I owe you an apology.

Episode one was me hiding behind an AI voice. Eleven Labs, recreating my voice, because I was too scared to sit down and record myself. Funny reasons aside, the real reason was fear. So this time I thought, fuck it, this is me. Like me or not. Here we go.

This episode is about procrastination. And I'm qualified to talk about it because I've been one of the worst procrastinators you'll ever meet. Two reasons. One — when I was in heavy depression, which I'll get into properly in a future episode on how I beat it. And two — I get bored. I chase the shiny fun stuff and spend hours putting off the boring shit that actually needs doing.

I went deep on the research for this one. Real-world stuff, fun stuff, the science only where it earned its place. What I found surprised me.

Some of what I get into:

• Why procrastination has nothing to do with time management — and what it's actually about (the experts have been getting this wrong for decades)
• Tim Pychyl and Fuschia Sirois on why we delay things to dodge feelings, not work
• Adam Grant from Wharton on why moderate procrastination might actually make you more creative (with examples like Da Vinci taking sixteen years on the Mona Lisa)
• John Perry's "structured procrastination" — the Stanford professor who built a career out of putting things off
• Why your brain literally sees your future self as a stranger — and why that's the real reason you skip the gym
• The doom-scroll problem and how TikTok is basically a one-armed bandit you carry in your pocket
• Why men procrastinate more than women but report being happier about it
• Why beating yourself up makes it worse, not better
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• Notable procrastinators throughout history — Leonardo, Victor Hugo, Margaret Atwood, Mozart, Frank Lloyd Wright — and what they teach us
• The Harvard study on how toxic procrastination links to depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular disease
• Why ADHD procrastination is a different beast entirely (and shouldn't be lumped in with the rest)

If you've ever stared at a to-do list and somehow ended up reorganising your sock drawer instead — this one's for you.

Pull up a chair. Grab a coffee. Or don't. Do it tomorrow. I'm not your dad.

Research Links & References (paste at the bottom of the same description box, leave a blank line first):

• Tim Pychyl – Carleton University research on procrastination as emotion regulation: https://carleton.ca/psychology/people/tim-pychyl/
• Fuschia Sirois – Durham University, meta-analysis on procrastination and health: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/fuschia-sirois/
• BBC Worklife – The real reasons you procrastinate: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200121-why-procrastination-is-about-managing-emotions-not-time
• Dr. Joseph Ferrari – Procrastination research, DePaul University: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dont-delay
• Adam Grant – NYT Op-Ed, Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/why-i-taught-myself-to-procrastinate.html
• John Perry – Structured Procrastination (Stanford): http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/
• Hal Hershfield – UCLA research on the future self as stranger: https://www.halhershfield.com/
• Piers Steel – The Procrastination Equation: https://www.procrastinus.com/
• Erhan Genç – Brain structure of chronic procrastinators (Ruhr University): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180827180917.htm
• Gordon Flett & Paul Hewitt – Perfectionism and procrastination research: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167212445599
• Baylor University 2025 – TikTok and dopamine: https://news.web.baylor.edu/
• Jud Brewer – ADHD and procrastination: https://drjud.com/
• Solving Procrastination – Famous procrastinators through history: https://solvingprocrastination.com/famous-procrastinators/
• NIH – Sirois & Pychyl meta-analysis on procrastination and well-being: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/