How to stop procrastinating when you're overwhelmed

When you're overwhelmed, procrastinating isn't a character flaw. It's what happens when there's too much on your plate and too little energy to face it. To stop, you don't need more willpower. You need to work out why you're avoiding the thing, shrink what's in front of you, and then start very small: ten minutes is often enough.

That's the short version. Overwhelm still hits me, and Chapter 7 of After the Crash is where I wrote down what I've learned about it. Here's the longer version.

Why overwhelm makes you procrastinate

In the book I list six things procrastination can come from. Overwhelm is one of them: "Too many tasks, too many emotions, too little energy."

The others:

• Lack of clarity: not knowing what the next step is, or what you even want.
• Perfectionism: the feeling that if you can't do it "right," you shouldn't start at all.
• Fear: of failing, of being judged, of letting someone down.
• Lack of meaning: when a task doesn't connect to your values or purpose, it's hard to care.
• Avoiding discomfort: emotional pain, difficult conversations, facing your own limits.

Here's how I described my own version. Sometimes I put things off because I'm unclear about what to do next. And: "Sometimes it’s because the task feels too big, too emotional, or just too draining for where my energy is."

And sometimes it's simpler than that. Sometimes I just don't have the energy or bandwidth to deal with it. So I default to what feels safe. I cut off, I avoid, or I bury myself in work that feels more manageable, even if it isn't moving me forward.

If you recognise yourself in this, you're not broken. Procrastination is a human response to stress, overwhelm and fear, not just laziness. It's often a sign you need clarity, rest or help, not more willpower.

The busy trap: avoidance that looks like work

Some procrastination doesn't look like procrastination at all. It looks like being busy.

"When I have too many ideas, or too much input, I get paralyzed—not knowing where to start." What I do next is the giveaway: "I’ll stay busy, but it’s the wrong kind of busy". Answering messages. Tweaking systems. Doing safe little tasks instead of the important, scary one.

In Burnout, Bullshit, and Breakthroughs I put it more bluntly: "Being busy is easy. But busyness is usually avoidance."

Sometimes I'll keep rescheduling the thing on my to-do list, telling myself I'll get to it after lunch, tomorrow, or when I have more energy. Sometimes I'll put off a big project until the last minute, then pull a heroic all-nighter to meet the deadline.

Work can become its own form of escapism, something to fill the space so I don't have to feel the discomfort of what's really bothering me. The price is stress, burnout, and a growing pile of things left undone.

When it's not a task but a person

Overwhelm doesn't only hit the to-do list. When I'm maxed out, I retreat from people too. Conversations, messages, even relationships I care about.

If something feels like it will drain me, or I can't see how to solve it, I postpone it. I tell myself I'll deal with it when I have more energy, more clarity, more courage.

The problem, as I put it in Chapter 7: "the longer I wait, the heavier it gets."

I've ghosted friends and delayed hard conversations, sometimes for weeks or months, because I didn't have the capacity to face them. And then, predictably, I feel guilt and regret, and wish I'd just been more open from the start.

So if what you're avoiding is a call, an email to someone, or a conversation, it's the same pattern. "Later" rarely comes on its own.

Step one: see what's actually on your plate

When overwhelm hits, I slip back into old patterns: saying yes to too much, tweaking my systems instead of doing the work, filling my time with busywork. When that happens, I try to pause and look at what's actually on my plate.

The first move is to get it out. When I'm overwhelmed, I do a brain dump: I write down every task swirling in my head. Then I sort it with four questions:

• What actually matters?
• What's just noise?
• What can be done in two minutes (and just get it done)?
• What should be delegated, scheduled, or deleted?

When overwhelm hits hard (and it still does for me), I sometimes use an even shorter version: what's truly important here, what can wait, and what can I drop altogether?

Two things make the sorting easier.

A someday/maybe list. Some tasks just aren't important anymore, or aren't important now. I put those on a list of things I might want to do, but don't need to worry about yet. As the book says: "This frees up my brain for what actually matters."

The calendar. If something matters, it goes on my calendar, not just a vague to-do. Even 30 minutes. And if I have no idea how long it will take? "If I don’t know how long it’ll take, I schedule time to just think about it."

How to stop procrastinating: start with ten minutes

Once you can see the pile, pick one thing. Then make it small.

The book uses an old line for this: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Big tasks become small when you break them into pieces. If something still feels overwhelming, I use a mind map or a messy list of every possible step.

Then I use the ten-minute rule: just work on it for ten minutes. In my experience, "Usually, that’s enough to get started."

If it's been on your list for months, two more options:

• Ask someone to keep you honest. I'll tell a friend, "Ask me if I did this by Friday."
• Hand it off. If a task has been sitting there for months, maybe I'm not the right person for it. Someone else probably is.

Why beating yourself up makes it worse

When I fall back into avoidance, I try to forgive myself instead of spiraling into guilt.

I wrote it plainly in Chapter 7: "beating yourself up only makes it worse. Self-compassion is the first step toward change."

I remind myself: progress, not perfection. The only real failure is giving up entirely.

So when you notice you've been putting something off, go back to the reasons. Is the task unclear? Too big, too emotional, too draining for where your energy is? Are you afraid? I try to approach resistance with curiosity, not judgment.

One thing to try today

Pick the one task you've been avoiding the longest (about 12 minutes in total).

First, name the reason in one line. Use the list from the book: lack of clarity, perfectionism, fear, overwhelm, lack of meaning, or avoiding discomfort. Write it down next to the task.

Then set a timer and work on it for ten minutes. Not the whole thing. Just ten minutes. Usually, that's enough to get started.

This is one person's experience, not medical advice. If exhaustion or low mood lasts, talk to a doctor.

Free: Chapter 7 of After the Crash goes through why we procrastinate, the busy trap, and the tools that help me move anyway. The free edition is here (coming soon)

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Sources

• [atc.c07.why-we-procrastinate] After the Crash, Ch 7: "Too many tasks, too many emotions, too little energy."
• [atc.c07.more-than-later] After the Crash, Ch 7: "Sometimes it’s because the task feels too big, too emotional, or just too draining for where my energy is."
• [atc.c07.emotional-avoidance] After the Crash, Ch 7: "the longer I wait, the heavier it gets."
• [atc.c07.busy-trap] After the Crash, Ch 7: "I’ll stay busy, but it’s the wrong kind of busy"
• [bbb.c10.q-busyness] Burnout, Bullshit, and Breakthroughs, Ch 10: "Being busy is easy. But busyness is usually avoidance."
• [atc.c02.overwhelm-questions] After the Crash, Ch 2: "What can I drop altogether?"
• [atc.c02.brain-dump-sort] After the Crash, Ch 2: "When I’m overwhelmed, I do a “brain dump”—write down every task swirling in my head"
• [atc.c07.ten-minute-rule] After the Crash, Ch 7: "just work on it for ten minutes. Usually, that’s enough to get started."
• [atc.c07.someday-maybe] After the Crash, Ch 7: "This frees up my brain for what actually matters."
• [atc.c07.calendar-not-todo] After the Crash, Ch 7: "If I don’t know how long it’ll take, I schedule time to just think about it."
• [atc.c07.ask-me-by-friday] After the Crash, Ch 7: "Ask me if I did this by Friday."
• [atc.c07.q-self-compassion-first] After the Crash, Ch 7: "beating yourself up only makes it worse. Self-compassion is the first step toward change."
• [atc.c07.takeaways] After the Crash, Ch 7: "Procrastination is a human response to stress, overwhelm, and fear—not just laziness."
• [atc.c07.wish-id-known] After the Crash, Ch 7: "Procrastination is often a sign you need clarity, rest, or help—not more willpower."
• [atc.c07.self-compassion-reset] After the Crash, Ch 7: "I try to forgive myself instead of spiraling into guilt."
• [atc.c09.ego-or-intuition] After the Crash, Ch 9: "I try to approach resistance with curiosity, not judgment."