About halfway through the year in 2025 I was wrestling with a problem that had me stuck for longer than I want to admit. I had 3 big writing projects I had committed to, and the combined weight of the three was enough to immobilize me.  I wasn’t making progress on any of them, even though I was excited about all three for their various challenges and promises.

I went to a college reunion at the end of May and was complaining about my problem to one of my former roommates whom I hadn’t seen in a quarter-century.  He said, “Nick, just get one banged out. Don’t overthink it.  Don’t be precious.  Just commit to me that when you get back home on Monday, you’ll get started on Project #1.”

I had nothing to lose, so I said ‘sure’, finished my beer, and walked out into the evening already feeling better.

Monday came, and I could see no way out of my commitment to my roommate, so I sat down at the computer and started banging away.  Within 3 days I had a (very) rough draft.  I wasn’t overjoyed with it, but it felt really good to get something down.  And my roommate actually called me to check in at the end of the week, and it felt truly wonderful to say, “Draft done.  Thanks to you!”

He took all the credit, as roommates sometimes do, and I didn’t argue.  The feeling of accomplishment was enough.

I’m pleased to report that I’ve also made progress on the second project, a book on the power of the human voice, working title The Embodied Voice:  Reclaiming Presence, Authority, and Charisma in Leadership.  Stay tuned for more news about that book shortly.

Now along comes a study that suggests that I could have skipped the step where I procrastinated for much too long.  If only I had known about the study (Garg et al., 2025), I could have saved months of aggravation.  It turns out that the way to jump over the procrastination hurdle is to take 3 simple steps in order.

First, label the emotions that you are feeling thanks to the procrastination, whether they are frustration, self-recrimination, guilt, or anger.  Labeling the emotions helps reduce their power to block you.  Once you say to yourself, “I’m frustrated because I’m blocked on this task,” the impediment begins to lose its power over you.

Second, identify an easy, simple step that bites off a small piece of the problem, and get it done.

Third, reward yourself (chocolate, anyone?) for having completed that task successfully.

Presto! You will find that it’s much, much easier to keep going since you’ve established a little forward momentum.

The entire exercise can take no more than a couple of minutes, and you’re well on the way to getting the important job done.

Don’t skip on the reward; the researchers say that is key to keeping the motivation strong. They’ve even developed an app to make this unblocking strategy easier.  It’s called “Dawdle AI,” available only on Apple currently, and it’s free.

So don’t wait until your college reunion to get out from under a task that’s crushing you just thinking about it.  Get emotional, take a small step, and enjoy a quick reward.  Then you’ll be ready to get to work for real.