Dr. Kate Daley on Procrastination

Meet Dr. Kate Daley, the creator of our Unmind Series - Beat Procrastination

I am a 30-something Geordie, Clinical Psychologist and self-confessed technology geek. I also love travel and am lucky enough to have been able to combine all of these passions in my current role, where I’m working remotely in digital mental health.

It is a little embarrassing, but I was first drawn to Psychology in my early teens when I binge-watched the TV Series ‘Cracker’! Robbie Coltrane played a Psychologist who works with the Police to help solve crimes. I remember thinking that would be really cool, so I set myself down the (long) road to become a Forensic Psychologist! Along the way, I realized what actually fascinated me was why we do what we do more generally and how powerful our mind can be. From there, I changed paths to Clinical Psychology and later specialized in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which was the right fit for me.

I worked in the National Health Service for over 12 years treating Adults with Anxiety and Depression, which covered everything from panic and phobias to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and OCD. More recently, I have been applying these skills in the areas of staff well-being and digital mental health. This has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m always really excited to see where we can take things next.

I was a huge procrastinator at University and so drew on my own experience of overcoming this, alongside my experience in working with many clients who have suffered from significant procrastination difficulties. The content of the Series draws on key concepts from both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and I used cutting-edge research to highlight what we now know to be the most effective techniques.

I hope that people will be able to gain insight into their own procrastination, to understand why they are doing what they are doing, and take away some techniques they can use to break this pattern and become more productive. I also hope that the Series will help people learn to be kinder to themselves, as we know that being critical only serves to fuel procrastination.

It is hard to choose just three as procrastination can be so personal, but if I had to choose, I would go with these:

1. Setting yourself small, manageable and achievable goals
2. Minimizing all possible distractions, which includes multitasking
3. Test and experiment. Testing out what you learn in the Series will be the most powerful way you can learn and challenge your beliefs

I’m currently living in Brazil, and have been for the past 6 months. I’m currently learning Portuguese, despite having assured my friends I was never going to study again!

Welcome to the Unmind team, Kate! We look forward to your next Series!

Dr. Kate Daley is part of Unmind’s wider team of external content creators.