Your iPhone can either fuel your procrastination or help you beat it. Since procrastination thrives in silence, I’m trying to hack it by using my iPhone’s Notes app and voice journaling my (bad) habits. You can try it yourself—it takes a minute to set up.
Why Voice Journaling Works for Beating Procrastination
Sitting down to write a journal often feels like any other task I would put off. But talking is convenient. You can do it anywhere. This means I can log my procrastination moments in real-time.
Voice journaling bypasses the mental block of overthinking before writing, letting me capture raw thoughts before self-judgment kicks in. The tone of my voice (e.g., frustrated or anxious) is a helpful clue to my emotions, which words can’t capture.
Apple Notes’ auto-transcriptions in iOS 16 or later versions add a killer advantage: searchable text data to spot patterns. Which brings us to…
My Three-Prompt Procrastination Hack
I tested several prompts but narrowed it down to three simple questions. Keeping it short removes resistance and makes it easy to stick with.
Record immediately after you procrastinate. Delaying can dilute your emotions and allow self-justification to kick in (“I was tired”). Also, keep your responses short.
Turning Apple Notes Into a Procrastination Tracker
Apple Notes' no-frills system makes setting it up as a journal easy. Here’s a simple system anyone can follow or customize.
Alwaysorganize your Apple Notes. you may also set up a widget on the homescreen that opens the Procrastination Log folder.
Using Voice Logs to Identify Patterns and Solutions
After collecting the journal entries for a week, I sit down on a Sunday to analyze them. The idea is to identify recurring patterns and find solutions before they become bad habits. I skim transcripts using the Notes search bar (or the specific tags) and look for three specific patterns:
I’ve Used Apple Notes for Years: Here Are the 8 Features It’s Still Missing
Despite its simplicity, Apple Notes still lacks key features that would make it unbeatable.
Then, I come up with a plan to tackle the disruptions or work around them. For instance, here are some sample solutions for the above problems.
Procrastination always lurks around the corner. But this method allows me to at least run an intervention once in a while—and it only takes 2 minutes.
