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Even just aiming to spend 1 minute now can be enough if it's an open ended task I can enter flow on. Add doc comments for a class. Fix a few typos. Wash a dish. One, tiny little thing.

"I'll just get this one thing done real quick" instead of "I'll just check reddit real quick" - makes the lies one tells oneself work in your productivity's favor instead of against it for once ;)

I'm using a weekly checklist to keep routine chores small and "1 minute"able. Instead of letting mail pile up for months, once a week makes it a trivial task of immediately dumping a few opened letters into the recycling, and occasionally putting one in a filing cabinet.

Practice self care: Sleep, eat, groom, exercise, organize, relax, and socialize well (even if that's just a few minutes with a trusted friend for an introvert.) A tired, ill-fed, slovenly, disorganized, stressed out, anti-social couch potato will have difficulty being as motivated no matter how many productivity hacks they practice. Speaking from experience. (The mindset: "That's not important right now - I should be working on X instead! But I'm lazy...")

I like the idea of substituting:

I'll check Reddit real quick with I'll wash this dish real quick

I guess bad habits can inspire good ones...

> Start the day right, work on something simple

I always start/restart my job after a break by doing some trivial refactoring or writing comments at various parts of the code. This is a great way to "reload" the big picture into your memory. Eventually your brain will be active enough to tackle a more tricky part. I'd recommend this to anyone who feels down in morning.

These are really really good!

I can add a few, which helped me a lot through my depression and getting things done in general:

- Plan your breaks: "I'll do one hours of this and then have a quick break and go for a walk"

- Set yourself rewards. It doesn't matter how tiny they are, but - atleast for me - they are effective: "When I finish this today I'll get a nice meal at my favorite restaurant".

- Set yourself a time limit. This goes more or less with the one above. Set yourself some time limit that you'll only work til something like 5pm and then enjoy your free time. It doesn't matter if you have finished your work today or not. Maybe it wasn't even possible to finish it in one day at the first place. Plus what helps me a lot is, if you don't finish your current task in time make a quick bullet list for your task for next day. Be realistic and start with super simple goals.

Use a website blocker for the last one. Make sure you set it first thing in the morning, otherwise you have lost the battle.

Another thing I add is accept five lines of code as an acceptable day of work. Because usually it leads to more, but if it's just one of those days, five lines is infinitely better than zero, and you are far more likely to get out of your rut tomorrow because it's a new starting point. Feeling bad about things just gets you into a writers block state and exacerbates the situation. If you have done five lines and know your brain is toast, don't feel bad about taking a mental break for the rest of the day.

Some additions to this I find useful:

> - Use the 15 minute rule to get started

I like to take this a step further, and I think I read it in a Brian Tracey book once. If I have a list of things that need doing that I am not especially excited about, I'll go through them doing five minutes max on each. This normally sufficiently unsticks each, but if it doesn't, then do a round of 10m on each.

> - Leave a currently solved code part partially done or leave a compile issue on the area you were working on

One way I handle this is by forcing myself to keep and update a "Next Work" list (in an outliner) that keeps a very current todo list for each project. Generally I'll update it each morning and break down the immediate next work into tasks that only take a minute or two to get that momentum going

> - Motivators and triggers

I'm only slightly ashamed to admit I make heavy use of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6OwnNe9nMU (usually while walking, or very very first thing in the morning -- I downloaded the audio only)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkNKEHC8Pg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjP9r-HU4fk

and Apple's Think Different advert

I also really like writing out the answer to "What'll be different in a week's/month's time due to what you're about to do?"

> - Start the day right, work on something simple or one check in for instance before reddit/HN/news or distractions

Phone goes on airplane mode overnight, and comes out of airplane mode once I've completed my morning ritual, which takes about an hour and a half.

What's the morning ritual, Peter?

> Phone goes on airplane mode overnight, and comes out of airplane mode once I've completed my morning ritual, which takes about an hour and a half

Yeah, no. How are people going to contact in case of an emergency?

I am in the privileged position that nobody needs to contact me in an emergency. Alternatively they can call my land line, or if they know who I'm with, ring her instead.

This will not work for everyone as I do the same with airplane mode. I figure if it is that much of an emergency, a police officer will show to my door with terrible news.

On motivators: I've decided to make jasmine tea my "get shit done" drink - the intense flavour is great for prompting an associated state of mind.

I like diluted rose water , like a refreshing punch to the gut lol

> Use the 15 minute rule to get started, only agree to do 15-20 minutes of work to see if you are flowing in that project, most of the time once you get started and loaded up the project in your mental space you can easily flow on it.

I used to have a cheap but nice looking 20 min hourglass on my desk for just this reason. When I needed to get started on something, I just flip it and commit to working for just that amount of time. More often than not, before I know it, I only notice the hourglass empty when I'm on a roll with the task.

Inertia works both ways.

Some great advice here, especially the item to leave unfinished a simple task that you can pick up first thing the following morning.

I'd also add, consider the day worthwhile if you just achieve one task. Do that for a few days and you'll find you can move on to 2 tasks, 3 tasks, etc quite easily.

- Multiple projects and work on another project during procrastination or a thinking spot of the current project. Have main work projects, side projects, fun projects, some are more fun, more work or just tedious/rote that you can use depending on your productivity or work style of the day.

I try and avoid this as I find my side-tasks far too interesting and distractive!

I use all of these and they work for me. I'll add that sometimes at the end of my day I'll do a bunch of @todo comments in code I am working on. Either stuff I want to do tomorrow or notes on figuring out a problem.

If I was struggling with those, I generally resolve them very quickly the next day. Subconscious, fresh brain, or both. I don't know, but it works for me.

+1, can vouch for: >Leave a currently solved code part partially done or leave a compile issue on the area you were working on, then wake up the next day, finish that part and you can flow right into other work because the domain is in your mind.