Stage 3 of 7 · 7 lessons · ~1 week

Start when motivation is gone

Use if-then plans, tiny first steps and timed sessions to begin before you feel ready, and make hard tasks a little less unpleasant with rewards and other people.

Start: If-then plans

Lessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order

Do this

Write two if-then plans and follow them for a week
Break your biggest project into actions that each start with a verb
Do at least six Pomodoro sessions on tasks you were avoiding
Start one avoided task with a step that takes under two minutes
Set up one temptation bundle for a task you dislike
Ask one friend or group to study or work alongside you this week

Start with

CourseFree
Learning How to Learn (Coursera)
Deep Teaching Solutions on Coursera · Beginner
Barbara Oakley explains procrastination and the Pomodoro Technique, free to audit

Practise

Pomofocus
A free, simple Pomodoro timer in your browser, so your phone can stay away
Sefism Discord
Find people to study and work alongside, so starting is easier

Also worth your time

Atomic Habits (James Clear)ReadPaid
Clear, practical chapters on making the first step easy and obvious

Before moving on: Two if-then plans written and used, your biggest task broken into next physical actions, at least six Pomodoro sessions done on tasks you were avoiding, one temptation bundle set up, and one accountability partner or group.

Tauseef's advice

Stop waiting to feel ready. Make the start so small that you cannot argue with it, set a timer, and let the feeling catch up with you. You only need to win the first two minutes.

Struggling right now? If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, contact local emergency services or a crisis line: Find a helpline (any country), Umang (Pakistan), Tele-MANAS, 14416 (India).