When he compared the progress updates of the participants over the course of the two weeks, Wessel found that those contemplating the four reflection points were significantly more likely to get on top of the work early, rather than putting off the assignment until the end of the fortnight. It had, in other words, significantly reduced their procrastinations.

The benefits were not immediate; Wessel says the students needed to consider the different reflection points a few times before they started taking action – a phenomenon he describes as a “sleeper effect”. “There are only so many times that you can tell the app that you know exactly what you need to do, but then not do it,” he says. You might expect the students to have been irritated by the reminders, but most reported that they had learnt a lot from the experience. “They said that we should do this for every course they have.”

A ‘promising approach’

Van Eerde is impressed by the results, and optimistic about the practicality of the intervention. “I think it’s one of the more promising approaches,” she says.

Wessel has already designed an app to help encourage people to improve their diet that follows similar principles, and he speculates that, no matter our goals, we might all benefit from regularly considering these reflection points. If you want to apply this yourself, you might consider putting a couple of daily reminders in your online calendar to ensure that you actually take the time to look at the prompts. “If you notice that you are always putting stuff off, they could be a good way of checking your behaviour.”