Iona learned just how she procrastinates

Find it hard to Get Stuff Done, occasionally? Take our entirely scientific and extremely focused quiz and find out exactly what type of procrastinator you are and how best to overcome it (or simply live alongside it). But do pair all those socks, clean the grout on those tiles and finish reading the seed catalogue that just came through the door first. There’s no rush…

You stayed with friends recently and had a great time. How do you go about the thank you note?

A With careful thought. You know exactly what you’re going to write, but then remember you recently spotted a lovely card featuring their home town. You just need to find that first.

B With gay abandon. It’s fine! You’ll get it done this week. Or next. Or after your weekend away. Actually, aren’t you seeing them again in October? You could take it up then.

C With vigour. You sat down to write one, then remembered there was a review of a play in the weekend supplements that you’d all seen. While reading it you saw an interesting article about fake news, so you shared it with another friend, who sent a message to say you must meet up and… What was the question?

D With a smug smile. Because there was this occasion, after you got married, when you had 200 thank you notes to write, and it seemed like a Herculean task, but you just got down to it over a bottle of wine and nailed the lot. One’s a cinch. It can wait.

E With a circuitous route. You wrote a card but then realised you had loads to say so decided to send a proper letter. Then you needed a bigger envelope. You could just not bother with the card. She’d probably prefer the letter instead.

This year you’ve decided to get ahead of the game and start Christmas shopping early. How’s that likely to go?

A You’ll start on 1 September and set aside a day each week to look for just one well-chosen gift for each person on your list.

B You’ll make a few notes now and then get it done in December. You don’t usually have many other commitments in December, it’s generally a very quiet month socially.

C You’ve got this. You LOVE Christmas shopping! You’ve got a list and you’re going to blitz every corner of the town from the… ooh, BAUBLES! And oh, look! You definitely need that hand-cut wooden centrepiece for your Christmas table!

D Shopping be damned! You once did your entire Christmas shop on Oxford Street on Christmas Eve. It was busy, but it was all done in eight hours.

Even the Sally Army Brass Band looked impressed as you dashed past.

E You are so looking forward to this. You’re going to really get into the spirit of things with a festive podcast to listen to on your journey there, and a few stops for a mince pie or three along the way.

You have a place in a half marathon. Although you had six months to train, you’ve somehow got to three weeks before the event and aren’t quite up to the distance. What went wrong?

A You started a training plan, then weren’t sure it was motivating you, so switched to another. But then you felt some weights would be good too, and the running fell by the wayside.

B No idea. It’ll be fine though. It always is! Three weeks is plenty! It always looks easy when Paula Radcliffe does it.

C You started well and joined a gym so you could stack up some miles on the treadmill, but then you noticed they did a spinning class at the same time. Tried it, loved it then bought a bike on impulse. So now you’ve signed up for a 50-mile cycle race...

D Three weeks? Pah! You’ve got this. Remember that time you did a 5K and hadn’t been running in a decade? Pass the biscuits, you’re trying to watch

Chariots of Fire to get your running mojo back!

E You went out religiously three times a week but somehow never got your times up. It was fun, though. You found an amazing wood and did a bit of light forest bathing and really enjoyed watching the seasons change. Hey – worst case scenario, you can always walk the half marathon.

You have a long report to write for work. You’ve kept the weekend free to get it done. How are you going to make a start?

A The key here is to do it once and do it well, so you will probably have a planning day to do your research and really think about the best way to approach it before you begin.

B It’s really only a four-hour job. You’ll just get it done Saturday morning. All you’ve got in the diary is a haircut and a coffee with your sister, then that lunch workshop you booked in.

C You’re on it like a car bonnet. In fact, you’re off to a car-boot sale this weekend. Last time you were there, you accidentally bought a vintage typewriter. Hey – maybe you could get that out and clean it up and do the report on that?

D In front of a box set after a Sunday roast. You always write better when you’ve got a deadline looming.

E You’re dreading this. So you’ve asked a couple of colleagues over for lunch on the Saturday in the hope that one of them will help you get started (or better still write it for you). At least you’ll have some fun first and you’ll be bound to pick up some ideas.

Note your answers, then turn over for your readiness rating »

YOU ONCE DID YOUR ENTIRE CHRISTMAS SHOP ON OXFORD STREET ON CHRISTMAS EVE