Sep 30 / Natalie Savery

The Puzzle, the Novel and the YouTube Rabbit Hole: Why We Put Things Off

and image of an open book , glasses and a cup of coffee
I was recently recommended a novel by a friend. It arrived on the 26th August and, despite being 560 pages long, by the 28th I was already over halfway through and ordering the second in the series. All this from someone who often says they don’t have any spare time!

It made me pause and question why. How is it that a book can have me hooked, staying awake long past my usual bedtime as I’m devouring chapter after chapter, yet when I pick up a work-related book my eyelids start to close almost immediately? Why do books I’m really interested to read stay on my shelf for months, whilst when I'm reading fiction, I can’t put it down?

The same thing happens elsewhere in my life. I’ll eagerly spread out a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle that looks impossible at first glance, relishing the challenge and the sense of progress as the picture comes together. Yet I’ll put off a small but slightly daunting work task for days (usually spreadsheets!).

And I can happily spend an hour on YouTube, drifting from one short skit to another, but somehow I can’t find that same hour to complete a module in a course I chose to sign up for.
So what’s going on here? Why do we so often resist the very things we know will help us learn, develop, or make progress, even when we’ve actively chosen them?
a picture of woman head in hands looking at laptop

Why Do We Resist the Things We Want to Do?

With fiction, the pull is clear. The story grips me, I care about the characters, and I need to know what happens next, especially when there’s a cliffhanger I can’t leave hanging.

With a puzzle, the attraction is progress and completion. The satisfaction of finding a tricky piece and the joy of watching the picture form are rewards in themselves. The task is finite: I know that once the last piece is placed, the job is done.

Now compare that to reading a work-related book, finishing a course module, or tackling a work task. These feel different, and not just because they’re “work.” They come with expectations and obligations. We might feel we should be reading, learning, or progressing. That sense of duty immediately changes the experience. There’s also the voice of self-doubt: Will I understand this? Will I remember it? Am I good enough at this? And, unlike a puzzle, the finish line is often vague, and the satisfaction is delayed. And there is always another piece of work waiting in the wings to replace the one you do finish.

It’s interesting, too, that this isn’t limited to work. I don’t spend hours watching videos on hobbies I’d love to learn more about. Instead, I watch things that help me escape — funny clips, nostalgic moments, or mindless scrolling. Perhaps that’s what my brain needs: a way to switch off rather than switch on. Or perhaps, like many of us, I sometimes choose distraction because it feels easier than pursuing something meaningful.
a picture of a head jigsaw with a piece missing

The Pull of Story, Challenge, and Escape

Psychologists have long studied why we’re drawn to some tasks and avoid others. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described “flow” — that state of being so absorbed in an activity that time disappears. Novels and puzzles often create flow: they balance challenge with our abilities and keep us moving forward with clear markers of progress.

By contrast, many work tasks don’t provide that balance. They feel open-ended, harder to measure, and often carry emotional weight — pressure, expectation, or fear of not being good enough.

And then there’s escape. Platforms like YouTube or social media are designed around novelty and surprise. Each new clip gives us a tiny hit of dopamine — the brain chemical linked to reward and reinforcement. The effort is low, the risk of failure is zero, and the payoff is immediate. No wonder we drift into the rabbit hole.

picture of pens and paper on a table

Motivation and Meaning

Motivation researchers like Victor Vroom, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan have offered helpful ways of thinking about this. But at its simplest, motivation boils down to three things:

• Do I believe I can do it? (confidence in my own ability)

• Will it be worth it? (the reward feels clear and valuable)

• Does it matter to me? (it connects with something I care about).

When those three conditions are in place, we find energy. When they’re not, we stall.

This is why it can help to link a task to something we genuinely enjoy. If you love creativity, can you approach a work task with an artistic angle — using visuals, colour, or design to make it more appealing? If you value collaboration, can you turn a solo task into something you do alongside a colleague? The more we connect work with our interests and values, the more it feels like something we want to do rather than something we should do.


lady writing on a desk

Linking to Effectiveness

At Leaderful Action, our theme this month is Effectiveness.

Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People offers a helpful reminder here. Habit 3 “Put First Things First” is about prioritising what truly matters over what is most urgent or tempting. I often say to my children: “Do the things you need to do before the things you want to do.” It’s simple advice, but surprisingly hard to live by.

But we also need to note that effectiveness doesn’t mean working all the time. It means being intentional. While Habit 3, helps us prioritise what truly matters, Habit 7 — Sharpen the Saw — is just as important.

True effectiveness is about balance across four dimensions: the body, the mind, the heart (our relationships), and the spirit (our sense of purpose). To stay effective, we need to nurture all of these. That means rest as well as work, connection as well as independence, purpose as well as productivity - making sure we’re strengthening ourselves in ways that keep us energised, focused, and whole. Sometimes that does mean tackling the important work before the distractions. But sometimes it also means letting ourselves read the novel, do the puzzle, or even scroll for a while, if that’s what helps us reset.

a man sat on a bridge overlooking a valley with water

Tactics for Shifting Mindset

So how do we bridge the gap between knowing what we should do and actually doing it? Here a few tips I try to use.

  • Notice the pattern. Pause when you catch yourself avoiding something. What’s behind the delay — fear, overwhelm, boredom, or a lack of clarity?
  • Make progress visible. Break work into small, clear steps so you can see milestones, just like puzzle pieces coming together.
  • Reframe the task. Remind yourself why it matters, or make it engaging by linking it to your interests. If you enjoy creativity, bring that into the way you complete it.
  • Apply “First Things First”. Consciously give time and energy to the tasks that matter most before distractions.
  • Balance work with rest. Build in novels, puzzles, and videos, but treat them as recovery, not avoidance. That way, your leisure is guilt-free and restorative.

The truth is, we all gravitate towards what feels engaging, finite, and easy. The challenge isn’t to deny ourselves novels, puzzles, or YouTube — but to understand why they pull us in, and then use those same principles of story, challenge, and meaning to make our important work feel more rewarding too.