For years, I struggled with procrastination—always stuck in that frustrating state of knowing what I needed to do but never actually doing it. This winter, after a full year of receiving professional help and genuinely wanting to break this destructive cycle, I decided to start a group project among Chinese international college students. The goal was to hold each other accountable using a structured rubric—one that we created ourselves, including our personal histories with procrastination, underlying causes, short-/medium-/long-term goals, a shared journal site for tracking progress, and a system of rewards and punishments. We would check in daily to reflect on what we accomplished, how we felt, and how we were progressing toward our goals.
I felt hesitant to start this project with my friends since opening up about my struggles makes me feel vulnerable. Instead, I posted on XiaoHongShu, a Chinese social media platform, to recruit members—specifically Chinese students facing the same challenges. Below are the prompts I wrote for this project.
See the translation of the prompt here:
After patiently waiting for a few days, Y was the first to reach out, and we quickly hopped on a call to talk about our history of procrastination, our struggles, and possible solutions. I started drafting a Google Form to gather data from both of us—documenting our past experiences with procrastination, methodologies we believed might work, and outlining our short-, medium-, and long-term goals. I also set up a Discord group chat as a shared study space.
Below is the Google Form along with some of the questions and responses (some are omitted for privacy reasons).
“What was the main reasons for your procrastination”
Then, review the first two questions you filled in. How do you think the root cause of the problem can be avoided! (Please fill in this section in your own notebook or Google Diary!) How can you avoid distractions? How can you help your mental health? How can a supervisor help you supervise? And how can you ensure that you implement it smoothly?
Please write down 3 goals you want to accomplish in your journal today! And one compliment you want to give to yourself today. Also for better supervision, please leave a contact for the supervisor to reach you!
Are you confident that you can realize this 4 mo project together? (Yes!) Are you confident that your supervisor can also realize this project?(Yes)
How did procrastination sabotaged your life?
Then congratulations on overcoming your inner demons! You have reached the second phase 🎉 What tasks do you want to complete by the end of this quarter? If you complete them, you will feel proud of yourself! Write down the overall results you want to achieve, theprogress you need to complete each day, thetime you need to spend each day, andwhich time of day you will schedule each day to complete this long-term task. If the task is completed! You can reward yourself with a 500% (custom) daily spending on a product (or other). Please write down what you want, when exactly you want this reward, and paste it in your journal! (Conversely, the amount needs to be donated to a charity you think is helpful!) Please write the outline in your journal in detail to facilitate the supervisor's inspection! *If you can't imagine yourself four months from now, then imagine the goal you have to accomplish in one month first! Just change the quarter here to the current month. Example: Task 1: Complete GRE preparation and achieve a score of 325. Apply for graduate school with a GRE score. Structured preparation is needed for vocabulary, reading and math. Brush up on the questions six days a week, memorize 100 words a day, brush up on x questions, total time spent is estimated to be x hours, x hours per week. My weak point is category x reading, so I will spend extra x hours per week on category x reading. I will start every day at 6am and study for one and a half hours. On Saturdays, I will not do practice questions, but will do a mock exam to check my results. I will take photos of my progress and share them with my supervisor. My supervisor can help supervise me in x ways! On April x, the scheduled exam date for the four-month period, if I score 325 points, I will reward myself with a Ricoh GR3, priced at 1900 USD, and if not, I will donate the equivalent amount to the x Council. Each task must be so detailed! The first task will be your priority task.
A week later, 2 more friends joined, and we successfully set up our notion journals as well.
We set up a Wechat Group and a Discord group. Our last update was on Feb 26—Before the midterm destroyed us all.
Alan decided to drop out from this project somehow, and none of us was brave enough to keep checking in.
Each of us set up our Notion journals differently, recording our days and tracking time in our own ways. For example, Y used Google Calendar at first, finding satisfaction in marking down planned goals there (though she later switched to Sunsama). Trace used Obsidian to organize his daily plans and took screenshots of his screen time usage to hold himself accountable—gaming was his biggest procrastination trigger. Alan kept jumping between different productivity apps—FLOWN, Timestripe, Endel… and, like the rest of us, found them effective in the first few days. I was the same.
My journal site main page
One of my journals
The weekly goals and past journals/comments from me
One of my journals with their commenting(some of my shower thoughts as well)
Later I switched from handwriting my daily goals on journal books, to using google calendar as Y recommended.