24/06/2026
I was a summer solstice swimmer in theory.
So, originally, I was going to get up at 3.30 am and see the sunrise, but I'd checked the forecast, and it wasn't looking great, so I decided I wouldn't bother. Hey, I hadn't told anyone after all, and so it didn't matter; I'd just go at some point in the day. And then came the familiar all-or-nothing thought: 'If you're not doing it properly, what's the point of doing it at all?'
And that could have been the end of it. Brave, spontaneous, solstice-swimming, sunrise woman becomes tired, weather-checking, maybe-later woman. This is often where procrastination slips in. Not because we don't care, or we're lazy, or that something doesn't matter, but because there is suddenly a gap between the version of the plan we had imagined and the version that is actually available.
So instead of abandoning the whole thing, I made it smaller. With clients, I often talk about attaching a difficult thing to something that is already happening. I had already decided to book a spinning class at the gym, which so happens to be next to the beach. That became the first step. Not get up at 3:30 am to create the perfect solstice moment. Just pack the bag, get out the door and get myself near the sea.
But after the class, I still wasn't sure - the wind was blowing, it was chilly and I could so easily have gone home. Then I saw people in the water, and a little competitive edge kicked in. I started to speak to a couple who had already been in, partly for reassurance, partly for validation, and probably partly for accountability. Once someone has seen you standing there in your swimming things, it becomes a little harder to disappear quietly back to the car. Next minute, I was in the water, all the procrastination a distant memory.
The point is not that everyone should go cold-water swimming. The point is that getting started often depends less on willpower and more on the right scaffolding, making the task feel possible rather than enormous: a prompt, a smaller first step, a reason to be there, someone nearby and a little accountability.
People often come to coaching because of a specific issue: work, business, school, relationships, organisation or confidence. But procrastination rarely stays neatly tucked up in one box. The task might change, but the pattern is often very familiar. The stuckness, self-criticism, all-or-nothing thinking, and the gap between what we intended to do and what we actually feel able to start.
When I work with clients, it is not about forcing them to try harder. It is about understanding what is getting in the way and asking, 'What bridge do I need between where I am now and the thing I want to do?'
