Xiao Zhu, a young “online supervisor” from Xinyang, China, specializes in helping people combat procrastination by texting and calling them to make sure they fulfill their daily tasks.

With so many distractions literally just a click or finger swipe away, it’s no wonder that procrastination is considered a modern-day “plague” that keeps many of us from reaching our full potential. Whether it be fulfilling work-related tasks, sticking to a weight-loss routine, or studying for a fast-approaching exam, we always find excuses to put them off and do something more fun instead. That’s where online supervisors like Xiao Zhu come in. They spend most of their day keeping track of their customers’ schedule, constantly reminding them that they have things to do.

Xiao Zhu estimates that he has worked with over 20,000 clients over the past six years, helping them battle the monster that is procrastination. He spends about 15 hours of his day texting and calling clients, reminding them about the things they have planned for the day, encouraging them to get them done.

“It’s time to go for a run,” Zhu may text a client. “The morning task has not been completed, get to it,” he may tell another.

While he can’t brag about a 100% success ratio, Xiao Zhu has thousands of positive ratings on his online profile, as well as many testimonials from satisfied clients. Although his work keeps him busy for the most part of his work week, he claims that there’s no bigger satisfaction than hearing from a client who just passed an exam, thanking him for his help.

The young “procrastination killer” recently told Sohu that the vast majority of his clients are young people aged 18 to 30, who live by themselves and lack self-discipline and require outside assistance with fighting procrastination. Most of them need help with sticking to weight-loss regimens and studying for exams.

Although Zhu hasn’t revealed any details about the financial side of his job, one would assume that it pays well enough, since he has been doing it for six years now.

News of Xiao Zhu’s intriguing service went viral on Chinese social media last week, with most people expressing bewilderment that someone could make a living this way. But the truth is that this is just one of the weird services that have popped up in recent years.

 

A couple of years ago, we wrote about Wistand, a service that allows people to hire someone to attend protests in their place, then there was that service that allowed you to hire someone to argue on your behalf, and just last week we wrote about a man who specialized in discretely breaking up married men from their mistresses.