Motivation vs Procrastination
Just set one day’s work in front of the last day’s work. That’s the way it comes out. And that’s the only way it does.
— John Steinbeck
Try writing about why the work is important, or spend some time reflecting on times in the past where you’ve felt most connected to it.
Dan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
Projects that don't have deadlines imposed on them, even if they are self-imposed, will take a lot longer than they need to, and may suffer from feature creep and scope bloat.
By setting challenging deadlines you will actually get better results. It's all about manipulating the Iron Triangle of scope, resources, and time.
James Stanier • Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It
When a person fails to begin a project that they care about, it’s typically due to either a) anxiety about their attempts not being “good enough” or b) confusion about what the first steps of the task are. Not laziness. In fact, procrastination is more likely when the task is meaningful and the individual cares about doing it well.
humanparts.medium.com • Laziness Does Not Exist
The Ju/’hoansi, for example, were often content to spontaneously take a day off from foraging simply because they didn’t feel like it. Even if they were hungry, they knew that putting off the food quest for a day would not have any serious ramifications. For farmers, by contrast, taking a day off just because they need a rest is rarely an option.
... See moreJames Suzman • Work
Without a proper game plan, procrastination kicks in, and we often choose the most leisurely and most dopamine-satisfying activities over work.
Rahul Chowdhury • The Red Carpet Technique of Getting Things Done
Der Psychologe und Forscher Timothy Pychyl, inzwischen im Ruhestand, beschreibt Prokrastination als "emotion-focused coping": Indem wir Aufgaben aufschieben, vermeiden wir das unangenehme Gefühl, mit einer potenziell schwierigen Herausforderung konfrontiert zu sein – und unter Umständen zu scheitern.
Ronja von Rönne • Prokrastination: Dieser Text Hätte Vor Knapp Zwei Jahren Erscheinen Sollen | ZEIT ONLINE
The limitations we’re trying to avoid when we engage in this self-defeating sort of procrastination frequently don’t have anything to do with how much we’ll be able to get done in the time available; usually, it’s a matter of worrying that we won’t have the talent to produce work of sufficient quality, or that others won’t respond to it as we’d
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks
This gives us a roadmap to doing more creative work. What we need to do is, in the exploration phase, raise the perceived value of doing the work, raise the perceived costs of not doing the work, and lower the perceived value of doing other things.
Dan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
Make it attractive to do more creative work