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- Feeling stuck or flatDon't wait to feel like it. Schedule small things you enjoy or care about, do them anyway, and notice how you feel afterwards. Mood tends to follow action.
- Evidence: Some
- Takes: 15 minutes to plan, then a little each day
- ProcrastinationPutting things off is mostly about avoiding a bad feeling, not about laziness. Shrink the first step, plan when you'll start, and go easy on yourself afterwards.
- Evidence: Some
- Takes: 10 minutes
- Self-compassion instead of self-criticismTalk to yourself after a mistake the way you'd talk to a friend. It doesn't make you lazy; in experiments it made people try harder to improve.
- Staying hopeful when things aren't improvingHope is a goal, a few possible routes and the belief that you can take one. Look for a route you haven't tried, explain bad news as specific and temporary, and keep the next step small.
- Evidence: Some
- Takes: 20 minutes, then a few minutes a week
- Values and what matters to youKnowing what matters to you helps you choose goals you'll actually stick with. Goals that fit your values are pursued harder and pay off more, but quick values-writing tricks have mixed results.
- Finishing one small taskPick one task you can finish in under five minutes and finish it. A sensible way to get moving when you feel stuck, though there's little direct research on it.
- Evidence: Common practice
- Takes: 5 minutes or less