A low-effort way to stop procrastinating

✅ Today’s tip: To pull off something big, pick out the small (like, really, really small) first steps.

If you’re trying to tackle that nagging thing on your to-do list, Dave Bailey recommends listing out what he calls the “zombie next steps”: the easiest, most mindless things you could possibly do to ease yourself into it.

Putting off writing a work presentation? Your zombie next steps might be opening a Google doc, then giving it a title. Need to finally clean the bathroom? Your plan is to find the Clorox and the scrub brush, then put on rubber gloves. Easy — and now you’ve already gotten started.

“If you can make starting an important task easier,” Bailey writes, “continuing it often takes care of itself.”

📚 More from Forge on beating procrastination:

This Terrifying Chart Helps Me Get Things Done
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How to Work Up the Strength to Work
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If You Think You ‘Thrive on Pressure,’ You’re Probably Wrong
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