Episode #47

The Science Of Procrastination

Everybody procrastinates.

If you type in "how to stop procrastinating" on YouTube you'll likely be presented with countless videos with view counts in the millions. Content creators, coaches and influencers all presenting the solution to our procrastination issues.

Things like the pomodoro technique. Time blocking. Mindset and motivation techniques.

There's no shortage of proposed fixes.

I've always been skeptical of all of it. If it was working, we'd all be making rapid progress and procrastination would be relegated to the history books. But this isn't the case.

We all still procrastinate. And over the past few years of self-observation, I've noticed that it doesn't matter what technique or system I use if there's something deeper going on.

Imagine my jubilation when my suspicions were confirmed. By science!

And in this episode of the ikario podcast, Shane & I interview Dr. Fuschia Sirois from the university of Sheffield on this science and the underlying causes of procrastination. 

In this episode...

Some of the points covered in today's conversation:

  • 00:00 - Intro
  • 03:38 - What is procrastination?
  • 14:04 - Why does shame fuel procrastination?
  • 19:45 - What practical solutions work to help reduce procrastination?
  • 27:11 - Parallels with Radical Honesty
  • 32:12 - Why resolving procrastination should be a priority
  • 35:49 - Dealing with the "too many things" problem
  • 42:51 - Where to go for more

Links & Resources

Over to You

We hope you found this episode useful! What brought you the most value? Do you have questions or feedback? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

You can follow the ikario Podcast on YouTube and also subscribe to our clips channel.


Oliver Cowlishaw

About the author

Ollie is an avid pizza connoisseur, accomplished drinker of coffee and lover of soul music. Heavily influenced by Zen & eastern mysticism, his curiosity regarding the human experience is insatiable. Despite having a strong vocabulary, he swears a lot and uses slang phrases ("ollie-isms") that almost nobody understands, not even himself.

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  • Sally Wallwin says:

    I’m watching this while I’m procrastinating about editing my podcast!

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