For me, he hardest part of most tasks is getting started. Once I have the ball rolling, I find I can do most of my routine tasks without issue. A life hack I use to get started on something is to remind myself to focus on a little bit at a time instead of thinking about everything at once. When I finish one task, I might take a quick break or move right onto the next task; either way, I avoid feeling like I’m buried underneath a mountain of work that can never be finished.
There are some tasks that I don’t always have to finish the same day I start them. With these tasks, I find it works better for me if I start them early and work on it bit by bit over several days (or longer depending on the size of the task) until they’re finished. This way I don’t overwhelm myself trying to get them all done at once and I see them come closer to completion each day, so I don’t get stressed about finishing them. That is how I write a lot of blog posts, including this one.
Some days I can’t do much. Maybe I only have time to do a bit of research about a given task, write out a plan for getting it done, talk to someone who can help me with it, or simply make sure I understand what it involves. These may seem like small steps but they add up quickly and they keep me focused on consistently doing something to get me closer to my goal, in addition to keeping me from stressing out due to inactivity.
While there are countless people who are more productive than I am, seizing the day and taking advantage of the time I have (even if it’s just a few minutes) has greatly increased my productivity. I do a lot more useful things now than I did before I made this commitment. I focus on useful/productive activities, so I avoid doing things just for the sake of being busy and I make sure to take breaks to avoid burning myself out. This has all been a gradual process in which I added one or two productive activities at a time and got used to steadily increasing my workload, which made it a lot easier and more successful than past attempts where I tried changing my routines immediately. I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.