Ep 16 | Finding a way to begin (when you’d rather be doing something else)
Every now and then we have one of those moments — the ones where we know what needs to be done, we’ve even planned it out… and yet, we still find ourselves doing anything else instead.
Suddenly the dishes feel urgent. The inbox needs organising. Even the most random tasks start to feel strangely important. And the thing we meant to do quietly moves further and further away.
In this episode of Seasons in Business, I’m exploring that experience — the resistance, avoidance, and procrastination that so many of us recognise, often without really stopping to ask why.
Rather than treating it as something to fix, this is a gentler look at what it might actually be telling us, and how we can move through it.
Understanding the resistance to begin
Procrastination is often framed as a discipline or time management issue. But more often, I think it shows us where there’s resistance to moving forward.
Sometimes it’s the task itself feeling too big. Sometimes it’s fear or uncertainty. Sometimes it's a distraction pulling us away. And sometimes it’s perfectionism — waiting for the right moment before we begin. And often, it’s a mix of all of these, layered together.
It often shows up when something really matters. And when we look at it through that lens, it stops feeling like something to push through — and starts feeling like something to understand instead.
Finding a way to begin
Instead of forcing ourselves into action, we can try a few gentler ways through it.
From “eating the frog” — doing the big, uncomfortable thing first — to short, focused bursts of work, to simple ways of rewarding yourself for starting. It’s less about the perfect system, and more about finding a way to make the next step. Because once you’ve started, it rarely feels as heavy as it did before.
A simple takeaway
At the heart of this episode is a simple idea — that procrastination isn’t a bad thing. It’s often a sign that something matters enough to feel uncomfortable. And in those moments, the most important step we take is the first one. It’s often the hardest but it doesn’t have to be anything close to perfect. Just enough to move forward, so we don’t stay stuck.
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Welcome to Seasons in Business, a podcast for creative business owners who want to build something thoughtful and sustainable, at a pace that actually feels good. I'm your host, designer and printmaker Sarah Phelps, and if, like me, you're craving a slower, more spacious way to grow, with a little gentle encouragement along the way, you're in the right place. So turn off your notifications, grab a cup of tea or coffee, and get cosy.
Hi everyone, and welcome back.
I always hope you enjoy these episodes on a coffee break, or a walk, or a drive, because you've carved out a bit of time for yourself. But I know there's also the possibility that you're listening right now because you're avoiding doing that thing you need to do, but you really don't want to. Trust me when I say that I know this subject from the inside. I have form. So if there's an episode where I can really speak from experience, it's this one.
Because today we're talking about procrastination. Also known as avoiding, delaying, ignoring, humming a tune and looking the other way. Anything but starting, finishing or just doing.
And, I know myself, I've done this so many times — come up with a great idea, felt motivated and ready, and then nothing. A wave of something shivers down my spine, my chest gets a little tight, and suddenly that pile of laundry seems really urgent and much more enjoyable.
Because when something feels big and scary, it can be easy to set it aside to do something else, and promise you'll come back to it later. But the problem is that later often never comes.
That invoice you've been meaning to chase, the client proposal you need to send, and that amazing project you want to start (that in the best possible way feels pretty overwhelming). Or maybe my current favorite, the potential podcast guest you really want to talk to, but feel nervous about reaching out just in case they say no.
We know these things need to happen, but we can find ourselves doing anything else instead — anything that feels productive but isn't the thing: a full spring clean, alphabetising a bookshelf, or popping onto Instagram for a quick scroll, if that is even possible?
It's almost like there's a sudden urge to create order somewhere else. And that's a pattern I've noticed in myself for a long time.
I actually wrote about it a couple of years ago in my small business newsletter. I had a plan to send regular monthly updates starting in January. This wasn't going to be just another “new year, new goals” email, I wanted it to be something slower and more reflective. But it was January, and long before I realised that January is not my month. So I avoided it because it felt hard, and I didn't send it. February came and I thought I'd do it then, but I got busy and it slipped down the list. By March and April, I started to feel like I'd left it too long, and by June it felt strange to suddenly drop in halfway through the year. So it just stayed undone. Until September. Nine whole months later than planned.
What started as a small delay gradually turned into something that felt heavy and hard to come back to. So I decided to lean in and make the delay the focus of the newsletter. And I was surprised when replies came in saying I wasn't alone.
That experience stayed with me, because it made me realise something about procrastination that I don't think I understood at the time. It made me start to wonder… what if procrastination is showing us where there's resistance?
It could be resistance to the task itself — maybe it feels overwhelming or the goal isn't clear. It could be something more internal, like fear or anxiety. Or it could be external, with distractions like notifications and social media pulling you away. And underneath that, there are often other layers too. Fear of something new that feels outside our comfort zone, fear of something going well, and what that might bring. Fear of failure or fear of being stretched too far or too thin.
We all have different motivations and triggers, so none of these reactions are bad. They're just human responses to something that has some importance and power. And while I'm not sure there's any one right way through it, I can share what I've noticed over the years.
And the first involves eating a frog. But not a real frog. The frogs we're talking about here are the tasks we’re most likely to procrastinate on — the scary ones that we tend to put off. And this idea came from a Mark Twain quote:
“If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.”
Have you ever needed to send a slightly awkward email, submit a big funding application, or reach out to someone about a project you really care about, but instead found yourself tidying your desk or suddenly needing to make a very important cup of tea?
Those tasks are the frogs. And the idea here is really simple — so the big uncomfortable thing first. Not later in the day when your energy's lower and your brain is already finding excuses, but right at the start when you have momentum. Once it's done, there's usually relief and satisfaction because the hardest part of the day is already out of the way.
This is the approach I use most often because I do struggle with starting things, especially if they feel outside my comfort zone. So if I notice a bit of resistance, that “oh, I'll just do that later” feeling, I try to catch it early and just make a start. If it's quick, I'll push it to the top of my list and get it done straight away. If it's something bigger, I'll give myself a time limit, maybe an hour or two. And more often than not, by the time the timer goes off, it doesn't feel quite as scary anymore. And most importantly, I can tick it off my list for the day.
Now, the eat the frog approach works really well for shorter tasks, or the ones with clear priorities, but sometimes what we're avoiding is bigger and might take days or even weeks to complete. That can feel much harder to approach because there can be a feeling of ongoing dread.
And this is where time blocking really helps. It's exactly what it sounds like, just putting aside time for it so it doesn't sit in the background, keeping you awake at night. And the key thing here is that it doesn't need to be a huge chunk of time. Start with fifteen minutes, or half an hour, or an hour if that feels manageable. The goal isn't to finish. It's just to begin. Set a timer, and when the time is up, you stop. You can move on to something else or take a break and come back to it. But once you've made that first step and actually started, it rarely feels as overwhelming as it did before. Instead, it can feel satisfying and even sometimes a little bit fun. I've used the Pomodoro method before, which is structured around twenty five minutes of focused work, and then a five minute break, and you just repeat that. It's great for repetitive or pretty dull tasks, but also the tasks that you really don't want to start. These days, I tend to use slightly longer blocks, around fifty minutes with a ten minute break, but it's the same idea. You're just giving the task a bit of structure so it doesn't feel endless.
And sometimes the only thing that works is a bit of gentle bribery. And honestly, if it works for toddlers, it can work for us too. I like to think of it as a work and reward approach. I'll do the thing I've been avoiding, and then I'll deliberately follow it with something small and enjoyable. It's a reminder that starting doesn't only lead to effort or stress, it can also lead to something nice afterwards. That could be a cup of your favourite tea, a slice of cake, a walk outside, or a few minutes doing something completely unrelated and fun — the things you might otherwise find yourself procrastinating with!
There are a few other small things I've noticed that can help too.
If something takes less than a couple of minutes, I try to just do it straight away. It's surprising how much mental space that frees up, and it feels like a quick win.
Breaking things down helps a lot, too. So if something feels big and overwhelming, I try to work backwards to the smallest possible first step. Something I could do in an hour or less.
And distractions definitely play a role in procrastination too, because when something feels uncomfortable, anything else suddenly feels way more appealing. I try to remove as many interruptions as I can, turning off notifications, putting my phone face down on my desk and creating a calm workspace. They're small things, but they can really help reduce the temptation to step away from the task.
And then there's perfectionism, which often goes hand in hand with procrastination. I'm sure the recovering perfectionists amongst us will recognise that we often set our goals and expectations so high that starting anything can feel overwhelming. There's a fear of getting it wrong or not doing it well enough, and then that can bring up guilt about not making progress, and stress because it all feels too much. So we wait. We wait for the right time to begin. But that moment never really arrives. So the project gets delayed or never actually starts. At other times we start, but then get caught in refining and tweaking and trying to make everything just right. And it becomes really hard to know when something is actually finished.
There's a bit of a loop that can happen here. Perfectionism delays the start because we don't feel ready, and it can delay the finish because it doesn't feel good enough. And in either case, things get stuck.
I had a personal realisation about this a couple of years ago when, during lockdown, a creative friend and I were having regular chats about ideas for our businesses, and the different tools and software that we'd been meaning to try but hadn't had the time. We'd finish a call, and within 24 hours, my friend would have signed up and got things up and running. Me? I'd think about it, weigh everything up, sign up for the free trial, and then make a decision around six months later. I used to joke that I was the tortoise and she was the hare. And there is definitely value in taking your time. But I also know that sometimes the thinking time was actually just a quieter form of procrastination. At some point we just have to pause, take a deep breath and say, let's do it and see what happens.
There'll always be tasks and jobs we want to avoid, whether they feel overwhelming, scary, or just plain unenjoyable. But the longer we put them off, the heavier that pit-of-the-stomach dread feels. I think what I'm learning is that procrastination isn't something to beat ourselves up for. It doesn't mean we're doing anything wrong. It might just mean we're standing right at the edge of something that really matters. So it's something to listen to.
And the most important step we take is the first one. It's often the hardest, but it doesn't have to be anything close to perfect. Just enough to move forward so we don't stay stuck.
And I'll leave you with this thought. Is there anything that you've been circling around lately that you could gently begin today for just fifteen minutes without needing it to feel ready or perfect first?
Let me know your thoughts. Come and say hello over on Instagram or Threads @sarahandmaude, or drop me an email at podcast@sarahandmaude.com. I’d love to hear from you!
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Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time.
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