Aversion Journaling
Write out why a task repels you until the knot untangles and a tactical fix appears
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 82%
Aversion journaling is Bailey's personal antidote to procrastination, which he frames as a purely emotional reaction rather than a logical one. When you catch yourself resisting a task, you grab a notepad and write down exactly why. Sometimes this is methodical — you walk through each of the six aversion triggers (boring, frustrating, unpleasant, far away in the future, unstructured, meaningless) and score the task against them. Sometimes it's loose and casual: 'Why do I find this so ugly, and what can I do about it?' The rule is that you always leave the session with one tactical thing you can do to make the task less aversive, or at minimum a changed relationship with it because you now understand what makes it hard. The forcing mechanism is that you give yourself only two choices — do the aversion journaling or do the task itself — so you either untangle the resistance or get the work done.
Origin
A personal practice Chris Bailey developed and shares in 'Intentional', pairing the six procrastination triggers with a short reflective writing ritual.
Core principles
- 01Procrastination is a visceral, emotional reaction with little logic in it
- 02Naming the source of aversion reduces its grip
- 03Every journaling session should end with one tactical move to make the task less ugly
- 04Give yourself only two options: journal about the task, or do the task
How to run it
- 1
Catch the resistance
Notice the specific moment you're avoiding a task rather than pushing through unconsciously.
- 2
Write down why
Grab a notepad and describe what makes the task repellent — either freely or by scoring it against the six triggers.
Pro tip Run the checklist: is it boring? frustrating? unpleasant? far away? unstructured? meaningless?
- 3
Leave with a tactical fix
End every session with one concrete move that reduces the aversion — add structure, delegate, shrink the time, or reward yourself.
Watch out If no fix makes it tolerable and it's not values-aligned, that's a signal to drop it, not to keep journaling.
- 4
Use the two-choice rule
Give yourself only two options: journal about the task or do the task. At first you'll gravitate to journaling, but you'll end up untangling the resistance.
In the wild
Bailey describes gravitating toward email and social media whenever he sits down to write. Instead of forcing himself, he grabs his notepad and asks why writing feels so ugly right now. Working through it, he realizes the session ahead feels too long and unstructured. His tactical fix is to shrink the commitment — not an hour, but 20 minutes — which removes the boredom and structure triggers at once, and he starts writing.
→ The resistance dissolves once its source is named and a small, concrete adjustment is made.
Common mistakes
Journaling without a tactical exit
Reflecting on why a task is hard without committing to one concrete counter-move leaves you where you started.
Using it to avoid dropping a dead goal
If extensive editing still leaves a task ugly and unaligned with your values, journaling becomes avoidance — the honest move is to drop it.
Is it for you?
Best for
People stuck on a task they can't start and don't understand why.
Not ideal for
Tasks that are genuinely misaligned with your values and should simply be dropped.
From the transcript
“When I find that I'm resisting doing something, I'll write down why... I always leave with some tactical thing that I can do to make…”
“Give yourself a choice to either do some aversion journaling or do the thing.”
From the episode
How to Wake Up Excited About Your Goals - Chris Bailey - #1077
Chris Bailey