Procrastination

The War of Art

Steven Pressfield · 2002

Pressfield names the invisible force that keeps us from our work, Resistance, and declares war on it in short, bracing chapters. Fierce, funny and quotable, it strips procrastination of its excuses and hands you the resolve to sit down and begin. A cult favourite for anyone with something they keep not doing.

“Resistance is the enemy. The more important the work, the more Resistance.”

The Now Habit

Neil Fiore · 1988

A psychologist’s compassionate, practical guide to why we procrastinate, usually fear and pressure rather than laziness, and how to work with ourselves instead of against. Its gentle strategies, like guilt-free play and starting small, genuinely work. The book to read when you are tired of scolding yourself and want to actually change.

Atomic Habits

James Clear · 2018

Clear’s hugely popular book shows how tiny, consistent changes beat bursts of willpower every time, and how to design your life so the right action becomes the easy one. Clear, practical and endlessly applicable, it is the antidote to all-or-nothing thinking. Perfect for anyone whose good intentions keep dissolving by Wednesday.

Deep Work

Cal Newport · 2016

Newport argues that the ability to focus without distraction is becoming rare, and immensely valuable, and shows how to reclaim it. Part manifesto, part manual, it helps you protect your attention from the endless small avoidances that eat a day. Essential for anyone who wants to do meaningful work in a world designed to interrupt it.

Oblomov

Ivan Goncharov · 1859

The great comic novel of procrastination: its hero is so paralysed by inertia that it takes him most of the first hundred pages to get out of bed. Goncharov turns not getting round to things into unforgettable literature, tender as well as funny. A strangely consoling read for anyone who recognises a little of themselves in his dressing gown.

Bartleby, the Scrivener

Herman Melville · 1853

Melville’s haunting short story gives us the ultimate passive resister, a clerk who meets every request with ‘I would prefer not to’. Funny, strange and quietly profound, it is a meditation on refusal and inertia that lingers long after. A brief, brilliant companion piece to anyone wrestling with their own stubborn will.

“I would prefer not to.”

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole · 1980

Toole’s riotous comic novel gives us Ignatius J. Reilly, one of literature’s great avoiders, forever theorising grandly while dodging any actual work. It is a hilarious, affectionate portrait of a mind endlessly busy doing everything except the thing at hand. A gloriously funny mirror for anyone who knows the art of not getting round to it.