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From what I understand, people use a strict schedule regardless of motivation for two reasons: - be sure that even if inspiration never strikes, you still have
by Zababa 4y ago
From what I understand, people use a strict schedule regardless of motivation for two reasons:
- be sure that even if inspiration never strikes, you still have something after a week, a month, a year
- maximize your chances of inspiration striking
I've often heard that the first 20 minutes of doing a task are the hardest, and that's where you should force yourself the most. After that it gets easier. And if there is a "wave" of inspiration, you should ride it while it's there.
- ethbr0 4y agoThat sounds like the best of both worlds. There's always going to be an activation cost to pay, even for the most motivated. So if I'm inspired, it'd still be helpful to put hands on keyboard and start, otherwise that inspiration might be squandered. On the other hand, if I'm not inspired and don't become inspired in the first X minutes, there was probably a better chance of becoming inspired because I did start, but also a ceiling on X that indicates it just isn't happening today. So maximal productiveness = {start regularly, to take advantage of inspiration} + {start regularly, to see if inspiration strikes} And also worth differentiating forward progress tasks from epiphany tasks. Sometimes a great book still needs 2 more bad chapters to be complete, but a bad modification on a mediocre ML model doesn't help it score better.
- lancesells 4y agoThe first 20 minutes are also true when I exercise as well. Once I'm past 15-20 minutes I find I can keep going.