TL;DR: A recently completed RCT found that a brief, structured procrastination coaching programme produced large reductions in severity and high remission rates. The EA Infrastructure Fund has funded 200 free places on the same programme for EAs. If you want one, take the screening test here.

Background

Chronic procrastination affects roughly 20% of adults, costing them both income (tens of thousands per year) and wellbeing (94% report lower happiness), and doubling their odds of unemployment.

Yet it receives almost no clinical attention, research funding, or institutional support relative to its prevalence. No charities are dedicated to it. Health services don't cover treatment. The handful of researchers who study it note that it is among the most neglected problems in applied psychology relative to its scale of harm.

EAs appear disproportionately affected. In a survey where EAs ranked ~50 mental health challenges they personally experience, procrastination ranked third.

The RCT

Intervention:

Three hours (4 x 45-minute) of specialised one-to-one coaching delivered over four weeks.

Sample:

117 participants across 25 countries enrolled. 114 included in the analysis (3 withdrew after enrolment). Roughly a third were recruited via the EA Forum, making this one of the more generalisable studies for this community.

Results (post-intervention → one-month follow-up):

• ~68% of participants met criteria for full remission
• Average procrastination severity (Irrational Procrastination Scale): 36 at baseline → 27 at post-intervention → 25 at one-month follow-up, moving from the top 10% most severe into the middle 50% of the general population (Cohen's d = 1.52)
• Average life satisfaction (Cantril Ladder, 0-10): 5.7 at baseline → 6.9 at post-intervention → 7.4 at one-month follow-up (Cohen's d = 0.93)

Effects continued to strengthen at follow-up rather than fade. A comparable study found no meaningful loss of efficacy at 12 months.

Replication:

Results are consistent with the prior pilot study that motivated this RCT, and broadly align with the existing literature on structured procrastination interventions.

Caveats and Conflicts of Interest

I'll be direct: this is my organisation's intervention, and I'm the one reporting it. You should weigh that accordingly. That said, the Infrastructure Fund reviewed the evidence independently and considered it sufficient to fund treatment access for 200 EAs at no cost to participants, using the same intervention, organisation, and coach selection and training process as the RCT.

One RCT is not sufficient to be confident. The results are unusually strong, the follow-up data are encouraging, and the EA-skewed participant pool improves generalisability to this community, but independent replication would substantially increase confidence.

The 200 Free Places

The Infrastructure Fund grant covers full programme access for 200 EAs. The RCT recruited from the top quartile of procrastination severity. This round is open to the top 35%, so eligibility is somewhat broader.

The process is two steps:

1. 1-minute screening. No sign-up, instant results, tells you your severity score and whether you qualify.
2. 5-minute sign-up form. 

Take the screening assessment →