• @zcd@lemmy.ca
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    1885 months ago

    Wrestle the pig first, every day. Whatever is your worst, most unpleasant, annoying task for the entire day, do it before you do anything else. It minimizes your stress and worrying and puts it in the rearview mirror.

    • Magister Sieran
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      495 months ago

      Alternatively, if you’re neurodivergent you may have a better time doing the easiest tasks first to build momentum and motivation.

      • @Kalothar@lemmy.ca
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        155 months ago

        Yeah, everyone’s neurochemistry is different and should be experimented with.

        I didn’t know this for so long, that I needed a few easy wins to set the pace, that I feel like I could have been way more productive throughout my 20s haha

    • Random_Character_A
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      205 months ago

      Human memory is bias towards most recent things in a group set. If your set is a “workout” or a “workday”, doing the fun stuff last will affect positively all the memory items in the same group set. This works even if you know that your memory is doing this.

      We don’t live in a “present now”. We live in a mental image constructed from memory of recent past.

      Trick is not to do unpleasant stuff first, but to do pleasant stuff last.

    • Track_Shovel
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      195 months ago

      My former mentor said: 80% of the deliverable is the 20% of the scope you really don’t want to do

    • @MBM@lemmings.world
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      175 months ago

      I feel like saying “I have to do this before anything else” might very well end with me doing nothing

    • @TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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      125 months ago

      I always heard it as “Swallow a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day”. Same meaning, and I think I like yours better.

    • @Today@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I have some paperwork to do that will likely result in $2000. It’s been over a year and i cannot just sit down and do it. I stress over it every day but continue to put it off.

        • @Today@lemmy.world
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          55 months ago

          Ok. I have a 2 hour car ride this afternoon. I will get everything ready this morning and do it in the car. Thanks! Good luck!

          • @davidagain@lemmy.world
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            25 months ago

            Excellent. I hope you did OK. I got mine done! It wasn’t as bad as I thought. If you haven’t finished yet, don’t give up, pick up the pieces and carry on. Thanks for being my Internet buddy on this.

            • @Today@lemmy.world
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              35 months ago

              Congratulations! I didn’t finish, but did get a good start on it. Thanks for the encouragement!

                • @Today@lemmy.world
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                  25 months ago

                  I’m on vacation until Wednesday so I will finish it on my flight home. Getting started really was the hardest part. Now it’s just putting numbers into boxes and adding them up. By gathering info and starting on it, i find that the expected $2k gain is closer to $10k. That’s some great motivation to get it done!