This article exists because when it comes to procrastination, we are all useless and ill-equipped to fight the powerful temptations to not do something. But hey, accepting that is the first step to conquering it, right?
Before you take another well-deserved break from having reached that epiphany, it’s worth building up defences with these ten apps and plug-ins designed to defeat procrastination.
LET’S ORGANISE
If you’re the type of procrastinator who doesn’t know where to start, these apps transform chaos into calm. If you’re juggling 5,000 tasks and struggling, we’d recommend mapping it all out on Trello, a kind of digital cork-board. A picture explains it best:
(Image credit: Trello)
Personally, I’m a fan of a Mon-Sun card list system. You can drag each task between days, archive cards when they’re done, or just colour code it to your heart’s content. It’s also super helpful if you need to break things down into day-to-day micro-tasks. You can add people into a team, use it across devices and even use it offline, if you need to check something while you’re off the grid.
Perhaps that’s a little advanced though. For those of you who are completely overwhelmed by what you have to do, ProcasterApp works wonders. It’s a useful organisation and list tool, but the notable part is its QuickTask section. Like a caring parent, the iOS and Android app asks what the problem is, breaking it down into five possibilities:
(Image credit: ProcrasterApp)
It’ll give you some advice on how to tackle your procrastination head on. You’ll probably already know the answer, tbh, but sometimes a bit of reassurance helps.
GUILT TRIPS
If you need nagging to neg you into work, then good news: these apps make you feel like disgusting forms of mass hurtling through life with no direction nor reason.
Checkly is an app that tracks how many times a day you check your phone; Trackr is a Chrome extension which uses your new tabs to map out the time you spend on the internet site-by-site, while Rescue Time does similar while offering to-do lists. That last one even gives you a bloody ‘productivity score’ for the day, which to be honest sounds way too ‘tech dystopia’ for my tastes.
(Image credit: Trackr/Google Chrome)
If you really need to feel pain, Time Waste is a Chrome extension that makes you pay $1 for every hour you spend on Facebook. Feel your hours burn away and go to the pocket of some wise-ass web developers profiting off your laziness. Now that’s motivation.
BLOCK ME
Stuck in an endless social media scroll, watching terrible meme videos or worse, stalking friends-of-friends-of-friends on Facebook? If you have absolutely no restraint, there’s a few ways to block yourself from socials while you get to work.
Even if you have no Self-Control, you’ve probably heard of it: it’s a free Mac app that lets you block websites, set to a timer. Freedom does similar work, but can go cross-device so you don’t just pick up your phone half-way through the blocked time. HeyFocus costs money, but will block apps on your computer too, if you’re partial to a sneaky Steam session.
Of all the apps, my personal favourite is Forest. It’s a timer app for your iPhone (also available as a Chrome extension), which you can set anywhere in-between 5 mins to 2 hours – during this time, a tree grows, unless you exit the app.
(Image credit: Forest)
Then it dies, as does your own karma, since with every tree that grows in-app, you earn coins that go towards planting an IRL tree. Now, procrastinating isn’t just personal: it’s a matter of environmental importance. And if that can’t help you, who knows what can.
Image credit: The Hills/MTV
