Mark: A 2014 study found that up to 95% of college students are regular procrastinators. But here’s the twist: the author we're discussing today argues it has almost nothing to do with being lazy. It's a design flaw in how we see time itself. Michelle: Wow, 95 percent? Okay, so it's not just me. That number is both horrifying and incredibly comforting. A design flaw, though? That sounds like something you'd say about a faulty app, not my inability to start my laundry. Mark: Exactly. And that's the core idea in the book we're diving into today: How to Do It Now: Because Procrastination Gets You Nowhere by Leslie Josel. What's fascinating is that her entire career started from a very personal place—she developed these systems to help her own son after he was diagnosed with ADHD. This isn't just abstract theory; it's born from real-life, day-to-day struggle. Michelle: I love that. It means the advice has been battle-tested in a real family home, not just a research lab. So if it's not laziness, what is it? What's this 'system failure' you mentioned? Mark: It's the idea that we procrastinate not because we're undisciplined, but because our internal systems for managing time, tasks, and emotions are broken. We're working with faulty equipment. And the first piece of that faulty equipment is our own brain's perception of time.

Michelle: Okay, our perception of time. I feel like I know what you mean, but I also don't. It's that feeling when you think you have all afternoon, and then you blink and it's 7 PM, right? Mark: Precisely. Josel calls it developing a 'time sense,' and most of us are terrible at it. We operate on feelings, not facts. She tells this incredible story about a student she coached named Michelle. This girl was a high school junior, a total rockstar—great student, star swimmer, everything. But she was constantly behind on big projects and studying. Her parents were convinced she was just procrastinating. Michelle: The classic story. The high-achiever who secretly feels like they're drowning. I know that person. I've been that person. Mark: So Leslie, the author, sits down with her and asks her to map out her afternoon. Michelle says, "Easy. School ends at 2:45, swim practice is at 5:00. I have about two hours for homework." It sounds perfectly reasonable. Michelle: Yeah, that math checks out. Seems simple enough. Mark: But Leslie was skeptical. She had Michelle do an exercise for one week: track her time in 30-minute increments. Not what she planned to do, but what she actually did. When they reviewed it, the reality was shocking. Michelle: Oh, I'm bracing myself. This is going to be painful. Mark: It was. School ends at 2:45, but she doesn't leave until 3:00. She gets home at 3:10, has a snack. At 3:30, she has to walk the dog. At 3:45, she changes for swimming. By the time she actually sits down with her books, it's 4:00 PM. And she has to leave for the pool at 4:30. Michelle: Wait a minute. That's... that's only 30 minutes! Not two hours. Mark: Exactly. Her entire sense of her available time was a fantasy. She wasn't lazy; she was working with completely wrong data. The stress and procrastination came from trying to fit two hours of work into a 30-minute window, failing every day, and then feeling guilty about it. Michelle: That is so incredibly relatable. I do that with my commute, with cooking dinner, with 'just one more episode' on Netflix. I'm constantly lying to myself about how long things take. So it's not a moral failing, it's a math problem. Mark: It's a math problem! And we cover it up with these mantras Josel points out, like "I have everything under control," or "It will all get done in time." It's a form of denial to avoid facing the terrifying reality that our schedule is a house of cards. Michelle: And when it collapses, we blame our character, not our faulty math. We say, "I'm so lazy," instead of, "I need a better calculator." Mark: That's the paradigm shift. You're not lazy. Your system is broken. Once Michelle the swimmer saw the real numbers, they could solve the problem. She started staying at the school library for an hour before practice. Problem solved. No more procrastination, because the overwhelm was gone. The system was fixed. Michelle: Okay, so my time perception is broken. I'm convinced. I need a new calculator. How do I fix it? What's in this anti-procrastination toolkit?

Mark: The toolkit is wonderfully practical. Josel breaks it down into three areas: mastering your time, your space, and your mindset. For time, beyond the tracking we just discussed, she recommends something almost comically simple: use an analog clock. Michelle: An analog clock? Like, from the 1980s? Come on, that sounds a little too simple. How does that help? Mark: A digital clock just tells you what time it is now. 10:17. It's a static number. An analog clock shows you time as a physical quantity. You can see the 45 minutes you have left as a slice of a pie. It makes time tangible and helps you feel its passage, which rebuilds that broken 'time sense.' It's about visualizing time, not just reading it. Michelle: Huh. I never thought of it that way. A digital clock is a point in time, an analog clock is a volume of time. Okay, I'm intrigued. What else is in the time toolkit? Mark: The Pomodoro Technique is a big one. Working in focused 25-minute bursts with short breaks. It's not about finishing the whole task; it's just about winning the next 25 minutes. It lowers the barrier to entry. But the real magic happens when you combine time management with the second part of the toolkit: your space. Michelle: You mean like, having a clean desk? My mom has been telling me that for twenty years. Mark: It's more than that. The first rule is "everything needs a home." Because if you spend 10 minutes looking for your notes, that's 10 minutes of friction that makes it easier to just give up and check your phone. But the most powerful idea here is that your ideal workspace might not be what you think it is. Michelle: You mean the silent, sterile library carrel isn't the peak of productivity for everyone? Shocking. Mark: Exactly. Josel tells this great story about a student named Ryan. His parents were convinced he was a procrastinator because he'd never stay in his quiet, secluded bedroom to study. He was always wandering downstairs where his three younger siblings were causing a ruckus. Michelle: I can just picture the parents' frustration. "We gave you a perfect, quiet space! Why are you in the middle of the chaos?" Mark: Right. But when Leslie talked to Ryan, he explained that the total silence of his room made him anxious and disconnected. The background noise of his family, the 'commotion,' actually helped him relax and focus. It was a form of white noise for him. Michelle: So what was the solution? You can't exactly do calculus on the living room floor while people are watching TV. Mark: They created a personalized setup. He did his homework at the kitchen table, right in the middle of everything. But he used a cheap tabletop presentation board—like a mini science fair board—to create a small visual barrier for privacy. He'd put in earplugs or listen to music to muffle the sharpest noises. He got the ambient energy he needed without the direct distractions. His productivity soared. Michelle: That's brilliant. It's not about finding the 'best' study spot, it's about finding your best study spot. Which leads to the third part of the toolkit, right? The mindset. Mark: Yes, and this is where it all comes together in what she calls a 'Personal Homework Profile.' Michelle: Is that just a fancy term for knowing if you're a morning person or a night owl? Mark: It's deeper than that. It's a conscious audit of your own preferences. When is your brain sharpest? Do you need silence or background noise? Do you work better sitting still or pacing around? Do you need snacks? Music? It's about designing your work sessions around your personality, not forcing your personality to fit a generic mold of what a 'good student' looks like. Michelle: I'm picturing that 'Hide the Homework' game from the book. Where the author literally hid a student's assignments around the house to make it a scavenger hunt. Mark: Exactly! That student, Rachel, needed movement and novelty. For her, turning homework into a game wasn't childish; it was a brilliant hack that matched her profile. It short-circuited the boredom that led her to procrastinate. The principle is profound: stop fighting against your nature and start designing systems that work with it. Michelle: That feels so much more empowering. It's not about forcing yourself to have more willpower; it's about being a clever architect of your own environment and schedule. Mark: But even with the best tools, the best schedule, the most perfect workspace... sometimes we just... don't feel like it. And that's the final, and maybe most important, piece of the puzzle Josel tackles.

Michelle: Oh, the 'I'm not in the mood' excuse. That is my life's motto. It's the reason my dishes are still in the sink and my emails are unanswered. Mark: It's everyone's motto. And Josel tells this painfully real story of a student who comes home dreading a paper on Jane Eyre. She's tired, she hates the book, and she's just not in the mood. So she tells herself, "I'll just watch one episode of a show on Netflix to improve my mood, and then I'll start." Michelle: I know exactly where this is going. Three hours later, she's deep into a season, the paper is still a blank page, and now she feels even worse. Mark: A thousand times worse! Because now she has the original dread, plus the guilt of wasted time, plus the panic of an even closer deadline. This is what psychologists call 'mood repair.' We procrastinate on a task that makes us feel bad by doing something that makes us feel good. But it's a trap. The good feeling is temporary, and the crash is harder. Michelle: So what's the alternative? You can't just magically make yourself 'in the mood' to write a paper on a book you hate. Mark: You don't. You change the game. This is where the mindset hacks get really powerful. Josel tells another story about a student named Alana. She was a great student, but she would freeze when it came to studying for big exams. The word 'study' paralyzed her. Michelle: That's fascinating. The word itself was the trigger. Mark: Yes. But Leslie noticed that Alana never missed field hockey practice or play rehearsals. So she asked her, "What's the difference?" And Alana said, "Well, that's practice. I'm practicing to get better for the game or the show." So Leslie proposed a simple change: "You're not going to 'study' for your psychology midterm anymore. You're going to 'practice your vocabulary' for it." Michelle: Wow. And it worked? Mark: It worked perfectly. By reframing the task from a vague, overwhelming concept—'study'—to a concrete, action-oriented one—'practice'—it defused the emotional bomb. It aligned the task with a mindset that already worked for her. Michelle: That's a Jedi mind trick. It's about changing the story you tell yourself about the work. Which I guess connects to the other big emotional trigger: perfectionism. The "if I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it at all" trap. Mark: The ultimate procrastination fuel. And the antidote she offers comes from the tech world: the MVP, or 'Minimum Viable Product.' Don't try to write the perfect A+ paper. Just write a 'C' paper. Just get a draft on the page. The goal is not perfection; the goal is completion. You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank one. Michelle: So what's the mantra? What do you tell yourself when that perfectionist voice kicks in and tells you not to even start? Mark: The mantra is simple, and you have to say it out loud: "It's good enough." Just get it done. "It's good enough." It gives you permission to be human and to make progress, which is infinitely more valuable than waiting for a perfection that will never arrive.

Michelle: Okay, so putting this all together... we've talked about time perception, our physical space, and now these deep emotional triggers like fear and perfectionism. When you boil it all down, what's the one big idea we should walk away with from this book? Mark: I think it's that procrastination is a signal. It's not a sign that you're broken or lazy. It's a signal that your system is broken, that your environment is working against you, or that a powerful emotion like fear is in the driver's seat. The beauty of this book is that it gives you the diagnostic tools to understand the signal, and the practical toolkit to fix it, instead of just feeling guilty about it. Michelle: I love that. Don't just suffer from the symptom, diagnose the cause. It's about being a detective of your own habits, not a judge of your own character. Mark: Exactly. And if someone listening is feeling that overwhelm right now, stuck and not knowing where to start, Josel has a brilliant question to ask yourself. Michelle: What is it? Mark: "What is the smallest thing I’m willing to do?" Not the whole project. Not even the first big step. The absolute, tiniest, most laughably small action. Is it opening the document? Is it finding the textbook? Is it writing one sentence? Just do that. That's how you break the inertia. Michelle: That's so achievable. I feel like I could do that right now. I'm so curious what our listeners' go-to procrastination-busters are. Or maybe their biggest procrastination confessions! Share them with us. We'd love to hear them. Mark: That would be fantastic. It's a universal struggle, and we can all learn from each other's tricks. Michelle: Absolutely. This has been so insightful. It makes me want to go buy an analog clock immediately. Mark: This is Aibrary, signing off.