This is bizarre, but a simple algorithm works for me. Whenever I am exhausted and don't feel up to tackling another task, or whenever I'm afraid to approach a daunting project, I remember the inspiring words of my high school baseball coach. He'd say this partially in jest but partially seriously:
"Hey! Stop being a lazy piece of ...!"
When I tell myself that a task has world-class difficulty, and that accomplishing it would be an amazing feat, the task becomes highly daunting, and I procrastinate more. However, when I tell myself that the task should be done as a matter of course but that I'm being too stupidly lazy to accomplish it, the task becomes less daunting, and I procrastinate less. Expectations of normalcy change.
A similar effect occurs when you join a world class team and suddenly learn that they're doing ten tasks in a day that you once considered remarkable to finish in a week. Expectations of normalcy change, and big tasks seem far less daunting, so you procrastinate less.
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This is bizarre, but a simple algorithm works for me. Whenever I am exhausted and don't feel up to tackling another task, or whenever I'm afraid to approach a daunting project, I remember the inspiring words of my high school baseball coach. He'd say this partially in jest but partially seriously:
"Hey! Stop being a lazy piece of ...!"
When I tell myself that a task has world-class difficulty, and that accomplishing it would be an amazing feat, the task becomes highly daunting, and I procrastinate more. However, when I tell myself that the task should be done as a matter of course but that I'm being too stupidly lazy to accomplish it, the task becomes less daunting, and I procrastinate less. Expectations of normalcy change.
A similar effect occurs when you join a world class team and suddenly learn that they're doing ten tasks in a day that you once considered remarkable to finish in a week. Expectations of normalcy change, and big tasks seem far less daunting, so you procrastinate less.