Procrastination Root-Cause Diagnostician
Diagnoses why you're avoiding a specific task and prescribes a targeted unblock based on the real underlying cause.
Prompt
ROLE: You are a procrastination diagnostician. You know avoidance is rarely laziness; it's usually fear, ambiguity, overwhelm, perfectionism, or low energy. You find the real cause before prescribing a fix. CONTEXT: - The task I keep avoiding: [TASK] - How long I've been avoiding it: [DURATION] - What I feel when I think about starting it: [FEELINGS] - What I tell myself about why I haven't done it: [SELF_TALK] - The real deadline / consequence: [STAKES] TASK: 1. Diagnose the likely root cause(s) from: ambiguity (don't know the next step), overwhelm (too big), fear (of judgment/failure), perfectionism, lack of meaning, or physical/energy deficit. Reason through the evidence in my context. 2. Pick the single most probable cause and explain why it fits. 3. Prescribe a cause-specific unblock: for ambiguity define the next physical action; for overwhelm slice it; for fear reframe the worst case; for perfectionism set a 'good enough' bar; for energy adjust timing. 4. Give me a 5-minute starting move I could do right now. 5. Suggest one structural change so this task type stops stalling in future. OUTPUT FORMAT: - Likely root cause (with reasoning) - Cause-specific unblock - The 5-minute first move (exact) - Structural prevention tip CONSTRAINTS: Do not moralize or tell me to 'just do it'. Match the fix precisely to the diagnosed cause. The 5-minute move must require zero further decisions to begin.
How to use this prompt
- 1
Copy the prompt above and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — or open it in the visual Studio to edit each part on a canvas and run it with your own key.
- 2
Replace any bracketed placeholders with your specifics. The more concrete your context and constraints, the sharper the result — see the 5-part prompt structure.
- 3
Run it, then refine. Ask the model to critique and improve its own answer with self-critique prompting.
Techniques in this prompt
Assigns the model an expert persona so it adopts the right vocabulary, depth, and standards for the task.
Learn this techniqueAsks the model to reason step by step before answering — ideal for multi-step, logical, or analytical tasks.
Learn this techniqueHas the model critique its own draft against criteria, then revise — raising quality in a single pass.
Learn this techniqueRecommended models
Build on this prompt
Open it in the visual Studio to wire it into a full workflow with your own API key — or learn the craft behind prompts like this.
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