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?