11–20 of 71 posts
There's a quote about this rule (get started and the job will be easier to complete): "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated, Begin it, and the work will be completed!" - Goethe
I have decided to use the HN favorite function for the first time today, and I used it on your post. Thank you for this quote!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have decided to use the HN favorite function for the first time today, and I used it on your post. Thank you for this quote!
how do you favorite it?
Advice like this frames procrastination as laziness that can be overcome by committing to less work, but that's misleading. If this helps you stop procrastinating I think it's much more likely that you're simply overwhelmed with choices.
Try listing out the things you want to do, and for each of those things list out just the first step, even if it's more than 2 minutes long. No more than that, don't start writing down instructions for yourself, just stick to "what do I do next here?"
You might find out that your problem isn't laziness, it's unharnessed motivation that's just pulling you in too many directions at once.
There's a quote about this rule (get started and the job will be easier to complete): "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it, Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated, Begin it, and the work will be completed!" - Goethe
This is less about the length of the task and more to do with simply identifying the first step to take. You can see that by the example of starting to run by putting on your running shoes. Advice like this frames procrastination as laziness that can be overcome by committing to less work, but that's misleading. If this helps you stop procrastinating I think it's much more likely that you're simply overwhelmed with c…
It clearly about "Task Initiation" which is a problem related to "Executive Function". None of the related authors would ever frame it as being about "Laziness". That's like... the last thing Dave Allen would do.
Also "identifying the next action" (which is what you're suggesting) is also very much a Dave Allen technique. Dave Allen adds the 2-minute rule on top of that -- if it's 2 minutes or less, don't bother tracking it, just do it straight away... that way you won't pay the cost of tracking a whole extra item in your task management system.
What Maurer does, however, is explain the biological reasons this works. When we are stressed/anxious/afraid, the part of the brain called the amygdala activates our "fight or flight" response. So, when we try to take 'big' steps, we activate the amygdala and...give up, run away, avoid. But (extremely) small steps "sneak" past the amygdala without activating the fight or flight response.
2 Minute Rule
https://jamesclear.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating
GTD
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done
Tiny Habits
Both are fantastic ideas. I recommend going to the source to learn about these, the book "Getting Things Done" and the many writings specific to that system. It is very influential, so much so, that many of the things influenced by it no longer realisz their ideas have come from Dave Allen. It just seems like a universal idea that everyone knows with no particular source, like the Cerulean of the sweater in "The Devil Wears Prada", it came from somewhere.
I was just about to start on a project, but stopped to read this article instead. I'll start the project later, after I catch up on comments.