I agree that the article's problem is that it depends on deceiving yourself, which, as you said, your ego always ends up paying the price for. For me, the most

I agree that the article's problem is that it depends on deceiving yourself, which, as you said, your ego always ends up paying the price for. For me, the most helpful thing has been to become more aware of the fluctuation of my own energy/motivation levels, and managing them instead of thinking I should be super-motivated all the time. My subconscious knows which tasks will be a pain to get through and I know I'll tend to procrastinate on those things. So I have to make sure I seize those hours when I have high energy and get the tougher things done. Then when I have less energy later I won't feel bad spending that time doing smaller things or even chilling. Hopefully this creates a virtuous cycle of confidence, which results in progressively more energy and motivation in the future.