Trace Back the Pattern

Today’s tasks

• Practice to “Trace back the pattern”

Click on the buttom below to get to the “Trace back the pattern” (5 questions in reverse exercise on this app).

Select task or project that you procrastinated on but at some point managed to complete.

Then go from the endpoint to the beginning, starting with question 5 and ending with question 1.

Trace back the pattern

Analyze the process in a different way and get a different angle by putting the procrastination process in reverse.

Choose a task/project you’ve procrastinated on but ended up doing in the end. Enter a task/project…

5. At what point do you act to clear up a long-delayed commitment? (when time is running out). Enter you answer

4. At what point do you decide to act? (When it is clear that you can no longer tolerate the consequences of delay). Enter you answer

3. How do you lull yourself into complacency so that you further delay? (Do you tell yourself you have plenty of time?). Enter you answer

2. What do you first tell yourself to start delaying? (Do you tell your-self you are too tired? Not ready? Or that the activity is a waste of time?). Enter you answer

1. What happens when you are fisrt aware of an urge to procrastinate? (Do you view the activity as tedious, boring, or threatening?). Enter you answer

Pick the key insights from analysing this situation in reverse order. What have you recognised? Enter key insights.

Cteate pattern (button)

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Welcome back, ________!

In this task, you once again take the role of the detective, questioning how your brain works when you don’t notice.

Recognizing and overcoming any part of a broad procrastination habit requires conscious effort. An exercise that allows you to trace back each phase of the pattern can help you comprehend and dismantle it from a different perspective. So let’s trace back your procrastination patterns, shall we?

Analysis in Reverse

In today’s exercise, you go from the endpoint to the beginning, starting with question 5 and ending with question 1.

By focusing on the point of decision to act and then the actions themselves, you might come to break the habit. You can use the initial discomfort as a catalyst to leapfrog to the decision to act and to the action stage. Skipping the preliminary stages of procrastination and getting to the action is a mental leap, but one that you can profitable practice.

The Benefits

1. You analyze the process in a different way
2. You get a different angle on what is happening
3. You can see that you actually got done what you’ve put off doing
4. You identified the point of decision where you judged that the time had come to act
5. You recognise there is a lot of busywork and distractions that get in the way and further the delay.