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How to Stop Procrastinating: summary

How to Stop Procrastinating

Matt D'Avella · Jan 15, 2020 · about 11 min

Uploaded Jan 15, 2020 · 1.7M views (as of Oct 30, 2026)

Good value given

Putting off a meeting with his counselor in college meant he had to take two extra summer classes to graduate.
He leans on Steven Pressfield's idea of 'resistance', the force that pushes you away from your work.
Flow researcher Steven Kotler says novelty, like working in a new coffee shop, can help you focus.
Breaking a big project into milestones, with buffer time, makes the final deadline less scary.
A standing Monday night meeting with his wife kept their wedding planning on track.

How do you stop procrastinating?

Matt D'Avella's answer is a toolkit. Commit to the first 30 minutes, since starting is the hardest part. Use timers or the Pomodoro method for urgency, split big projects into smaller deadlines, set a weekly check-in, and turn the thing you'd rather be doing, like video games, into a reward for finishing the task.

Worth watching?Good value given. A personal, funny video with a mix of tactics you can use the same day. The last minute or so is a sponsor read for a class site.

ActionableLessons

Actionable

Set a 30 minute timer and start the task you've been avoiding.
Break your next big project into weekly milestones.
Schedule a recurring check-in with a partner or coworker.
Pick one thing you enjoy and only allow it after you finish a hard task.

Lessons

The task is almost never as bad as it seems before you start.
Deadlines you set yourself create urgency early.
Rewards can work better than cutting out things you enjoy.

Quick answer

Matt D'Avella posted this video on Jan 15, 2020. Here's our summary in our own words: the answer to the title, a verdict, 5 takeaways, and Actionable and Lessons tabs.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

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Watch the video

Watch on YouTube: How to Stop Procrastinating

Channel: Matt D'Avella. Published Jan 15, 2020. About 11 minutes.

His simplest tip: sit down for 30 minutes on the task you've been avoiding. Once you're past the blank page, it gets easier.

Quotes from the video

“it's almost never as difficult or painful as we make it out to be”
“things always take longer than expected”

A note on this summary

This page reports what the video says, in our own words. Quotes are copied word for word from the video's transcript. Views are as of Oct 30, 2026.

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FAQ: questions people ask

What is the Pomodoro technique?

Working for 25 minutes, taking a 5 minute break, and repeating.

What book does Matt D'Avella recommend for procrastination?

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield.

Is the video worth watching?

Good value given. It's short, honest and practical.