This is one of the methods I use as well. I think of it as “Just Walk Forward”.
I have to switch up a lot because nothing works all the time. This week’s method is, write it all down. Big, small, important, stupid…just put it on the list. It helps when I feel my mind is full of flying bits that might get away.
And now @Cardigan 's “only one moment” has shamed me into getting off the internet for a little while. Gonna do some work, y’all…
Epictetus’s The Art Of Living is also a classic (though Discourses is the usual first recommendation. I like The Art of Living’s very simple nugget of advice by nugget of advice structure. Stoicism is something I happened upon two years ago, and it really speaks to me as that was (unknowingly) a lot of how I thought back in my 20s. A basic tenet running through it is that you can only control yourself, your actions, your thoughts, your feelings and not what others or the world do/see/think/feel. In other words, we can’t control the world, but we can control ourselves. There’s more to it than that, but that’s a foundation of it. And that a lot of discontentment comes not as much from what those external parties do to us, but our thoughts about it. Rational emotive behavioral therapy borrows a lot from this, as well as other cognitive behavioral therapies.
Seneca’s Letters of a Stoic or, if you want something more thematically bound, On Anger is another important book. Between Medidations, The Art of Living or *Discourses), and Letters of a Stoic, you should have a decent foothold in the philosophy.
Now, it’s likely you will not agree completely with everything, of course, and may even vociferously object. For me, I find it immensely useful and helpful to live a lower stressed life and more motivated one.
Thank you for these resources. I’ve been interested in stoicism for a while, but the major bestselling books on the subject are written by Ryan Holiday, a real douchebag. Better to go straight to the source.
Yes, the beloved brain dump. When I am really feeling overwhelmed I do this, and I write down everything, not just to-dos but personal problems on my mind, worries, everything in my head. And then once it’s all on paper I just turn over the page and start working. It’s like it clears out the clutter somehow.
Today I’m motivating myself to exercise by going in one minute bursts. The hardest part was getting into my workout clothes.
This is what I struggled with initially. On the one hand, what he has to say about stoicism is absolutely informative and true… BUT on the other hand, he’s a real douchebag! Both seem to be true. It’s best to separate the individual from the ideas in this case.
I agree reading the original source material is best. The reason I recommend Meditations in particular is that Marcus Aurelius wrote all of that for no audience but himself. He wasn’t trying to convince anyone else of anything. The reader can view his carefully preserved personal thoughts many centuries later and discover for themselves how someone who subscribed to stoicism actually thought and the practical ways in which he implemented the philosophy into his daily life. He showed us the way (or at least a way).
I have no clue who he is outside the videos I’ve seen, which I guess is a good thing? At any rate, I’ve only seen a small handful, and they have been motivational, though he has a certain style that I have to look past.
The main thing I know about him is that he wrote a book called Trust Me, I’m Lying which is all about how brilliant and clever he was for making gobs of money intentionally spreading lies about liberals via fake news. I read the first chapter. He mentioned in passing that he was coming clean because he wanted to do better, but the whole thing was so self-aggrandizing and sleazy, I could not finish it. If he really felt that bad about his morally repugnant behavior, I don’t think he would write such a book to rake in additional profit for his misdeeds.
Though I guess writing about Stoicism is arguably “doing better.”
“Nothing is difficult if you break it down into small jobs.”
–Henry Ford
----Mean Mr. Mustard
Yes. I had killer productivity today with the “Just Walk Forward” method.
And I convinced myself to clean my bathroom sinks by setting a timer for five minutes.
And I love the 10/10 rule. I’m going to try that.
I’d love to hear any other tips on getting started. That is the hardest thing for me. Once I start work I can go on forever (until I have to eat), but it’s the starting that’s difficult. I get distracted by so many things.
Yeah got a pretty good snow three days ago. A foot of it. I just shoveled a little at a time. At least when you go out next time, you keep seeing progress.
I worked (from home) in between.
Related to this: when possible, tackle jobs that have a visible outcome. It gives some feedback that you’re making progress, and possibly makes the remaining tasks more visible. Like if you want to reorganize your garage, it might be tough to even get a handle on what needs to be done. So just pick something first with an obvious result, like throwing away the trash or moving some boxes that are in the way. After that, other things may become clearer, like how to rearrange your shelves or whatever.
Judging by the time I spend here, I’d have to say, “Poorly”.
Panic and looming disasters are good motivators…
I kind of do this informally, but I have been known to use the kitchen timer as a reminder. When I was on a set schedule working from home, I also used the kitchen timer for 15 minute breaks, I’d set the timer for 12 to be sure I was ready to go right on time. The problem is that I have broken several of these cheap timers as they fall from the magnetic refrigerator door. I need to find something more sturdy. What you are doing, @Spice_Weasel might work brilliantly for me.
Thanks!
Any fans of pacing? Strict schedules?
I used to be a terrible procrastinator, and had loads of hobbies and interests that I would fill my day up with, using that as an excuse to ‘forget’ and avoid doing chores. But in the last couple of years, as I’ve aged into my 50s, my interest in hobbies has reduced to about 50% of what it used to be, and my awareness of how easy it is to just clean something now rather than later has proportionately increased to take its place.
I don’t know if losing interest in my hobbies is good for me, but it evens out to overall a good thing, so I have no intention of readjusting just yet. Maybe when I retire.
What do you mean by pacing?
It’s funny, our house is the cleanest it’s ever been and we have a toddler. For nineteen years we had no kids and I struggled and struggled with housework. I don’t know if it’s an age thing, I’m 39, or being medicated really does make a difference, but I find myself preferring to clean over other things, and one of my new hobbies is minimalism, which partly entails throwing out a bunch of stuff. So now I find myself throwing out stuff for fun. Other things I do for fun… reconciling my bank accounts and fussing over my budget.
I do think in general hobbies can come and go. I usually go through them in spurts. It’s why I have so much hobby stuff for things I don’t even do that often, but thanks to minimalism I’m learning to be more selective about how much of that hobby stuff I actually need. For example, I seem to be convinced that any day now I’m going to knit things to donate to homeless shelters, when in fact I’ve never finished a single project in the twenty years I have periodically dabbled in crochet, knitting and needlepoint. So part of it is letting go of the idea of who you wanted to be, and accepting the person you are.
ETA: One thing regarding housework - I’ve learned that a short time relaxing in a clean house is more restorative than a long time relaxing in a dirty house. So it may seem unpleasurable to spend half your Sunday cleaning, but it’s honestly way better than spending the entire Sunday in squalor.
The idea of conserving energy for important tasks. Say, doing three doable but moderately hard tasks a day, rather than trying to do everything or wasting time on unimportant tasks or overthinking things.
Oh. And I simply must recommend Elastic Habits by Stephen Guise. It is through the elastic habits system that I’ve been able to sustain regular exercise for about a year now - as well as other habits.
The idea is you have a Mini goal, that’s supposed to be easy to do on your absolute worst day. So, one minute of exercise. A single push-up. Consuming one vegetable. Writing a single sentence. Something so easy your brain gives you little resistance about doing it.
You have your Plus sized goal, which is a day in which you feel your are doing pretty well. Exercise 30 minutes. Write 1,000 words.
Then you have your Elite goal, which is reflective of excellence. Am hour of exercise. 5,000 words.
Usually you have different options within each level, for example my Elite goals are 30 minutes running or any amount of strength training (because I find it difficult to motivate myself.)
And then, every day, you do either Mini, Plus or Elite based on what seems reasonable. At a bare minimum you do your mini goal - and it has to be considered a tremendous success because not breaking the chain is the most important part. But of course once people start exercising or doing anything, they are likely to continue past one minute. Today I committed to one minute and ended up doing the whole workout.
This whole system really works for me. And you can track it yourself, but I use the system the author sells on his website, basically a habits calendar with gold, silver and green dots. I find stickers so motivating! There’s even a scoring system with bonus points if you want to get fancy.
This system has enabled me to sustain exercise without external pressure for the first time in my life. I started walking last February, and now I can run about four miles. And I run in the winter which is something I never imagined I could do.
I change the goals as it suits me. Lately I’ve been having trouble getting up early. So my Mini goal is to wake up at 8am, my Plus goal is to wake up at 7am, and if I really want that gold dot, I gotta wake up at 6am.
All I can say is it worked this morning for getting me up at 8am. It’s a start.
I started a new counselor recently. I told her I couldn’t get motivated to exercise. She had me put it on my calendar 3 x a week as a reminder. For motivation, she had me pick a reward, and give myself the reward only after exercising. I don’t always get it done on the right day, but my phone’s calendar keeps reminding me til I do. My reward is to do a NY Times archive crossword puzzle after I exercise.
When I do something on my to-do list, I cross it off. If it was a big deal, I add stars. Of course, the first item is always “Make A List.” That way, I have something to cross off right away!
Often enough, my method is to hit bottom and stay there until I’ve had enough. Really, it’s the only way to be able to say, “Nah, been there, done that.”