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Are you me? :) One other thing that sometimes works is that I will tell myself: Ok, you should start this thing, but you only have to do ${trivial-amount} on i
by dcminter 5y ago
Are you me? :)
One other thing that sometimes works is that I will tell myself: Ok, you should start this thing, but you only have to do ${trivial-amount} on it. Then you can do ${more-enticing-thing}.
I don't know why this works since obviously I'm fully privy to the subterfuge... but if I can manage that first trivial amount (e.g. when I was writing tech books it would be one paragraph) I would often end up finishing the task (e.g. drafting a whole chapter) as I discover that the thing I fear is illusory.
It's all very frustrating. As often as not the thing I'm procrastinating upon is something I actively enjoy once I get going!
- piva00 5y agoNothing is new and we aren't all that unique, haha. The more you described your issue and how you deal with it the more I thought the same "are you me?". Instead of tech writing I try to produce music (still learning, just 3 years in) and I ended up using the same subterfuge: when I avoid opening my DAW to make music I just tell to myself "open it, create a motif with a preset sound you like and save the project", something that wouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to be done with. After I start with that most of the time I simply keep going. I try to apply the same to work tasks, it's just a little harder to get the initial commitment when I feel very paralysed, every time I do the "just 5 minutes" thing it does work though.