A productivity hack that I’ve been rediscovering: it makes sense to start an activity early, that is before you are ready. Even more specifically, start before you want to. Once you get going, it would be relatively easy to continue. The reminder for this came in the form of a memo from my daughter’s strings teacher. She wrote to the parents of her students that kids are typically reluctant to pick up an instrument for their daily practice sessions, but are happy to continue playing once they start.
This technique has to do with the theory that we, humans, have a certain amount of inertia that makes us reluctant to stop wha we are doing at the moment and switch to another task. Incidentally, it also means that we should try stopping an activity before we are ready to do so. If the next step of the project is absolutely clear, it would make it so much easier to pick it up again the next day, or whenever it is time for the next session.
