Procrastination treatment: Why Do I Never Actually Start?.

A calculated number has parts. If you'd actually costed this thing you could take your figure apart in front of me right now, and it would come apart into so much for equipment, so much from a quote a supplier gave you in March, six months of rent at the price you were told, and a licence priced by the government. Every part would have a source outside your own head, and most of them would be ugly. Three thousand four hundred and eighty is what a costed number looks like. Seven thousand two hundred and fifteen.

From chapter 4: The number that keeps moving

There is a second piece of evidence and it points the same way, more quietly. In 2026 Ilya Kukaev and Edward J. Timmons published a paper in the Journal of Regulatory Economics using American survey data collected between 2013 and 2019. Among people who were employed, not holding a licence went together with being less likely to become self-employed and less likely to change occupation. Among people who were unemployed, licensing was associated with a lower chance of finding work at all.

From chapter 7: The licence you do not need

That is how the book looks at “procrastination treatment”: one idea at a time, with a step you can take right away. Of course, this is only one idea from the book. So, if this passage speaks to you, the full chapter goes further, and it ends with an exercise you can do the same evening.

In short, the book has 11 chapters, and each one ends with a practical exercise. Therefore, you can read it in order, or you can go straight to the part about “procrastination treatment”.

1. The gap between wanting and doing
2. The three-month window
3. What counts as started
4. The number that keeps moving
5. Preparation and its stop condition
6. The course that never ends
7. The licence you do not need
8. Why later always wins
9. Nobody chooses the day they start
10. The unfinished task
11. Fourteen days

Finally, you can get Why Do I Never Actually Start?: The Evidence on Plans, Courses, Licences and Waiting in the stores below. Because every title of this book shares the same text, you can simply pick the one you like best. Also, the book is available in 19 languages.

In addition, each title below highlights a different idea from the same book.

• Preparing Is Not Progress: One Question, One Stranger, Fourteen Days
• The Gap Between Wanting and Doing: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• The Three-Month Window: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• What Counts as Started: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• The Number That Keeps Moving: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• Preparation and Its Stop Condition: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• The Course That Never Ends: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• The Licence You Do Not Need: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• Why Later Always Wins: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start
• Nobody Chooses the Day They Start: I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start

See all 43 titles. Go to the book page.