That&#x27;s one of the best articles you could read on the subject, I might give it another read seeing as you&#x27;ve linked it here.<p>This was another favourite, the one that started my &#x27;journey&#x27;: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.raptitude.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;05&#x2F;procrastination-is-not-laziness&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.raptitude.com&#x2F;2011&#x2F;05&#x2F;procrastination-is-not-lazi...</a><p>YMMV, but to-do lists were just another source of pressure for me, so I&#x27;ve been trying to create external pressure for myself instead. I was a software developer wanting to learn data science but never went through with any of the MOOCs I started, even though I was interested in the subject. So I started a Masters to give myself that framework of accountability, deadlines etc.<p>I realise that&#x27;s an extreme example, so I&#x27;ll give a smaller one too. My wife wanted a Wordpress plugin and I offered to help, and immediately set a date for when I&#x27;d work on it. Even though she wasn&#x27;t forcing me or anything, she was the external pressure I created, and rather than make me anxious it actually helped me focus and get the job done.<p>The biggest realisation for me was that the barrier to starting something is orders of magnitude bigger than the barrier to keep going, so you can try to experiment with ways to fool yourself into starting. Things like saying &quot;I will work on this but only for 15 minutes, after which I&#x27;ll reward myself with some time on the Playstation&quot; often lead to me getting into flow before the time is up, and then just carrying on, sometimes for hours.