# Find the task you've been avoiding and finish one step today

> One writer used this single instruction to finally set up a meeting they'd been avoiding.

Paste your messy notes and half-done ideas. Instead of another plan, you get the one thing you've been dodging longest and a single step you can finish in five minutes.

- Page: https://thesolocreators.com/prompts/avoided-task-one-five-minute-step/
- Category: Make smarter decisions
- Made for: Everyone, Coaches, Creators
- Works in: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini
- Time: About 5 minutes
- Effort: Just copy and paste
- Published: 2026-11-05

## How can AI help me stop putting off a task?

Paste your messy list and ask for the one thing you've been avoiding, plus a single step you can finish in five minutes. Skip asking for a plan. Claude suits this if you want to save the instruction in a project and reuse it, which is what the source writer did. ChatGPT or Gemini work the same way for a one-time paste. It fits anyone with a long list and no idea where to start.

## The prompt

Fill in the parts in [square brackets], or leave them and the AI will ask you for them.

```text
I'm stuck and I don't need a schedule or a productivity system. Read the list below and work out which thing I've been putting off the longest. Go by what the words tell you: things I keep rewriting, half-finished ideas, anything that sounds dreaded or vague. Don't just pick the most urgent or the oldest date.

Tell me which one it is in one sentence, and why you think I've been avoiding it in one more. Then give me a single step I can finish in the next five minutes, small enough that I can't argue with it. After that, stop. No extra tips, no list of next steps, no pep talk.

If I come back and say it's done, give me the next five-minute step and nothing more.

Here's my list: [YOUR MESSY LIST, e.g. notes, half-done ideas, old to-dos]
```

## Step by step

1. Copy your to-do list, notes and half-finished ideas
2. Paste the prompt below with your list in it and send
3. Set a timer for five minutes and do the one step
4. Save the prompt in a Claude project's instructions so it's ready next time

## What you'll get

The one task you've been dodging, a sentence on why, and a single step small enough to finish in five minutes.

## Good to know

**How can AI help me stop putting off a task?** Paste your messy list and ask for the one thing you've been avoiding, plus a single step you can finish in five minutes. Skip asking for a plan. Claude suits this if you want to save the instruction in a project and reuse it, which is what the source writer did. ChatGPT or Gemini work the same way for a one-time paste. It fits anyone with a long list and no idea where to start.

**Which AI tools does this work in?** It works in Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini. On this page, Claude and ChatGPT open with your prompt already typed in. No paid plan is noted for this one.

**How long does it take?** About 5 minutes. It's rated "Just copy and paste". There are 4 steps, listed above.

**What do I need before I start?** Just your details for one blank: your messy list. You can skip any, and your AI will ask for them.

**What will I get back?** The one task you've been dodging, a sentence on why, and a single step small enough to finish in five minutes.

Idea spotted on the web, shared by XDA Developers: https://www.xda-developers.com/claude-got-me-to-stop-procrastinating-with-one-instruction/. The prompt is The Solo Creators' own version.

## Go further

Ready-made skills in the Solo Creators AI Studio (https://thesolocreators.com/studio/) that fit this: Board of Advisors (Convene seven AI advisors who debate your decision, vote, and hand back a stress-tested verdict); Fact Checker (Every quote, number, date, and link in your draft checked against its real source, with the fixes handed back as tracked changes you accept or reject).

From AI Use Cases and Prompts by The Solo Creators: https://thesolocreators.com/prompts/. Free to use; please link back to the page when you share it.