When a project I’m supposedly interested in completing seems too hard, and I keep finding myself flinching away from it (or falling into Dark playground)—try instead just getting started! Activities feel totally different once I’m actually in motion.
Q. Why does “Just get started” help, in terms of our relationship to a task?
A. Getting started changes our perceptions of a task—once we start, it’s rarely as aversive as we feared.
Proposed Just get started implementation intention: when I {feel an impulse to delay a task until later, then get started on some aspect of it}.
Q. Why does Just get started often seem harder than it really is?
A. You’re thinking about accomplishing the whole task (“getting it done”) rather than just getting started. (see also Stop trying to try and try, after Soares)