The People and Bots Fighting Procrastination
Almost everyone knows the pattern: a task meant for today keeps slipping to tomorrow, whether it is a medical test that has been waiting for months, an unanswered email, a great idea left in a drawer, or the dishes in the sink. In an era of endless to-do lists and constant distractions, more people are looking for outside help to bridge the gap between intention and action.
That demand has created a small but growing industry of professional nudgers. Hila Michovitz Siton, founder of "The Polish Crone" service, says she "nudges" people to do what they have been postponing. Clients send her task lists, and she and her team keep making sure the items do not stay on paper. She says the presence of another person is often enough to get things moving, because procrastination is often driven not by laziness but by fear, overload, uncertainty, or the need for someone to be there.
Michovitz Siton has worked with people trying to finish theses, long-delayed projects, business quotes, fertility treatments, and even one prisoner who wanted to write poetry. She says, "Most people want to be nagged about the things that are not their dreams, so they will have time for their dreams." Another specialist, Ronit Kfir, has spent more than a decade studying why people delay uncomfortable actions such as asking for a raise, sending a price quote, demanding payment, or saying no. Through her business, "Nice to Meet," she teaches communication, assertiveness, and negotiation, especially for women and business owners.
Kfir says many women struggle to present their achievements because it feels like bragging, and that money-related discussions often trigger fears about self-worth. Her advice is to keep a file of compliments and recommendations, replace vague self-talk with concrete results, and rehearse out loud before speaking. "Do not think about what you will say, say it out loud," she advises.
For people who are blocked by lack of money rather than motivation, crowdfunding has become another answer. Mital Bar Zohar, who calls herself a "project midwife," has led 574 crowdfunding projects over more than a decade, from books and games to apps and social ventures. After being diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2015 at age 38 and raising money for her novel "Lola," she decided, "If I will not give birth anymore, I will give birth to dreams." Since the war began, much of her work has shifted to social projects and hostage families, and in 2024 alone the projects she accompanied raised about 18 million shekels.
Technology has also entered the field. Liza Katz, CEO of Neradot, built "Nudnik," an AI bot that joins WhatsApp groups, records tasks and deadlines, and keeps reminding users until they finish. What started as a tool for her husband spread to friends, then to roughly 2,000 couples after Facebook posts brought in around 1,000 families twice. In about six weeks, the system handled nearly 8,000 tasks and helped complete almost 2,000. Katz is now considering versions for larger teams and offices, and says she added a friendlier mode after users asked for less sarcasm.
