How to Write to Your Younger Self to Beat Procrastination

Four-panel comic showing a woman writing compassionate advice to her younger self about procrastination and applying it today

Have you ever wished you could travel back in time and give your younger self some advice about procrastination? The good news is, you don't need a time machine. By writing to your younger self about procrastination, you can unlock the compassionate, practical guidance you need right now. This simple four-step process helps you become your own best coach.

Remember a Specific Procrastination Moment

Start by thinking back to one particular time when putting things off really didn't work out for you. Maybe you left an important project until the last minute, or perhaps you avoided a difficult conversation that only got harder. Take a moment to recall the details:

  • What happened
  • How you felt
  • What the consequences were

The key here is to observe, not judge. You're not writing a list of your failures—you're gathering information. This specific memory will become the foundation for the kind, practical advice you're about to write.

Write Kindly to Your Past Self

Now comes the heart of the exercise: write a short note to your younger self about that moment. Imagine you're talking to someone you genuinely care about who's going through a tough time.

What would have helped you back then? What small steps could you have taken? You'll notice something interesting happens when you write from this perspective: your tone naturally becomes more encouraging and less critical. Instead of 'You should have just got on with it', you might write something like, 'Breaking it into smaller chunks would have made it feel less overwhelming'.

Keep your note specific and actionable. General advice like 'try harder' isn't helpful, but concrete suggestions like 'start with just 10 minutes' or 'ask for help sooner' can be genuinely useful.

Find the Gem in Your Letter

Once you've written your note, read it through and look for the most powerful piece of advice. It might be a single sentence that really resonates, or perhaps a practical tip that feels immediately useful.

Highlight or underline this 'gem'. This is the guidance you're going to focus on today. By distilling your letter down to one or two key sentences, you make the advice easier to remember and act upon.

Apply It to Your Life Today

Here's where the magic happens: take that highlighted advice and turn it into today's action plan. Write it on a sticky note and put it somewhere you'll see it. Set a reminder on your phone with those exact words. Make it impossible to ignore.

The beauty of this process is that you're not following generic advice from a stranger—you're following your own wisdom. When the guidance is kind, specific, and comes from your own experience, it's much easier to actually follow through.

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