How I learned to actually get sh*t done

Esme Benjamin tackles her inaction at a New York productivity camp

There’s an important thing I need to do. But before I can face tackling it, I’m going to walk down the street to the coffee shop and get a large dose of caffeine. I should also book the weekly food shop online, water my succulents, and Skype my mum, because I won’t be able to focus on the important thing that needs doing unless those errands are out of the way first.

As I sit down to finally do the thing, I check my inbox and notice an email about a flash sale, which reminds me – I still haven’t bought a dress for my best friend’s wedding, and since this sale is only on for 24 hours it makes sense to have a browse now. And by this point it’s almost lunch time and I have a call scheduled after that, so I may as well wait until tomorrow to do the important thing. Tomorrow I will definitely be ready to get it done.

This is how I irrationally waste time and get my own way. Psychologists believe procrastination is the result of hyperbolic discounting – the tendency to opt for instant gratification at the expense of a more worthwhile reward in the future. It’s why we do happy-hour drinks even though we should be prepping for an important meeting, or colour code our bookshelves instead of filing taxes. There’s a gap between intention and action, and it’s filled by a gnawing guilt that’s driving some people, me included, to seek the guidance of procrastination coaches.

At 9am on a Sunday I arrive at the loft-like co-working space in downtown Manhattan that will host the third official Cave Day – a mini retreat with the aim of helping people get their work done, faster. This is not a day-long workshop of productivity exercises, more a space in which people can gather to ensure that things on their personal to-do lists are actually achieved.

THE CONCEPT WAS DEVISED BY THREE ENTREPRENEURIAL FRIENDS

– Molly Sonsteng, Jake Kahana and Jeremy Redleaf – after it occurred to them that “nobody teaches us how to work” effectively. Through a mix of research and their own experiments with off-the-radar productivity days, they formalised a structure that supports achievement. And it begins, predictably, with the confiscation of all mobile devices. I give up guardianship of my iphone and head to a small kitchenette at the rear of the room where strangers are clustered around a buffet breakfast, exchanging introductions between mouthfuls of vegan wrap and organic yoghurt.

The crowd of roughly 50 people skews entrepreneurial – classic millennial ‘dreamers and doers’ who are willing to pay $45 and sacrifice half their precious weekend for a little extra help with the doing part. Meredith Gray, founder of a quinoa snack company,

“There’s a gap between intention and ACTION, filled by a gnawing GUILT”