How to stop procrastinating over your PhD and get that thing finished!
PhD students and procrastination go together like, well - things that go together! So, what should you do when you just don’t feel like it? Well, here’s my PhD student guide to beating procrastination without beating yourself up.
So, you planned to start writing at 8am. You made your coffee. You even opened your laptop. But somehow it’s now 11:14 and all you’ve done is scroll, sulk, snack, and spiral.
Sound familiar?
You’re not lazy. You’re not broken. You’re not failing at this whole PhD thing.
You’re just in the same boat as pretty much everyone doing a long, lonely, and overwhelming research project.
And the truth is, you don’t have to feel like doing something in order to do it. Wild, I know. But stay with me.
Motivation, meh
Whoever felt super ready and motivated to work on their PhD on a day they set aside to work on their PhD? No one!
A lot of the time, you set aside that slot to do PhD work, it comes around and you’re like, meh.
Let’s bust this one early: there is no magical moment where you’ll feel 100% ready, focused, motivated, and serene. If you’re waiting for that feeling - you’ll be waiting forever.
You don’t need motivation to start. You need momentum.
That tiny, scrappy first step (even if it’s just opening the document or writing a sentence that feels like complete nonsense) is how you generate motivation - not the other way around.
Because let’s be honest: procrastination isn’t about time. It’s about emotion.
Most of the time, when you’re procrastinating, you’re not being “disorganised.” You’re feeling something uncomfortable - anxiety, fear of failure, imposter syndrome, overwhelm, perfectionism - and avoiding the task is a way to avoid the feeling that comes with it.
And that makes total sense. Who wants to sit down and face a chapter they don’t know how to start, a concept they barely understand, or feedback that made them cry last time?
Your brain’s doing its job: keeping you safe from discomfort. But safe doesn’t get the thing done.
Comparison is not your friend!
One of the biggest reasons PhD students feel like they’re failing is because they're constantly comparing themselves to others. And in the age of study with me videos, PhD Day in the Life reels, and perfectly colour-coded desk setups, that comparison can spiral fast.
You’ll see someone posting, “Just finished my sunrise journaling session and now I’m diving into 12 solid hours of writing by candlelight,” (yuck) while you’re still in bed wondering if a pack of free cookies you swiped from last week’s research seminar counts as a meal.
Let me say this clearly: those people are making content, not documenting reality. Their perfect morning routine is a highlight reel - not the messy middle you’re living in.
Progress doesn’t need to be pretty. It just needs to happen.
And you know those PhD vanity people posting on social media all the time? They may not be doing as well as you might think (ask me how I know this, lol!).
What to do if you’ve already “wasted” time
So, what if it is one of those days when you told yourself you'd start writing at 8am. But it’s now 11, and you’ve done nothing. So you decide, “I’ve ruined the day already - might as well start fresh tomorrow.”
Let’s pause.
You didn’t ruin anything. You just had a wobbly start.
It doesn’t mean you can’t do something now. Or in an hour. Or after lunch.
Plans are great, but they’re not contracts. No one is going to tell you off for not getting into it at 0800!
So, stop telling yourself off! You made the plan. You can change the plan.
You can say, “Okay, an 0800 start didn’t work out today so instead I’m going to go for a 1300 start instead, and that’s fine”
Plans are just a way to organise your day - not a moral measure of your worth as a student or human – and if you have to change them, no worries.
Late starts still count. Half-written paragraphs still count. Getting back into it at 3pm still counts.
And one of the best ways to break out of a procrastination loop is to lower your expectations - aggressively.
Instead of saying, “I have to finish this whole section today,” try:
“I’ll write three scrappy bullet points.”
“I’ll read for ten minutes and highlight one thing.”
“I’ll just open the doc and write one sentence.”
Often, once you start, your brain shifts gears, and you end up doing more than you thought. But even if you don’t? Those small steps still move the needle.
Tiny, doable tasks get you unstuck.
And this is also where things like the Cheat Sheet Library come in. When you don’t know what to write or how to start, that blank page can feel like an enemy. But when you’ve got stuff like sentence starters for your lit review or discussion chapter, a structure for your aims and objectives or a guide that says, “Hey, here’s how to write your abstract without losing your mind”? – things just feel a bit less overwhelming. It gives you a way in, so you don’t have to generate something from scratch when you’re already like, “Argh!”.
“Plans are just a way to organise your day - not a moral measure of your worth as a student or human – and if you have to change them, no worries.”
The perfectionist trap
Another thing I want to talk about is perfectionism.
Your PhD doesn’t need you to be perfect - it needs you to be present
Procrastination thrives on all-or-nothing thinking.
“I didn’t do it exactly as planned, so it doesn’t count.”
“I missed my ideal start time, so there’s no point now.”
“I’m behind, so I’ll never catch up.”
Here’s a reframe: progress is not linear. It's weird. It's patchy. It's sometimes boring. Sometimes it's slow. And sometimes it's a single sentence that took you three hours to write. But that sentence? Still counts.
The fact you just kind of shuffled forward today instead of leaping forward – you still moved forward.
Try this next time you’re stuck
If you’re reading this while procrastinating (hi 👋), try this quick process to gently get back on track:
Name the feeling. Is it dread? Overwhelm? Confusion? Naming it helps reduce its power.
Take a tiny action. Open the doc. Write one sentence. Read one paragraph. Keep it small.
Use a tool. Grab a sentence starter from the Cheat Sheet Library or a free planner from the internet guide your next step.
Set a timer. Work for 5 or 10 minutes. That’s it. You can stop after that if you want.
Celebrate the win. Yes, seriously. You fought through the resistance and did something. That matters.
You’re not a machine - you’re a human doing an extremely demanding thing. Some days, you’ll feel like a productivity superhero. Other days, you’ll feel like a potato. Both are valid.
The goal isn’t to feel motivated all the time, it’s to find ways to keep going even when you don’t.
And if you want a little help with that? My Cheat Sheet Library is here for you. With over 40 tools (and counting), it’s designed to help you start, shape, and finish parts of your thesis without the drama. So, go take a look!