Procrastination isn’t laziness—it’s your brain telling you the next step feels too big.
When you’ve been putting something off, you’re not just facing the task itself. You’re facing what Jessica McCabe calls the “Wall of Awful”—all the accumulated guilt, anxiety, and emotional resistance that’s built up from previous avoidance. This wall becomes another obstacle you must climb before you can even begin.
The solution isn’t to push harder. It’s to lower your expectations radically.
Do five minutes. That’s it.
If five minutes feels too long, do two. If the task feels overwhelming, you haven’t made it small enough yet. As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Your system right now isn’t “finish the project.” It’s “open the document.” It’s “write one sentence.” It’s “work for five minutes, then take a break.”
This isn’t about tricking yourself into working longer. It’s about making the entry point so small that your brain stops resisting. Once you start, momentum often carries you further—but even if it doesn’t, you’ve still won.
Because 1% progress is still progress. It’s infinitely better than 0%.
What gets you out of procrastination mode isn’t willpower or motivation. It’s action, however tiny. The Wall of Awful shrinks with each small step you take, not with each day you spend thinking about taking it.
Start embarrassingly small. Your future self will thank you.