Overcoming procrastination: why "I don't have time" is rarely about time

What's that still doing on your to-do list?

That idea or action that has been there for so long it has essentially become part of the furniture? It is something important, something you genuinely want to do, something that you know would make a real difference to your work if you just got on with it... and yet you haven't... (yet).

And is the reason it is still there because you "haven't had the time to give it the attention it deserves"?

Or is there something else going on?

The most justifiable of The Four Fears

Procrastination is the third of The Four Fears® and the one that gets the most cover. Because "I don't have time" is a perfectly reasonable thing to say. It is tangible, relatable, and almost impossible to argue with. Life is busy. Running a business is demanding. So many hats to wear. There is always more to do than there are hours to do it in.

Which makes it the ideal hiding place for a Fear that has nothing to do with time whatsoever.

In my experience working with creative professionals, the tasks that live longest on the to-do list are almost never the low-stakes ones. The inbox gets cleared. The admin gets done. The things that feel safe and finite and unlikely to expose you to judgement? Those get ticked off.

It is the other stuff that lingers:

• The pitch to the client you find slightly intimidating

• The offer you want to launch but aren't sure the world is ready for (or, more honestly, aren't sure you're ready for)

• The piece of work that would show people what you're genuinely capable of (which also means it would show them if you fall short)

Those tasks carry risk. And your brain, which is fundamentally oriented towards keeping you safe, will find an extraordinary number of ways to fill your day with things that don't.

This is not a time problem. It is a Fear problem. And you cannot solve a Fear problem with a better calendar system.

The Four Fears®: a quick orientation

I mentioned above that "I don't have time" is the third of four frequently occurring hesitations. If you are new here, here is a short explanation of those Four Fears®:

In my work with creative professionals, almost every form of hesitation and self-sabotage traces back to one (or more) of four recurring beliefs:

"I'm not ready" – perfectionism

"I'm not good enough" – comparisonitis (imposter syndrome)

"What if I don't have time?" – procrastination

"What if I get it wrong?" – fear of failure

These are The Four Fears®. Habitual thinking patterns; defaults your supercomputer brain has set, based on old data, that don't necessarily serve the work you are trying to do right now.

Procrastination is the Fear that hides behind your diary. It is the convincing one. The one that sounds, even to yourself, like a completely rational response to a genuinely full life.

Productivity advice that misses the point

The internet has opinions about time management. Lots of them.

• You have the same 24 hours as everyone else

• Rank your tasks by importance and urgency

• Apply the Eisenhower Matrix

• Download the app

• Block out deep work windows

• Get up earlier

Any of that sound familiar? Of course it does. And here is the thing: if the problem genuinely were about time, some of it would probably help (I will say this though... using some of these to PROVE it's not a time problem can be quite enlightening. See below)

But the problem is almost never purely about time. It is about what we tell ourselves to justify not doing the things that feel exposed. We don't avoid the big pitch because the diary is full. We avoid it because pitching requires confidence, and confidence requires us to believe we are good enough, and on the days when that belief is a bit wobbly, finding something more manageable to do instead is enormously, understandably tempting.

Procrastination, looked at honestly, is often perfectionism and comparisonitis in a fake moustache and glasses. Same Fears, just a different disguise.

Overcoming procrastination: The 20-point challenge

Here is something I use with clients that tends to produce a useful, if occasionally uncomfortable, moment of clarity. And, as mentioned above, it's a time hacking activity that proves your current productivity blocker is nothing to do with a lack of time.

1. For one week, keep a simple record of how you actually spend your working time. Be honest and accurate as to what you do (don't get caught up in what you 'should' be doing)

2. Every task, timed, and written down

3. At the end of the week, give each task a score from zero to five, where five means "completely aligned with where I want my work to go" and zero means "actively pulling away from it."

4. Add up your daily totals. A well-directed working day should produce around twenty points or more

If you are consistently coming in well below that, the question worth asking is not "where did the time go?" but "what was I doing with it, and why those things?"

The answer will almost always show you a pattern. High-value tasks avoided. Low-value tasks completed efficiently and thoroughly. And a very plausible set of reasons why the important stuff didn't quite make it onto the day.

That pattern is procrastination. And now you can see it clearly, which is a considerably more useful starting point than another productivity app.

The list within the list

Here is the part that tends to land hardest.

Once you have your record of what you actually did this week, write a second list alongside it: the tasks you know you should have done but didn't. Not because you ran out of hours. Because something stopped you.

Write them down. Look at them properly. Then ask yourself this, and give it genuine thought rather than a quick answer:

If you had all the time in the world, would you still find reasons to avoid these things?

If yes, time was never the barrier. The barrier is a Fear. And now we can see it, we can do something about it.

Smaller than you think

Overcoming procrastination is not about discipline or willpower or restructuring your entire working week around a new system. It is about building a new habit, one small and repeatable action at a time, until forward motion becomes the default.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

1. Take the task you have been avoiding the longest

2. Make it smaller

Not "write the proposal" but "write the opening paragraph of the proposal." Not "launch the new offer" but "write down what it would include and who it is for." Not "reach out to the new client" but "write three things you could genuinely help them with."

Small enough that the Fear does not fully activate. Meaningful enough that something actually moves.

Do that today. Not when the diary clears. Not when you feel more ready. Today, with whatever time and confidence you currently have.

Then tomorrow.

Then again.

Your brain learns from what you actually do, not from what you plan to do. Every time you take the action instead of avoiding it, you feed it new and more helpful data. Over time, quietly and without fanfare, the habit of avoiding starts to become the habit of doing.

Over to you

Name the task that has been on your list the longest. The one that, if you are honest, has nothing to do with time and everything to do with something that feels a little more exposing than that.

Write it down.

Make it smaller.

Do one part of it today.

Then notice how it feels to have moved it, even slightly, from the pile you are managing around to the pile you are actually working on.

That feeling is not productivity. It is momentum. And momentum, it turns out, is a very difficult thing to stop once it gets going.

"I don't have time" is one of the most common things I hear from creative professionals. It is also, almost always, the least accurate description of what is actually going on. Which is not a criticism. It is an invitation. Because if the real barrier is a Fear, then the real solution is a lot closer than you think.

If you want to go deeper on this, the full Four Fears® framework is in my book: How to Embrace the Four Fears® of Business Ownership.

It includes the 20-Point Challenge, the Act, Auction, Avoid model, and a lot more on what is really going on behind the "I don't have time" story.

You can also book a free 20-minute call with me if you'd like to talk through where you're currently stuck.

Mark Franklin is The Four Fears® Guy: a transformational mindset coach and speaker working with creative professionals across the UK.

If this resonated, drop a comment below or come and find me on LinkedIn. These are the conversations I find most useful, and you might be surprised how many other creative professionals are quietly nodding along.