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Tools

Tools for getting started

Small, specific tools for the moment you are about to put something off. They all run in your browser, and none of them needs an account.

Why am I stuck?

Four questions, one for each part of Piers Steel's procrastination equation: confidence, how much the task matters to you, distraction and how far away the payoff is. Whichever part is weakest decides which tool to try first. This is a way to reflect on the problem, not a validated test.

  1. 1. How unsure are you that you can actually do this well?
    I know I canI doubt I can
  2. 2. How boring or pointless does the task feel?
    It matters to meIt feels pointless
  3. 3. How easily do you get pulled away once you sit down?
    I stay on itAnything pulls me away
  4. 4. How far off does the payoff or deadline feel?
    It's closeIt's far away

The tools

Task splitter

Type the task you are avoiding and get a two-minute first step, a short list of bounded steps and an if-then plan for when you will start. Rule-based and private: nothing you type leaves your browser.

1 minute · no account

Focus timer

The classic 25/5 rhythm, or a flexible mode where you stop at a natural break and the rest scales with how long you worked. The clock stays accurate in a background tab.

Fixed or flexible breaks

Smartphone addiction test (SAS-SV)

The ten published SAS-SV items, scored against its cutoffs. Worth taking if the phone is where your delay goes.

10 items · 3 minutes

Procrastination test

Separates plain delay from needing a deadline and from avoiding one specific task, then hands off to the seven-day training loop.

18 items · 4 minutes

Where these come from

  • Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
  • Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
  • Wang, G., Wang, Y., & Gai, X. (2021). A meta-analysis of the effects of mental contrasting with implementation intentions on goal attainment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 565202. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.565202
  • Smits, E. J. C., Wenzel, N., & de Bruin, A. (2025). Investigating the effectiveness of self-regulated, Pomodoro, and Flowtime break-taking techniques among students. Behavioral Sciences, 15(7), 861. doi:10.3390/bs15070861
  • Kwon, M., Kim, D.-J., Cho, H., & Yang, S. (2013). The Smartphone Addiction Scale: Development and validation of a short version for adolescents. PLoS ONE, 8(12), e83558. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083558 (CC BY 4.0)
  • The focus timer's timestamp-based timing follows the design of Pomatez (MIT licence). No code is copied from it.