&gt; &quot;External pressures help...&quot;<p>They can but not always. I&#x27;ve used this tactic often, placing myself in difficult situations sometimes forces me to act when nothing else will.<p>One time I was out of work, all I had to do was make a few phone calls but I didn&#x27;t. I kept putting it off until tomorrow; then tomorrow turned into next week, next month and so on...<p>To cut a long story short I stopped paying the rent thinking hassle from my landlord would force me into action. As luck turned out he had his own problems and collecting the rent wasn&#x27;t a priority for him.<p>2 years later I was in a very embarrassing situation, as was he. It worked out OK that time but it shouldn&#x27;t have.<p>If you suffer from procrastination FFS just accept you&#x27;re acting out of fear and confront it. The longer you leave things the worse they get.