Anyone have hacks for starting difficult tasks? "Just get started" is the worst advice ever. Sometimes my brain is a brick wall, and the harder I push against it, the worse it gets.

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Break the difficult task into smaller and smaller tasks until the resulting task is less than 30 minutes of your time. Additionally, use the Pomodoro or reverse pomodoro method to structure breaks.

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Organizing my thoughts into bullets and subbullets seems to help ease into action

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Yes this is key

If you have ADHD, have a friend or trusted colleague call you and say it’s due in 30 mins. You’ll get to work fast in pressure mode. I have been inviting people over randomly to my house for 20 years bc my partner won’t clean unless it’s a high pressure situation.

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If you don’t know how to get started or have trouble determining tasks and subtasks, that’s a great use case for chatGPT.
Start small. Use the endorphins from completing a small task to carry through your next task. Snowball those endorphins.

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I also have a really hard time with task initiation. The advice makes it seem like it’s so easy and yet….

Timers, even for 2 minutes, for e.g. home tasks. For work tasks, I was a hater but sometimes talking to chat gpt about the work helps with the getting pen to paper part. Give it a try

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This is so true. We do 5 minute fun timers for the family that you can find on YouTube. (Any character, like Mario, or any movie, have a timer on YT).

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As I mentioned in prior post, I start by doing the simplest tiny step. Like sitting down at the computer and clearing the desktop.

Combine the task with a mini reward ritual like a cup of tea or turning on focus music.

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I tell myself I will get a little reward (15 min messing around on my phone, a walk to the coffee shop, maybe even a real lunch break, etc.) only if I put at least 2 hours of work into the thing I’m dreading.

Usually I end up doing more than that once I get going, but if it’s really boring stuff you at least have a light at the end of the tunnel and a little treat to keep you going.

Also agree with the advice on somehow creating a false sense of urgency. Convince yourself you’ll be fired if you don’t finish this by tomorrow, ask a trusted colleague to check up on your progress every few hours, etc.

sometimes the stick is more motivating than the carrot.

It’s the opposite of most advice but I work on something easy first. Something that gives me an effortless win like a mindless work task. Doesn’t even have to be related to the difficult task. Just getting into work mode and then getting a positive feedback in my brain from accomplishing a thing can help me take a breath and dive into the hard thing.

Sometimes I can’t start something because I feel like I don’t have enough information. But, I’ve gotten in a lot of trouble for this.

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