My natural tendency as a software engineer is to leave everything tidy at the end of the day (i.e., find a "good stopping point"). That meant no clear loose ends on what I'd been working on. But I often had trouble getting started the next day for reasons quite related to the article. Many years into my career, I figured out to leave a simple issue that I had already thought through the solution to, and leave myself a note that pointed me in the right direction the next day. Getting that initial success the next day was often enough to get me going again.
<i>Break your work into small and manageable steps. ... Start with a tiny step.</i><p>Something to add to this: start with the problematic step, not with the tiniest. Not all steps induce anxiety. It's buried in there, but is very local. Divide into manageable steps, identify the most anxious one and just kill it. The rest is usually free.<p>For example, if you're procrastinating and can't sort these 5831 saved pictures in "New folder (35)", first identify that the most anxious part is the sliding categorization paralysis. Simply start scrolling through the pics and making a directory plan in notepad aside, adjusting it on the fly. After you finish, it's only a mundane task of moving that is left, which you can just sit and do without any thought.
Music can affect emotions and jump start the necessary action to overcome the Wall of Awful <a href="https://youtu.be/hlObsAeFNVk" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/hlObsAeFNVk</a><p>Other tricks to get started from the video:<p>- time limit/time boxing e.g., prepare a meal in 20 minutes, write a book for an hour, pomodoro technique<p>- novel experience e.g., write in a café<p>- exercise<p>- set specific [small measurable] goal e.g., reply to 5 emails, put away 19 items<p>- allow time to transition from one task to another: prepare, reflect on the results: mark "done" items, consider "why" it succeeded (reuse next time)
Here's how I've dealt with procrastination, in case anyone wants to try these ideas out:<p>1. Clarity: Knowing steps/milestones/end goal helps scope/know what needs to be done for something to be 'finished'. We tend to think about this when delegating, but the same applies to personal work. If I know details about what I need to do it's more likely that I don't get stuck and look for something else to do/distract myself.<p>2. Conviction: related to point 1. Most of the time if I'm somewhat excited about what I'm doing, procrastination is a non-issue. When I'm not, I try to write a bit to figure out what's keeping me from going full force. I start with the prompt "What don't I believe about what I'm doing?" and end up thinking bigger picture and finding details I'm not entirely sure about. This gives me stuff to clarify, look for data, etc.<p>3. Beating myself up: unlike points 1 & 2, this is harder to fix as it's not mechanical in the sense that I can open a new doc and start writing. In my case, a lot of the aversion from tough tasks comes from feeling bad with myself when I could not complete something or failed at it. To solve this, I have worked with my therapist, metta meditation and practicing positive self-talk (or catching myself when I think or say things like 'oh how dumb, it was just...')<p>4. Self-confidence: this is iffier. Part of not beating myself up involves appreciating myself. Basically, thinking positively about myself like I do of people who I admire or friends I like. Compared to people who love me or respect me, I was very harsh on myself and did not treat myself with the respect others would.<p>5. Intuition: once the self-confidence thing kicks in, I feel free to do stuff without even thinking about it. This allows me to get into flow. For example, I have started using document templates without giving it much thought (because if I already do it it must be good enough, I guess?). This has helped me speed up how I write and give structure to things. I didn't use to do this but now it's second nature as I'm not questioning anything about what I do. I know this sounds bad in the big scheme of things but when dealing with tasks/small stuff, letting whatever comes out flow speeds up work and makes it more fun vs second-guessing myself. Meditation helps here, as I disengage from ruminating or thinking about random stuff or objections that may not be relevant to what I'm doing.<p>Anyway, a lot of this stuff is related to the OP in that they reduce anxiety. This issue is close to my heart as I have been battling with it for years now and am now in a spot that makes me proud.
Over the years, I've become increasingly averse to starting new projects, new tasks, and even just sub-tasks. Which isn't great considering that I work in an engineering / R&D environment!<p>If I get dragged into it, I'm fine. But if I have to jump into it myself, I really hesitate. Hence me being on HN right now...;)
it IS.
Procrastination is one of the symptom of underlying emotional irregularities. It's a coping mechanism for people who avoid task on hand becuase the task causes them anxiety, pain, discomfor what-have-you.
Deal and heal the underlying issue/s and you will be better able to resolve procrastination.