Procrastination & Motivation · Hypnosis session
Self Sabotage: Why You Hand Yourself an Excuse Before You Start
The application is due at nine. At eleven the night before, you are alphabetising the spice rack, and a quiet part of you has already drafted the line for later: I barely tried. That line is the point. It protects you from a verdict about your ability, and it tends to cost you the result.
Psychologists have a name for this pattern and a fair amount of research on it. This page gives you that, three free techniques from the procrastination research, and a twenty-two-minute session that gives you a set, repeatable time to relax and rehearse them. One check first.
When getting in your own way is something elseIf you have felt low or lost interest in things you usually enjoy for two weeks or more, or been tired for more than two weeks, healthdirect’s advice is to see your GP. Depression, poor sleep and iron deficiency can all feel like not trying, and this recording is not for any of them.
If trouble starting tasks, losing focus and disorganisation go back as far as you can remember, ask your GP about ADHD. healthdirect says around 1 in 20 people in Australia has it, and a GP will most likely refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist. “Task paralysis” is an everyday phrase, not a diagnosis, and neither is self-sabotage.
- healthdirect, the Australian Government’s free health line: 1800 022 222.
- If you are in danger, or thinking of harming yourself: 000, and the free lines near the foot of this page.
Stop Self Sabotage
Twenty-two minutes of guided relaxation built around noticing the excuse before you reach for it, and a regular time to practise the if-then plans on this page, with ninety days to decide.
US$18.95one-off · no subscription · about A$27
I earn a commission if you buy through this page. It doesn’t change what you pay, and it doesn’t decide what I recommend.
Checkout opens on hypnosisdownloads.com in a new tab. Priced in US dollars; some cards add a foreign-transaction fee. Ninety days to change your mind, nothing to justify.
The publisher reports 3,817 purchases of this title.
Chosen by Ernest McLeodClinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice. About Ernest →
Is a recording as good as seeing someone in person?
The largest recent review of hypnosis for pain (Yim and Derbyshire, 2026) compared how it was delivered and found no meaningful difference between a live clinician, a recording and self-hypnosis. That research was on pain, not on self-sabotage, but it’s the best evidence there is that a recording isn’t a second-rate version of sitting in a room with someone.
Which of these have you done this month?
- Stayed up far too late the night before the thing that mattered
- Told people beforehand how little you had prepared
- Left a finished application open in a browser tab for a week, unsent
- Started the assignment at 11pm and felt oddly calm about it
- Picked a fight, or gone quiet, just as something was going well
Two or three, and the research below will sound familiar. If the last is most of it, the fear of abandonment page may suit you better.
Is self-sabotage a form of mental illness?
No. Self-sabotage is an everyday phrase, not a diagnosis, and researchers barely use it: search the medical literature and you mostly find opinion pieces and metaphors. The pattern people mean has been studied under another name, self-handicapping. It means putting an obstacle in your own way before something that tests you, so that a poor result can be blamed on the obstacle rather than on you.
The idea was first tested in a 1978 experiment by Berglas and Jones. Students who had just been told they did well, on problems where the success had nothing to do with their ability, were offered a choice before a retest: a drug they were told would improve performance, or one they were told would interfere with it. The men in that group were the only people to prefer the one that would get in their way. A small laboratory study, the effect absent in women, but the idea has since been tested in schools and universities many times.
What is the root cause of self-sabotage?
In the research version, it is fear of what a failure would say about you. A 2014 meta-analysis by Schwinger and colleagues describes self-handicapping as “a frequently used strategy for regulating the threat to self-esteem elicited by the fear of failing”. The logic: if you didn’t really try, a bad result says nothing about your ability, and if you succeed anyway, you look twice as capable.
A clever bargain, paid for in results. Pooling 36 field studies and 25,550 students, the same review found self-handicapping went with lower achievement, r = −0.23, ranging from −0.46 to 0.02 across studies. A correlation, not proof of cause, but a large body of evidence.
Stop Self SabotageUS$18.95 · instant download · full refund within 90 days if it isn’t right.
Opens the publisher’s checkout in a new tab. Or keep reading — the free techniques below cost nothing.
Where procrastination comes in
Putting things off is the handiest obstacle, because it looks like nothing. In Steel’s 2007 meta-analysis of 691 correlations, self-handicapping and procrastination were linked at 0.46 across 16 studies. Sirois and Pychyl argue procrastination is partly short-term mood repair: you feel better now, and your future self pays. A theory, not a trial, but it fits the spice rack.
How do you stop self-sabotaging?
Move the decision earlier, make the first step smaller, and treat a slip as information rather than a verdict. None has been trialled on self-sabotage as such. Each comes from the procrastination research, where self-handicapping shows up most, and each fits alongside the session.
- Write the if-then plan for the moment the excuse turns up
Not “I’ll finish the application”, but “If it’s 7pm Tuesday and the laptop is open, then I attach the CV before anything else.” Gollwitzer and Sheeran pooled 94 tests of plans like this in 2006 and found a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals in general, d = 0.65. In the one experiment on procrastination itself, with 152 students, those who wrote a plan were nearly 8 times more likely to keep an appointment, and habitual procrastinators gained as much as anyone.
- Shrink the first step until it’s almost embarrassing
In Steel’s review, disliking a task was one of the strongest links with putting it off, r = 0.40. A tiny first step leaves less to dislike and doesn’t feel like a test of your ability: open the document and type the heading. This is reasoning from correlations, not a tested treatment.
- Forgive the last slip, briefly and specifically
In a 2010 study by Wohl, Pychyl and Bennett, 119 first-year students who reported forgiving themselves for procrastinating before one exam procrastinated less before the next, through feeling less bad about it. Nobody was told to forgive themselves, so it shows a link, not proof. Try one sentence: “I put that off, it cost me, and I’m starting again on Thursday.”
If the pattern is bigger than a habitStructured CBT has the best evidence for procrastination. Rozental and colleagues’ 2018 review of 12 randomised trials and 718 people found psychological treatments had a small effect overall (g = 0.34) and CBT a moderate one (g = 0.55, from only three studies). A psychologist can run it with you.
The session is a good place to practise all three: the same twenty-two minutes each day, going over tomorrow’s plan while you are settled, not at eleven at night with the excuse half-written.
What is in the Stop Self Sabotage session?
One guided session of twenty-two minutes and thirty-six seconds, narrated by Roger Elliott and made for repeated listening. The publisher describes it as for people who repeatedly undermine their own goals, work or relationships, and builds it around noticing the pattern, planning and following through. It is guided relaxation with rehearsal, and it gives the if-then plan a regular slot in your day.
Stop Self Sabotage
US$18.95About A$27 · one-off, no subscription.
- 22 minutes 36 seconds, narrated by Roger Elliott of Uncommon Knowledge, publishing these since 1998
- Instant MP3 download plus the publisher’s app, unlimited listens
- For adults who keep tripping over their own plans, not for low mood or ADHD
Opens the publisher’s secure checkout · no account needed
Do you stay in control while you listen?
Yes. You hear every word, you can stop the recording at any moment, and the state is closer to being absorbed in a good book than to being asleep. Don’t listen while driving or operating machinery, and check with your doctor first if you have epilepsy.
The publisher reports 3,817 purchases of this title and says it has been publishing hypnosis recordings since 1998. Both are its own figures, and a purchase count is not a result.
What does the research say about hypnosis and self-sabotage?
There is no controlled trial of hypnosis for self-sabotage, and none for procrastination, motivation or self-discipline either. Rosendahl and colleagues’ 2024 overview of 49 meta-analyses of hypnosis doesn’t mention procrastination, motivation or self-control anywhere. What has been tested in trials for procrastination is CBT, covered in the box above, with a small-to-moderate effect.
The nearest hypnosis studies are about grades, and they are mixed. In the one clean randomised trial (Jacobson and colleagues, 2011, 56 students), the hypnosis sessions predicted significantly impaired test performance. De Vos and Louw found better grades after two hypnosis programmes in 119 volunteer students in 2006, though the abstract doesn’t say how groups were allocated.
Who is this session wrong for?
Anyone the box at the top describes: weeks of low mood, tiredness that won’t lift, or a lifelong pattern that sounds like ADHD go to a GP first. And if you want someone to work through the pattern with you, a psychologist offering CBT is a better fit than any recording: they can see where your excuses come from.
- For you, self-sabotage means hurting yourself. Ring Lifeline on 13 11 14, any hour.
- You drink or use something else to get through the night before a deadline. The alcohol page is a better start.
- You are buying it for a child or teenager. Their GP comes first.
Free and confidential, open now. Tap to call.
Common questions about self sabotage
Is self-sabotaging a symptom of ADHD?
Not on its own. Self-sabotage isn’t a clinical term, but ADHD symptoms, inattention above all, were consistently linked with procrastination in a 2026 review of 11 studies. healthdirect says around 1 in 20 people in Australia has ADHD. If trouble starting, focusing and organising goes back to childhood, start with your GP, who can refer you for an assessment.
Is self-sabotage a trauma response?
Popular articles often say so, but I can’t point you to research that shows it. The studied version, self-handicapping, is described as a way of protecting self-esteem from the fear of failing. If you think something that happened to you is behind the pattern, that is a conversation for your GP or a psychologist, not for a recording.
What are the signs someone is self-sabotaging?
The studied signs are obstacles that appear just before a test of ability: preparation left too late, a late night before the big day, effort quietly withheld. Procrastination is closely tied to it; Steel’s 2007 review put the link at 0.46 across 16 studies. The giveaway is timing. The obstacle arrives just before something that could judge you.
Why do I self-sabotage when things are going well?
In the original 1978 self-handicapping experiment, the men who chose a drug they were told would hurt their performance had just succeeded at something that had nothing to do with their ability. Success you aren’t sure you earned can feel like a verdict waiting to be overturned. It was a small, old laboratory study, and the effect held only for men.
Does hypnosis work for self-sabotage?
Hypnosis offers focused relaxation and a set time to rehearse a plan, which is how this session is meant to be used, alongside the techniques above. Whether it changes self-sabotage hasn’t been tested: there is no controlled trial for self-sabotage or procrastination, and a 2024 overview of 49 hypnosis meta-analyses doesn’t cover either.
What if the session isn’t right for me?
Email the publisher your order number within 90 days and they refund you in full, no questions asked, one order per customer. Give it a fair run first: a week or two of listening at the same time each day, with your if-then plan written down beside you.
If self-sabotage isn’t quite the word
- Self DisciplineIf starting is fine and the trouble is keeping going past Wednesday
- Overcome Task ParalysisIf you freeze in front of the task rather than find a reason to avoid it
- Imposter syndromeIf the fear is being found out once you have already succeeded
The procrastination and motivation guide sorts every session in this group by what getting stuck looks like for you.
Where these numbers come from
- Yim TH, Derbyshire SWG. A systematic review of hypnosis for clinical pain relief. Eur J Pain. 2026;30(8):e70369. doi:10.1002/ejp.70369
- Berglas S, Jones EE. Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1978;36(4):405-17. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.36.4.405
- Schwinger M, Wirthwein L, Lemmer G, Steinmayr R. Academic self-handicapping and achievement: a meta-analysis. J Educ Psychol. 2014;106(3):744-61. doi:10.1037/a0035832
- Steel P. The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychol Bull. 2007;133(1):65-94. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65
- Sirois F, Pychyl T. Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: consequences for future self. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2013;7(2):115-27. doi:10.1111/spc3.12011
- Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P. Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes. Adv Exp Soc Psychol. 2006;38:69-119. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
- Owens SG, Bowman CG, Dill CA. Overcoming procrastination: the effect of implementation intentions. J Appl Soc Psychol. 2008;38(2):366-84. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00309.x
- Wohl MJA, Pychyl TA, Bennett SH. I forgive myself, now I can study: how self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination. Pers Individ Dif. 2010;48(7):803-8. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.029
- Rozental A, Bennett S, Forsström D, Ebert DD, Shafran R, Andersson G, et al. Targeting procrastination using psychological treatments: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Psychol. 2018;9:1588. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01588
- Rosendahl J, Alldredge CT, Haddenhorst A. Meta-analytic evidence on the efficacy of hypnosis for mental and somatic health issues: a 20-year perspective. Front Psychol. 2024;14:1330238. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1330238
- Jacobson N, Kramer S, Tharp A, Costa S, Hawley P. The effects of encoding in hypnosis and post-hypnotic suggestion on academic performance. Am J Clin Hypn. 2011;53(4):247-54. doi:10.1080/00029157.2011.10404354
- De Vos HM, Louw DA. The effect of hypnotic training programs on the academic performance of students. Am J Clin Hypn. 2006;49(2):101-12. doi:10.1080/00029157.2006.10401562
- Suriano R. A systematic review on the association between ADHD and procrastination. Res Dev Disabil. 2026;175:105342. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2026.105342
- healthdirect Australia. Depression [Internet]. Canberra: healthdirect Australia; 2025 Nov [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
- healthdirect Australia. Fatigue [Internet]. Canberra: healthdirect Australia; 2024 Aug [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
- healthdirect Australia. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [Internet]. Canberra: healthdirect Australia; 2025 Dec [cited 2026 Sep 25]. healthdirect.gov.au
Ernest McLeod — clinical hypnotherapist. An Adelaide practice, seeing clients across Australia by video. Fourteen years in practice.
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- FELLOW, ASCH
- IICT MEMBER
I would rather give you the research name for a problem than a catchier one, because the research name comes with studies you can check. More →
Twenty-two minutes to rehearse the plan, not the excuse
The if-then plan costs a pen and two minutes, so write it tonight. The session is there if you want a regular, quiet time to go over it, with three months to decide it isn’t for you.
US$18.95Instant download · 90-day refund · about A$27
Results vary from person to person, and hypnosis does not replace medical care or treatment. This is a self-help audio session, not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. If low mood, loss of interest or tiredness has lasted more than two weeks, or ADHD may be part of it, see your GP; healthdirect is on 1800 022 222. Never listen while driving or operating machinery. In an emergency, call 000.