I’m a hopeless procrastinator. How do I work up more get-upand-go?

Let go of the concept of creative inspiration or having to be ‘in the zone’. There will never be a right time to get the work done, and if you’re waiting for the mood to strike, you’ll be waiting a long time. James Clear, author of the bestselling behavioural change guide Atomic Habits, advocates committing to a schedule, rather than a deadline. Be specific about when you intend to carry out the task you’re delaying. If life gets in the way, cut it down to size – spend 10 minutes practising the guitar you bought in lockdown, say, rather than the intended 30 minutes. This approach is rooted in evidence. Take working out; when one group of participants in a study were shown pictures that motivated them to exercise and another group were asked when and where they planned to do it, the latter group were 91% more likely to do it. The lesson? Stop waiting for your get-up-and-go, and diarise it.