suppressing, or fighting my emotions? A huge amount of it, which I now use for actually creating the things I wanted to create. When you stop running from your feelings, you have a lot more energy for everything else.

Strategy #4: Know your WHY

Many people who come to coaching say they want to find their purpose. They think there's some magical moment where the clouds will part, angels will sing, and they'll suddenly know exactly what they're meant to do with their lives. 

I used to be one of those people. I spent years waiting for my "purpose" to show up like a delivery package, complete with clear instructions and a satisfaction guarantee. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work that way, at least for me it didn’t. 

I believe purpose is something you create by aligning your daily actions with what actually matters to you. And most of the time, we're procrastinating because there's a disconnect between what we're doing and why we're doing it.

Here are four strategies I used to connect with my purpose.

Connect tasks to deeper purpose

Your brain is wired to resist meaningless work. If you can't connect what you're doing to something you care about, your motivation will fizzle out faster than a cheap candle.

I learned this lesson the hard way when I used to go to the gym to lose weight. That was a goal of many women around me, but it didn't mean anything to me. I kept skipping workouts and feeling guilty about it, even though "losing weight" was supposedly what I wanted.

Reframing my mindset meant I stopped exercising to "lose weight to look good" and turn it into something actually valuable to me – having more energy, feeling more confident, being healthy. Same workouts, completely different motivation. Suddenly I started being consistent with the gym because I wasn't chasing someone else's goal anymore.

Same tasks, completely different energy.

Start asking yourself: "Why does this matter?" Not the surface-level why that sounds good in a LinkedIn post, but the real, gut-level why that makes you want to get out of bed. 

If you can't find a meaningful connection, either the task isn't necessary, or you need to dig deeper into what it's actually serving.

Identify value misalignment

Sometimes procrastination is your inner wisdom trying to tell you something important: you're spending your time on things that don't align with who you are or what you value.

Like I mentioned earlier, losing weight to look good was not an important value to me. What was more important was health, energy, physical and mental strength. 

Pay attention to what you consistently avoid. Sometimes it's fear or overwhelm, but sometimes it's your internal compass pointing you in a different direction. If you keep procrastinating on something that should be important to you, ask yourself: "Does this actually align with who I am and what I care about?"

This doesn't mean you get to avoid everything that's not your favorite. But it does mean being honest about whether you're trying to force yourself into a life that doesn't fit.

Create meaning in mundane work

Not every task is going to feel like your life's calling. Sometimes you have to do your taxes, answer emails, or update spreadsheets. The trick is finding ways to infuse even mundane work with meaning.

I used to hate doing administrative work for my business. Invoicing, scheduling, organizing files, it all felt like a waste of time that kept me from the "real" work. 

But then I reframed it as me taking care of my business the same way I'd take care of something I loved. Every organized file was an act of respect for my future self. Every invoice sent was me valuing my work enough to get paid for it.

Sometimes the meaning isn't in the task itself, but in what the task makes possible. I don't love writing marketing emails, but I love the conversations that happen when someone reads one and realizes they're not alone in their struggles. I don't enjoy managing my calendar, but I love having the mental space to be fully present with my clients.

Look for the ripple effects. How does this boring task serve something you care about? How does it support your bigger goals or help the people you want to help? Sometimes the connection isn't obvious, but it's usually there if you look for it.

Build intrinsic motivation

Because I’m a nutrition geek, I like to think about external motivation like sugar. It gives you a quick boost, but it doesn't sustain you. And I think about intrinsic motivation like protein. It keeps you going for hours and you can rely on it even during difficult times.

I used to rely heavily on external motivation. Deadlines, accountability partners, public commitments, rewards for completing tasks. These worked for a while, but they required constant maintenance. The moment the external pressure disappeared, so did my motivation.

Intrinsic motivation comes from the work itself being rewarding. It's the satisfaction of solving a problem, the joy of learning something new, the sense of contribution to something bigger than yourself. It's sustainable because it comes from within.

Ali Abdaal talks about this beautifully in his book "Feel Good Productivity." He explains that intrinsic motivation comes from the inside, driven by self fulfillment, curiosity, and a genuine desire to learn and is substantially more powerful and lasting than external rewards. 

When people have power over their own actions, they're much more likely to be intrinsically motivated to engage in them, which is exactly why micromanagement kills motivation.

How to build intrinsic motivation?

You find the aspects of your work that genuinely energize you and structure your days around those elements as much as possible. 

I know this is not easy to do. I know not all people are as privileged as I am with my time and schedule. People work full-time jobs or even two jobs, have kids and many responsibilities. 

But building intrinsic motivation doesn't require a complete life overhaul or unlimited freedom. It can start with finding small pockets of meaning within whatever constraints you're working with. 

Maybe you can't control your schedule, but you can choose to focus on the aspects of your work that align with your values, like helping a colleague, solving a problem, or learning something new.

Even in the most restrictive situations, there's usually some small element of choice. It might be as simple as choosing to approach a tedious task with curiosity instead of resentment, or finding one small way to make your work environment more pleasant.

When your work becomes an expression of your values rather than a list of obligations, procrastination often disappears on its own. The work doesn’t become easy, but it becomes yours.

Strategy #5: Community & support

Let me be honest about something: I had massive support in overcoming my procrastination patterns, and I know not everyone has this privilege.

I had the support of my partner, both mentally and financially, which gave me the time and space to work on myself. When I was spiraling in perfectionism or beating myself up for not being productive enough, she'd remind me that progress isn't linear and that I was being way too hard on myself. 

When I needed to invest in therapy or take time off to focus on my mental health, she supported us financially so I could do that without the crushing pressure of immediate income.

I'm aware this isn't everyone's reality. Not everyone has a partner who can or will provide this kind of support. But if you can work toward finding a supportive partner – someone who believes in your growth and wants to see you succeed – I would prioritize that. It doesn't have to be romantic; it could be a close friend, family member, or even a roommate who gets it. Having someone in your corner who can support you with the responsibilities of the adult life is incredibly powerful.

Build your support network

Even if you don't have that one person providing comprehensive support, you can still build a network of people who are on a similar journey or have overcome the challenges you're facing.

Being close to people who have overcome procrastination and have grown, whether in person or online, is incredibly helpful. There's something about being around people who've done the work that makes your own growth feel more possible. They normalize the struggles, share practical strategies, and most importantly, they prove that change is actually achievable.

It's not for nothing that they say you're the average of the five people you spend your time with. I think this applies just as much to the people you interact with online or follow on social media. 

If your feed is full of people complaining about being stuck or glorifying burnout culture, that's going to influence your mindset. But if you're seeing people who are actively working on themselves, sharing their challenges and wins, and approaching growth with both honesty and hope, that energy rubs off on you.

I started being very intentional about who I followed online. Instead of doom-scrolling through content that made me feel worse about myself, I curated my feed to include people who were doing the internal work, sharing vulnerable insights about their own growth, and offering practical wisdom about overcoming the same challenges I was facing.

The power of professional support

Having a coach or mentor is incredibly helpful, and I'm not saying this just because I'm a coach.

Having someone whose job it is to see your blind spots, call you on your patterns, and hold space for your growth is something you just can't replicate on your own.

A good coach or mentor helps you see yourself more clearly, challenge the stories you tell yourself about why you can't change, and provide that external perspective you need when you're too close to your own patterns to see them objectively.

I invested in coaching before I became a coach, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. She didn’t have magic solutions. But she helped me understand the deeper patterns driving my procrastination and gave me tools that actually worked for my specific situation.

If professional coaching isn't accessible to you right now, look for mentors in other forms. This could be authors whose work resonates with you, online communities focused on personal growth, or even people in your life who've overcome similar challenges and are willing to share their insights.

Create accountability that actually works

The key to effective support is having the right kind of accountability. Shame-based accountability where someone checks up on you to make sure you're being "productive enough." doesn’t fit in my life.

I'm talking about the kind where people hold space for your growth, celebrate your progress, and remind you of your goals when you lose sight of them.

What I used to do and I’m still doing is a weekly check-in with a friend where we share what we're working on and what support we need. You could also join an online community where people are working on similar goals. 

The best accountability I've experienced has been gentle but consistent. People who ask how I'm doing with my goals not to judge me if I'm behind, but because they genuinely care about my progress and want to offer support where they can.

When support feels scarce

I know that for some people, supportive communities feel scarce or completely absent. Maybe you're surrounded by people who don't understand your goals, or you're in an environment that actively discourages growth and change.

If that's your situation, start small. Even one person who gets it can make a huge difference.

Sometimes building your support network means gradually distancing yourself from people who drain your energy or reinforce the patterns you're trying to break. This doesn't have to be dramatic or confrontational. It can be as simple as spending less time with people who constantly complain without taking action, and more time with people who inspire you to be better.

Strategy #6: Personalized productivity systems

After many years of working on my mindset, nervous system, and emotions, I was finally able to think about productivity systems. 

Here are some things I did to work with my ADHD brain instead of against it.

I threw out traditional time management advice and built flexible systems that actually fit how my brain works. 

Instead of trying to focus for hours, I work in one-hour bursts with tons of breaks in between. My attention span is what it is and fighting it was exhausting.

I keep a simple Notion page with my daily tasks, never more than four big ones. Any more than that and my brain sees chaos instead of a plan. I plan at the beginning of each week, not daily, because daily planning felt like another task to procrastinate on.

I’m also batching similar work together. I stopped switching between creative work and admin tasks throughout the day because the mental gear-shifting was costing me too much energy. Now I have creative days, admin days, and client/meeting days. My brain can stay in one mode instead of constantly adjusting.

I work with my headphones on because random sounds completely derail my focus. For deep work sessions, I created a small cubicle space that removes visual distractions. I can literally only see my screen and the wall in front of me. It sounds extreme, but it works.

Oh, and I protect at least one day per week where I do nothing work-related. My brain needs complete downtime to process and recharge, especially after intense focus periods.

These systems aren't revolutionary but they are designed around how my specific brain actually functions rather than how productivity gurus say it should function. 

The key is paying attention to your own patterns and building systems that support them instead of fighting them.

Strategy #7: Lifestyle changes

Your brain runs on your body, and if your body feels like garbage, your motivation will too.

I used to think I could willpower my way through exhaustion, poor nutrition, and zero exercise. When I finally started treating my body like it was connected to my brain, my life got easier.

Regular exercise became non-negotiable because it literally changes your brain chemistry and makes you more resilient to stress. Eating whole foods around 70-80% of the time improved my glucose levels and stopped the afternoon energy crashes that led to procrastination spirals. 

Sleep hygiene was huge. Going to bed and waking up at roughly the same time, even on weekends, helped regulate my circadian rhythm. Getting sunlight first thing in the morning and limiting screens before bed made an actual difference in how I felt the next day.

Time spent outside, even just ten minutes, helped reset my nervous system when I felt overwhelmed. 

I know this sounds like a lot of things to organize in your life. But what's the alternative? Staying stuck in the same patterns that aren't working, feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, and wondering why nothing ever changes?

How Coaching Accelerates the Process of Overcoming Chronic Procrastination

You could figure all of this out on your own. I did, mostly. But it took me years of trial and error, reading dozens of books, trying systems that didn't work for my brain, and slowly piecing together what actually moved the needle.

Transformative coaching speeds up this process dramatically because you get someone who's already walked this path and can help you avoid the dead ends.

Instead of spending months trying to identify your procrastination triggers, a good coach can spot your patterns in a few sessions. Instead of guessing which nervous system regulation techniques might work for you, they can guide you toward what's most likely to be effective based on your specific situation.

The biggest accelerator is having someone who can see your blind spots. When you're stuck in your own patterns, it's almost impossible to see them clearly. A coach provides that external perspective and calls you on the stories you tell yourself about why change isn't possible.

They also hold you accountable in a way that's supportive rather than shame-based. When you want to give up or convince yourself that "this time is different," they remind you of your goals and help you get back on track without judgment.

Coaching gives you permission to invest in yourself and take your growth seriously, which often becomes the catalyst for everything else to shift.

If you're ready to start, you have two options: book a free discovery call if you want to dive deep and see if coaching is right for you, or if you want to take it slower, complete the free quiz to find out why you procrastinate and get some easy personalized tips to start overcoming it right away.

Free quiz here.