Not doing things is so damn easy.
"A year from now you'll wish you started TODAY."
I came to this thread looking for an easy answer - but perhaps there is none? Or it's a personal thing? My two cents - construct your environment in such a way that you automatically or have to get up. Alarms across the room, turn all the lights on when you alarm goes off (probably possibly with some arduino hacking around), etc. Lock your internet usage so you don't meander. Basically you just want to end up going with the flow. making your living/work space enable that is an easy way to get to work.
Lock your internet usage so you don't meander.
-This is good advice. There are times I literally have to pick up my personal computer and put it in another room so as not to get off point.
I've installed a plugin on my main browser (Firefox) which blocks websites I think distract me such as Hubski, Hacker News, Facebook, etc. If I feel an urge to go to these websites, I have to open a different browser (Chrome), and the time it takes to do that will frequently allow me to form second thoughts because it's not as easy to access.
Whatever you're doing, don't do it at home. If you associate your room as the place where you watch Friends (Friends? Really?) and as the same place as where you do work, you're gonna get it twisted. Work at a library or coffee shop, chill out at home. Don't shit where you sleep. Or however the saying goes.
Love, liquor or work. If it's not one of those I'll see you at noon.
I am a very productive person, but surprisingly I have a very hard time with this. I have many days where I just can't get the energy to work on things that are important to me, and I end up watching a film instead. Like right now. I should be finishing a book project my company is working on. I should be painting downstairs. I should above all else goddammit be working on my novel. But I do get things done. Starting is the hard part. My advice: just start. On a piece of it. A small piece even. If it's my book project I should open the file and look at it. If it's painting I could decide to just paint the door frame. If it's my novel I should just write an episode from one of the character's past that won't even be in the novel. Just a tiny step on something I want to do. Often, this tiny step gets the momentum going, and suddenly I've accomplished something. If not, well at least it's a tiny step closer. Another strategy I use is to make a list of all of the steps I can think of that need to happen to get the project done. I try to be specific and break it down as much as possible. And even though it feels like cheating, I make sure the list has some dead-easy items on it that will be really quick to do. Then I pick one, do it, and scratch it off the list. Focusing on the goal when the goal is so impossible just demotivates me. Focusing on a small little thing I can accomplish that moves me even a little bit towards the goal seems to work. What is it you want to do galen?
How were you sick? I've been sick too since Saturday.
Intention. I try to remind myself why I am doing what I am doing and why X or Y should be done. If the end result is really important to me, I will find time to do it. Because the alternative is, not reaching that goal that is important for me. There are also things that are more important than others and connected to deadlines, so I try to do them in that order. However, sometimes, immediacy is a stronger driver. If I feel like doing X over Y and the situation/surroundings allow for X better than Y, then I will do X. While it might be less important than Y in the big picture, it is one thing ticked off my list, getting me closed to Y (because, less distraction). I can relate to what flagamuffin said, somehow. During my studies, I worked in a variety of labs, with absolutely different research contexts. While the subjects, methods and the questioning was different, there were things that I learned about Zebrafish that I was able to use in apoptosis in cancer cells and later on in axon regeneration etc. What I am trying to say is, in retrospect, nothing I ever did feels like a waste of time. Not the 6 years I spent playing MMORPGs (learned english, met wonderful people) or all the mistakes or failed attempts I did. Somehow, you always learn something.
Shit man, I realized a while back that I treat my life like an rpg. 'Cept I've done it since before I knew what an rpg was. But since I turned on to the notion, it's really taken off. I just read like 10000 words on Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Waste of time? Kinda. But if my brain is a giant stat sheet with all the facts possible on it, grayed out, a tiny bit more just got whited in. +1 esoteric knowledge of presidents' early lives. Decent way to spend 20 minutes. So anyway, yeah. White in some gray areas. And you get exp just for surviving each day, it's called 'the wisdom that comes with age'. Avoid actual rpgs, though.
That's... really awesome. When I started reading I thought maybe you'd go into the standard gamification with giving yourself awards for accomplishing tasks and such, but your methods are more abstract and (IMO) a whole lot cooler. I'd be careful saying that too loud around these parts... Not that I disagree.Avoid actual rpgs, though.
But see this way knowledge is literally its own reward. Which, incidentally, makes it a really cheap hobby. I don't understand spending time on an rpg when you could just be your own. I mean, I do, like escapism and path of least resistance stuff, but, hell. It's way more fun when the results are real. If pokemon actually existed I'd never do anything else, but they don't. God I'm preachy tonight. Time to go do something productive instead.
I asked a similar question a couple months ago, the responses might be useful to you.
I think this is where my problem lies today. I've been sick for a couple days, so I lost all my inertia, instead sitting around and watching Friends all the time. Now that I'm getting better, I find it's tremendously difficult to start doing things again.There's also a lot to be said for momentum.
The way I try to regain my inertia is to start with some small tasks that I know I'll be able to do in ten minutes. Clean dishes. Take out the trash. Write a paragraph. Do a three or four of these small tasks in a row - they'll give you the satisfaction of having accomplished something useful. Then, take a break, get some coffee, and do two or three tasks that take a bit longer. You've now had an hour of productivity, which for me is more than enough inertia to keep on going. Starting is the hardest part, so make that easier.
This is what kills my workout streaks. I'll go a week or two of solid workouts, every other day maybe, get sick or get symptomatic (Heart stuff) and have to take a few days off, and then my momentum is gone, and I'll go weeks without working out. When I'm sick now I make a point to catch up on reading or audiobooks, so I at least feel like I did something.
This is actually good advice. Once you make a habit of setting daily goals and accomplishing them, it becomes pretty easy. Large goals can be daunting, but it's the daily goals that get you there that really matter. It's the whole, how do you eat an elephant? question, right? The answer of course is one bite at a time, -it's those small little bites that matter. I have mentioned many times that I'm a fan of making a daily list. It feels good to cross things off of it. galen, I would also recommend crossing the things you least want to do off of the list first. Good luck amigo!
You can either do it or not. If you want to do it, delaying is only wasting time. There is no best time to start so just fucking do it.
Sidenote: #bebetterdammit has surprisingly few followers.
at one point i think I think I was trying to keep up #ourbestselves