After wasting several hours fighting the feeling, I give up and indulge myself in my favourite things.<p>I've come to admit that work doesn't always come at will. I don't think it's a very professional position to hold, but you can't deny it.
I work, of course. Often the only way to get yourself in a mood to work is by working when not in the mood. Avoiding only adds misery to the misery.<p>Writing a novel, for example, if you wait for inspiration you can be waiting a long time. Writing will bring the inspiration, eventually
If I "don't feel like work", either either because I'm stuck on something and need to let it cook on the back burner, or I've pushed myself too hard for too long and my brain has staged a wildcat strike. Either way I need to back off and do something else, like exercise, housework, sex, blogging, yard work, or shitposting.
Either push through or play a round of settlers of Catan at colonist.io. the game takes approximately 30 minutes, is a good reset, and one at a time is usually enough. I try to avoid things that might lead to long time commitments. Alternatives are also things like doing the dishes or washing clothes, cleaning the flat etc.
Chores - cleaning the dishes, vacuuming the house, washing clothes. It's one of the things I love about being able to work remotely, chores get done during work hours instead of recreational time.
Meditate • Read HN • Read the newspaper (mostly online, sometimes on paper) • Read more about upcoming trends/best-practices/improvements stuff • Grab a coffe, either in the office kitchen or at some nice coffee shop • Discuss with people in Facebook/Slack groups • Chat with friends. Stuff like that.<p>I wish I would take more walks outside, but I don’t do it nearly as often as I should.