Miura et al. (2025) found that:
Participants also reported that using AI to initiate the task motivated them to start replying to emails without procrastinating. One participant explained that “just pressing a button prompts the AI to ask questions,” which led them to “delegate the initial steps entirely to the system.” This reduction in the burden of the initial stage was cited as a key factor in lowering the barrier to starting to reply to emails.
This finding has profound implications for those who struggle with procrastination, myself included.
In the past, simply thinking about a project was enough to make me anxious. I’d start imagining the enormous tasks ahead, the obstacles I’d have to overcome, and the possibility of a less-than-ideal outcome.
That alone was enough to make me procrastinate—to the point where I wouldn’t even take the first step.
Now, with an AI-first approach, I begin by recording my thoughts about an idea, simply to get everything out of my head. Once that’s done, I upload the recording and generate a transcript.
From there, I ask AI to organize my thoughts into a coherent structure and identify the next step to help me move forward.
Through this method, I’ve been able to accomplish far more in a month than I ever could when I was struggling with depression.