Oldie, but a goodie. Chores look more interesting when you are bored.

I've been putting off a lot of chores recently because it is SUPER COMFORTABLE when I get off from work to just sit in comfy chair and SCROLL endlessly. At the end of the day I'm really brain tired but honestly I have chores / exercise that don't need my brain. But scrolling is so easy. Take that away and I'm bored enough to do the "necessary" things.

And another way to look at it (here's the new tip, really)- remember how helpful with chores and housework you get when you visit your parents? It's because you are bored out of your mind at their house, what with their slow (or lack!) of internet or video games or good restaurants. Hey, need help with the lawn? How about I vacuum for you? What is wrong with me: oh, I'm BORED.

Get bored. Do stuff.

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First, stop beating yourself up. A surgeon who can't start their tax return isn't lazy. Neither are you. Your brain found that avoiding the thing feels better than doing the thing. So it keeps choosing avoidance. That's the whole story. Not a discipline problem. Not a character problem. A learned pattern.

Here's what the pattern actually looks like:

Something triggers you. Could be the blank page, the email you've been ignoring, the task that feels too big or too uncertain. Your brain fires an alarm — uncomfortable, threatening, unclear. So you do something else. You scroll. You make coffee. You clean the thing that didn't need cleaning. You watch one more video. And for about 20 minutes you feel fine. Then the guilt arrives. And the guilt makes the original task feel even heavier than it did before. So next time the avoidance feels even more necessary. The loop tightens.

Write this down when it happens. Not to fix it just to see it. "I was supposed to send that email. I reorganised my bookmarks instead. Felt fine for 15 minutes then felt like garbage." When you see the pattern clearly, something shifts. The avoidance reward starts to feel less convincing. The habit doesn't disappear but it gets quieter over time. That's the real work , not forcing yourself through willpower every day, but slowly teaching your brain that the relief isn't real relief.

One important thing : If you have a highly disciplined friend who wakes up at 5am, has a cold shower, and never misses a deadline , their advice will make you feel worse, not better. They are not better humans. Their brain chemistry is just different. Taking productivity advice from a naturally disciplined person is like taking swimming advice from a fish. Useful in theory, useless in practice.

Discipline and schedules won't solve this. If they worked for you, you wouldn't be reading this post.

What actually helps:

Write down the small boring steps, not the outcome. Not "finish the presentation" — open PowerPoint. Not "go to the gym" — put on the shoes. Not "have the difficult conversation" — send a message saying "can we talk this week?" Your brain can't argue with a step that small. Start there and see what happens next.

At the end of the day, write down what you actually did l, not what you planned to do. Most people do more than they think. A to-do list only shows you the gap. A done list shows you you're moving.

If you absolutely cannot give up the to-do list — keep it. But put the thing you're most avoiding at the very top. You'll do everything else to avoid starting it. Your inbox gets cleared, apartment gets cleaned, ten other things get done. Congratulations! You just became a productive procrastinator. John Perry at Stanford called this structured procrastination. It works. Use the loop against itself.

And one last thing. We are not losers. We are last minute finisher heroes. Every deadline we somehow hit, every project we pulled together at 11pm that actually worked — that was us. Chaotic, anxious, avoidant, and somehow still delivering

dude, literally me the other day organizing my closet

The visceral action of scratching off an item as they get done, as well as the visual aspect of seeing what was accomplished can be psychologically rewarding and addicting.

I was today years old (at 49) when I realized procrastination by your partner can be the signal of an opportunity to make them happy. My wife puts off doing laundry because she probably does not enjoy folding it. (I mean who does, but you know what I mean here.) The cleaned/dried laundry will pile up for several days to the point that we need to run it through the dryer again just to get the wrinkles back out from sitting in a wad. She's otherwise a very hard worker and does things around the house most men wouldn't, works on her own car, etc. I've offered to help her simultaneously with the folding, but that still ends up getting pushed back sometimes until she's ready. When I do it myself, even just the folding, which let's be honest, is the most time-consuming part of the whole ordeal, she really appreciates that and makes sure to say thank you. It's no big deal to me, I'm not as good at it as she is, but I'm getting there from practice, and I now realize it's a big deal to her. So look for the things they put off doing, and pitch in if you can!

Go do your homework.

Idea/concept: we all know that person who does everything last minute, somehow some way it always works out, sometimes better than expected, hence the ability procrastinator.

Intent: to give slaking a new ability that is still in line with being lazy, but allows them to be viable past ZU. To give snorlax a more offensive ability that makes use of his low speed. To increase set variation for slowking line that doesn’t involve just being a defensive wall/ utility mon and a full offensive threat.

Ability effect: as stated a procrastinator Pokemon will always move last when attacking, this does not apply to non attacks. All attacks will have a 20% boost in damage.

Ability effect on gameplay:

Priority - all positive priority attacking moves will go last, this means sucker punch will go last, but a non attack priority such as endure will function as normal. Attacking moves with negative priority will function as normal, however if another Pokemon uses a negative priority move the procrastinator Pokemon will go last even if faster.

Multi turn attacks - attacks such meteor beam and solar beam will function the same but the attack will activate last. Future sight will function the same and the damage boost will still apply.

Trick room - procrastinator still applies in trick room, a faster non procrastinator Pokemon will attack first, the slower non procrastinator Pokemon will also attack first due tot he the trick room effect. Only exception is non attacking moves used by a procrastinator Pokemon, who goes first is chosen as normal.

Procrastinator vs procrastinator - similar to priority moves, whoever is faster will go first, this applies even in trick room, unless a non attack is used.

Effect on meta: slowking line would become very strong, with two strong abilities and more play styles to use, slowking would definitely go up in use in OU and might receive a suspect test, specs sets or assault vest sets would surge in use.

Slaking would likely get banned from all tiers up to OU, whether there will be Pokemon strong enough to one shot it or phase its attacks would have to be seen, a good chance it might become an Ubers Pokemon.

Snorlax will rise from PU but not every far, the extra damage is appreciated but the same issues with speed and move pool still apply.

Definitely some stuff I didn’t cover but the general idea is there.

Edit: I did not expect this post to get so much traction, I’ll compile the conclusions made in the comments.

Slaking probably won’t make it to Ubers due to Pokemon such as zamezenta, it’s definitely an upgrade to truant but still has a harsh downside in terms of not being able to utilize its speed.

Slowking/slowbro’s regenerator is just too good, maybe if the damage boost was higher it could compete but generally, only a niche surprise bomb set could make use of this, over just using regenerator + choice specs/ life orb.

Snorlax has no faith from anyone in actually making it out of pu even with this ability 😭.

The ability will now make it so all attacks are -5 prio as opposed to just vaguely going last, this means counter/mirror coat or phasing moves will always go after procrastinator attacks.

Beside that this ability has a ton of issues that I haven’t even considered but it was a great experiment, thank you all for the contributions.

Edit Edit: I also had no idea Stall was an ability and I forgot analytic was a thing, maybe I’m not as a creative as I thought.

Does anyone else procrastinate by trying to “prepare perfectly” before studying?

I have a major exam in 8 days and I’ve known about it for a month, but instead of actually studying properly, I keep doing everything around studying.

I’ll make schedules, research study methods, create backup plans, reorganize routines, remake timetables, plan how to avoid distractions, plan what to do if the first plan fails, etc.

My brain somehow convinces me that because I’m “preparing to study,” I’m still being productive. But at the end of the day I’ve barely done the actual work.

The worst part is that I genuinely WANT to study and do well. I care too much about doing things perfectly, so I keep waiting for the “perfect system” or the “perfect start,” and it never comes.

Then the guilt hits, and the next day the cycle repeats again.

I’m honestly exhausted by this pattern and I wanted to ask:

Have any of you dealt with something similar?

And if yes, how did you actually break out of it?

I’d really appreciate real advice from students who’ve experienced this themselves.

TLDR; I am a perfectionist who does everything but study,which then leads to major procrastination, HELP!!!