Programma's · Procrastination · Start Small
Start Small
Beating procrastination with CBT
Procrastination isn't a time problem or a character flaw — it's a mood-repair habit: the task feels bad, avoiding it feels better right now, and the relief keeps the loop running. This program re-engineers the mechanics: shrink the start until the feeling stops mattering, schedule it so intention isn't in charge, and let your own start log prove the dread was overbidding. One minute of logging a day, three short sessions a week.
The relief trap has a shape
- There's a task you think about in the shower and never at your desk.
- You open the document, feel the wall, and find something easier to 'just quickly' do first.
- "I work better under pressure" — but the pressure weeks feel terrible and the work isn't actually better.
- The longer it waits, the heavier it gets — and the heavier it gets, the longer it waits.
- You've paid weeks of dread-interest on a task that would've taken an afternoon.
Your start log drives the program
Not a course you watch — a loop you run. Start Small reads your evenings and re-sizes your tasks, the way behavioral activation doses action: small scheduled starts first, motivation after.
Measure
A sixty-second evening log: starts planned, starts made, how long you stalled, and what the detour looked like. Starts, not finishes.
daily · 1 minLearn
Short sessions with Nina teach the method — the relief trap, the shrinking ladder, when-then plans, the task thought record.
10–15 min · 3×/weekAdjust
The weekly review computes your start rate and titrates the dose. Doing well, your commitments grow. Struggling, every task drops a rung — 5-minute, 2-minute, open-the-document.
weekly review↻ the loop runs weekly — five reviews across six weeks
Start rate is the number the program tunes against — actual starts divided by planned starts, and the 2-minute version counts in full. At 80% or better, commitments grow. Below 50%, every committed start shrinks a rung — the count never goes to zero. We cut the size, never the schedule.
Six weeks, one skill: starting
Seventeen sessions and five weekly reviews. The first week is free — including your baseline start report.
Week 1Understand the DelayThe relief trap, anatomized3 sessies
Week 2Shrink to StartSmall enough that the feeling stops mattering4 sessies
Week 3Defuse the TaskWhy it feels toxic, and the fix per flavor4 sessies
Week 4The ThoughtsThe greatest hits, cross-examined4 sessies
Week 5Design the EnvironmentMake starting frictionless, distraction expensive4 sessies
Week 6Keep StartingYour plan, your drill, your starts3 sessies
Nina
Sleep, mood & the self cluster · begeleidt 8 programma's
The steady behavioral coach — patient, methodical, quietly optimistic. Nina is the clinician-scientist who convinces you to spend less time in bed and makes it feel reasonable, talking about your numbers like a friendly scientist, not an accountant.
“Hi, I'm Nina. Here's the whole plan, plainly: we are not going to make you feel like starting. We're going to make starting so small that the feeling stops mattering.”
Built on the research, not the hustle
Start Small implements the CBT account of procrastination as emotion regulation — you're not avoiding the task, you're avoiding a feeling about the task. The protocol runs the published machinery in order: graded task assignment to make starts cheap, implementation intentions to take willpower out of the loop, self-forgiveness because the research says shame fuels the next delay, and stimulus control for the environment. Same data-driven weekly titration engine as Lift, our behavioral-activation program for low mood.
- Emotion-regulation model of procrastinationSirois & Pychyl
- Graded task assignmentBeck
- Implementation intentionsGollwitzer
- Self-forgiveness for procrastinationWohl, Pychyl & Bennett
- Stimulus control for study behavior
No gate — two honest flags
Start Small has no safety screen, because it doesn't need one. Two patterns get an informational note instead. If starting has been this hard in every part of life since childhood, onboarding adds a gentle note that an ADHD assessment is worth discussing with a clinician — the program still helps, and the two go well together. And if procrastination arrives bundled with flat mood and pulling back from things that used to matter, we point warmly to Lift, our low-mood program built on the same engine. Neither flag gates or changes the program.
This program is not medical advice — it's a structured self-help protocol, and we say plainly when a clinician's door is the better one.
Start Small, naast de concurrentie
| Start SmallResiliens | Focusmatefocusmate.com | Freedomfreedom.to | Forestforestapp.cc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prijs | $149 eenmalig (concept) — het programma is van jou | Free (3 sessions/week) · Plus $8/mo billed yearly, $12/mo monthly | Premium $3.33/mo billed yearly, $8.99/mo monthly, or $99.50 Forever (one-time) | Free core app · optional Plus subscription (price not published on site) |
| Structuur | 6 weken · 17 sessies + wekelijkse evaluaties | Book-a-session model: 25, 50, or 75-minute video coworking sessions with a matched partner — no curriculum or program arc | A tool, not a program: on-demand and scheduled blocking sessions, recurring schedules, locked mode — no sessions, curriculum, or progression | Self-directed focus sessions with app-blocking (Deep Focus), scheduled blocks (Time Guard), and group sessions — gamified streaks, no curriculum |
| Personalisatie | Task-initiation log → starts-per-day + shrink-to-start success rate | Session-level choice (length, booking time, favoriting past partners); no adaptive plan | Custom blocklists, website exceptions, scheduled and recurring sessions | Custom tags, allowlists, session lengths, tree species; analytics on focus patterns |
| Menselijke ondersteuning | Zelfstandig begeleid · ingebouwde doorverwijzingsdrempels naar clinici | A peer accountability partner every session — community members, not coaches or clinicians | Niet gepubliceerd | Niet gepubliceerd |
| Toegang | Zelfbediening, begin vandaag | Self-serve; runs in the browser, no app download required | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Breedte | 24+ programma's in catalogus · bundel 2-3 verwante programma's en bespaar | Any task you can do on camera — work, study, chores; not condition-specific | Distraction blocking + focus sounds; explicitly does not track usage or behavior | Focus timing + phone-distraction blocking; real-tree-planting partnership (Trees for the Future, 2.1M+ trees) |
| Platforms | Web · iOS · Android | Web | iOS · Android · Web | iOS · Android |
Bronnen: prijzen en programmapagina's van concurrenten — elke productiewaarde bevat een bron-URL en toegangsdatum, en niet-gepubliceerde feiten worden aangeduid als "niet gepubliceerd", nooit geraden.
Waarom we het anders hebben gebouwd
- Treatment, not session management. Blockers and timers police the session; Start Small re-engineers why starting feels impossible — the relief trap, the shrinking ladder, when-then plans, the thought record — on your real stuck tasks, with a graduation, not a subscription treadmill.
- Your start data runs the program. A sixty-second evening log feeds a weekly titration: at an 80% start rate your commitments grow, below 50% every task drops a rung — and the count never goes to zero. We cut the size, never the schedule. None of the three incumbents adapts to anything.
- Honest doors. A lifelong, everywhere pattern gets a plain note that an ADHD assessment is worth discussing. Procrastination travelling with flat mood gets a warm pointer to Lift, on the same engine. No incumbent has an answer for either.
Start gratis. Ga verder als het werkt.
Eerste week
- Onboarding + two full sessions
- Daily start log + your stuck-list
- Your baseline start report
Volledig programma
- All six weeks of Start Small, yours to keep
- Every session, review, and exercise
- Web + Untangle app access
Werk je aan meer dan één ding? Verwante programma's worden gebundeld — twee of drie tegen korting. Bundels worden bij de lancering aangekondigd.
Voordat je begint
Isn't this just a discipline problem?
No — and the evidence is unusually clear on this. Procrastinators don't lack time-management skills; they're avoiding feelings about tasks, and avoidance is rewarded instantly with relief. That's negative reinforcement, not character. The program treats the mechanics: shrink the start until the feeling stops mattering, and schedule it so intention isn't in charge.
How is this different from blockers, timers, and accountability apps?
Those tools manage the work session; this program treats the avoidance habit. A blocker makes distraction expensive and a timer makes focus visible — useful, and week five teaches you to use both — but neither touches why the start feels impossible. Start Small re-sizes your actual stuck tasks against your own start-rate data, week by week, until starting is cheap without scaffolding.
What if it's ADHD?
Everything here still works for you as written — shrinking, scheduling, and friction design are exactly the tools ADHD-informed clinicians reach for. One honest note, which onboarding will also give you: if starting has been this hard in every part of life since you were a kid, that pattern is worth discussing with a clinician — an assessment can open doors this program can't. Do both; they help each other.
How much time does it take?
Sixty seconds each evening for the start log, and ten to fifteen minutes three times a week for the sessions. The practice happens inside your existing day — on your real stuck tasks, in versions small enough to actually start.
Be first to start small
Start Small is launching soon on the web and in the Untangle app. Join the early-access list — it takes about sixty seconds, which is exactly the point.
Eén e-mail zodra je programma opent. Geen druppelcampagne.