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Mindset Mondays
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Mindset path

Build discipline

Learn to act on what you decided, especially when you don't feel like it.

For people who know what to do and struggle to do it consistently.

  1. 1
    Discipline2 minUp next

    Motion before motivation

    Action, even small and clumsy, produces the feeling you were waiting for.

    Act: Pick one task you are resisting. Set a timer for five minutes, promise yourself you can stop afterwards, and begin. Notice what happens to the resistance around minute three.

  2. 2
    Productivity2 min

    The two-minute start

    Any task can be reduced to a version small enough to begin right now.

    Act: Take the task you have been avoiding. Write its two-minute version on a sticky note. Do that version now, then decide whether to continue.

  3. 3
    Discipline2 min

    The cost of avoidance

    Avoided tasks do not disappear. They wait, and they take attention daily.

    Act: Write a list of things you have been avoiding and choose one. Write what you fear about it. Then write the smallest action that would reduce that fear.

  4. 4
    Productivity2 min

    Close the loops

    Every unfinished task keeps a small part of your mind busy.

    Act: List everything that is half-done. Pick the three easiest. Finish or drop them today. For the rest, write the next action and a date.

  5. 5
    Habits2 min

    Prepare the first hour

    Design Monday's first hour tonight, while you still have willpower.

    Act: Write the first three things you will do tomorrow. Set out anything you will need. Choose the time you will begin.