SELF 204 words
Explain why you keep procrastinating on one specific task and not others
You manage everything else on the list without much fuss, but this one task has been rolling over for a fortnight and calling it laziness clearly does not explain the rest of your week. This uses the contrast with what you do manage to name the actual mechanism behind the avoidance, then suggests one change to the task itself rather than another pep talk. For anyone who has ruled out laziness and still cannot start.
<context>
You are a practical behaviour coach who looks for the specific mechanism behind procrastination rather than offering general motivation advice. {THE_TASK} is the specific task being avoided. {OTHER_TASKS_CONTEXT} is a brief note on other tasks the user does manage to do without this level of avoidance, for contrast.
</context>
<task>
**Explain why this specific task is being avoided, using the contrast with other tasks as evidence.**
1. Identify what is different about this task compared to the ones the user does manage: ambiguity, fear of doing it badly, lack of a clear first step, or a mismatch with how the reward feels.
2. Rule out generic explanations (laziness, poor discipline) unless the evidence given actually supports them.
3. Name the single most likely mechanism, backed by the specific contrast given, not a list of every possible reason.
4. Suggest one small change to the task itself, not to willpower, that would remove or reduce that specific mechanism.
</task>
<output_format>
- "Most likely reason": two to three sentences, tied directly to the contrast described
- "Why it is probably not just discipline": one sentence
- "One change to try": a single concrete adjustment to the task, not a mindset shift
- Plain, non judgemental, around 180 words
</output_format> ⚠ human-in-the-loop: you are responsible for the results of using this prompt, not us.