Difficulty Starting Practice - Minority#
#Omnivore
Highlights#
The relevance of preparation work to your action goals is too low: Completing preparation work often gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction, but it does not actually increase the progress of task completion. Think about it, you have never been able to add a checkmark to your to-do list just because you completed the preparation work. From the perspective of improving task completion efficiency, we have to admit that most "preparation work" is just a manifestation of difficulty starting. ⤴️ ^b943a01b
This is one of the mistakes I often make: at the times when I am most motivated, most emotional, and most proactive, I waste all my energy on preparatory activities that do not advance core matters, which is extremely wasteful.
Doing simple things first may shorten the length of the to-do list faster, but it is not a shortcut to achieving our core goals. ⤴️ ^b15d1478
This actually emphasizes the role of goal orientation. I should understand the importance of goal orientation more. As long as I can always focus on the main goal, such mistakes will not happen.
Instead of doing things correctly, it is better to do the right things.
Difficulty starting is good at turning into all kinds of excuses and reasons to validate its own rationality, making us prefer to spend energy on unrelated and urgent troublesome activities (some of which are only slightly easier than the actual task to be done) rather than directly starting core actions. ⤴️ ^99507b7f
Here, I think the more significant reason is the preset difficulties. Because the brain overly imagines possible difficulties and challenges. So choosing another easier task becomes more reasonable.
The source of mental difficulties is our overly developed imagination. ⤴️ ^a767cbd2
This is exactly like my dad, who considers everything very thoroughly and in detail. But the result is that most things are abandoned because there always seem to be difficulties that cannot be overcome. But in fact, such difficulties do not occur during the process of doing things. Or the probability of occurrence is extremely low.
Refuse preset difficulties ⤴️ ^23fba2d6
Reduce startup costs ⤴️ ^d012124f
Start faster ⤴️ ^a20ba904
The shorter the time required for the starting action, the less time there is for regret ⤴️ ^eaddc7fb
Here, it is important not to engage in psychological struggles; just start doing something, do it for a while, and if you feel like you don’t want to do it anymore, you can stop, but you must start doing it immediately for a while.
"Starting faster" generally has two approaches: one is to use tools and automation to reduce steps and shorten time, making "starting" a basic triggering action; the other is to carry out necessary preparatory work in advance. ⤴️ ^6fce3365
The first mentioned here, making starting an automated trigger, I actually don’t quite understand how to do it. It feels like developing a conditioned reflex, but there is no clear explanation on how to develop it, so I cannot fully understand.
The best way to face preparation work is to complete it in advance, finish the preparation during the preparation time, or it should be broken down into a separate task to focus on. ⤴️ ^bc1104fd
I have already applied this, learning it intuitively, by breaking tasks down as finely as possible, including preparatory activities as part of the tasks, which are broken down very finely and become a separate task, making it basically effortless to start.
Spatial cues: Create a dedicated space that aligns with the task goals. For example, a tidy desk without clutter makes it easier for you to start working. If this desk is only used for studying or working and not for leisure, it will make it easier for you to get into the zone each time you face it. ⤴️ ^7cd46988
Simplify tasks ⤴️ ^14286de4
Break down tasks ⤴️ ^6814a987
For long-term activity startup difficulties, the best method is to develop habits. ⤴️ ^66abd477
Here, I actually cannot understand how to eliminate resistance emotions; I do not understand how habits achieve this.
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"Procrastination" now has a new name - "difficulty starting." Compared to that well-known name resembling a medical condition, this new name is more neutral, objective, and accurate. I like this new name because it transforms procrastination from a "difficult problem" into a "difficulty" that can be overcome. People no longer need to treat their abnormal selves but can naturally seek external help and solutions like any everyday problem.
Introduction:
The first two chapters of this article, "Thirty-Six Changes of Difficulty Starting" and "Keen Insight," discuss the manifestations and causes of difficulty starting, while the latter two chapters introduce suggestions for overcoming difficulty starting, mainly including the following points:
- Refuse preset difficulties
- Reduce startup costs: start faster / environmental design
- Simplify tasks: break down tasks / 5-minute learning method
Thirty-Six Changes of Difficulty Starting#
Scenario 1: Do we really need preparation work?#
Imagine a scenario where you are very anxious because the deadline is looming, but your chair seems to be glued to you, making it impossible to get up. Twenty minutes later, you stand up and decide to tackle that long-overdue task immediately, but before that, you want to create a more comfortable environment, so you start a series of preparatory tasks: tidying the desk, throwing away trash, brewing coffee, adjusting the room temperature, and even finally deciding to go to a coffee shop ······
Do we really need so much preparation work? Some preparation work is necessary, such as gathering materials before starting work; while others seem to make some sense, a comfortable and focused environment can eliminate external distractions, making it easier for you to enter a "flow state." But the problem is that these endless preparatory tasks consume too much time and energy, causing the actual start time to be significantly delayed (often, we spend even more time completing preparation work than the action itself!).
Another important fact is: ==the relevance of preparation work to your action goals is too low: Completing preparation work often gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction, but it does not actually increase the progress of task completion. Think about it== ==you have never been able to add a checkmark to your to-do list just because you completed the preparation work====. From the perspective of improving task completion efficiency, we have to admit that most of the "preparation work" is just a manifestation of difficulty starting.==
Scenario 2: We never work by priority#
On Monday morning at 10 AM, there are 99+ unread messages in the work group, and the next meeting starts in an hour. You have to squeeze in some piled-up tasks first. You open your to-do list and browse from top to bottom, mentally commenting on each: "This task is urgent; it affects the progress of subsequent work," or "I stumbled on this task last time, and it seems quite important now." After reading the last line, you already know you should choose the most important and urgent task. However, you find that another routine task in the middle looks so simple, and it won’t take much time, so your balance easily tips in that direction. This choice repeats throughout the day, and by 5 PM, you helplessly realize that you don’t have enough time to do those more important tasks. Now you must make a choice: work overtime or do it tomorrow, and you know the latter option will open a new cycle ·····
We are familiar with the four-quadrant method, but our actions have not yet developed into habits. One situation is that we often indefinitely postpone those important but not urgent tasks due to time pressure, while another situation is that we prefer simple and easy tasks. However, ==doing simple things first may shorten the length of the to-do list faster, but it is not a shortcut to achieving our core goals====.
==Difficulty starting is good at turning into all kinds of excuses and reasons to validate its own rationality, making us prefer to spend energy on unrelated and urgent troublesome activities (some of which are only slightly easier than the actual task to be done) rather than directly starting core actions.==
Keen Insight#
Our encounter with "difficulty starting" often occurs in the "valley of reluctance." When we perceive a task as difficult, we tend to postpone it.
The difficulty here includes two aspects: execution difficulty and mental difficulty. The former is easy for us to identify, while the latter often occurs, but we rarely realize it.
==The source of mental difficulties is our overly developed imagination====.== Our brains have extraordinary capabilities; they can generate basic expectations of the execution process and results the moment we receive a task, letting tangled communication events, large and tedious data collection processes, unpleasant conversations, uncertain developments, and highly probable failures rush at us like a tidal wave. This is a function evolved for human survival, helping our ancestors become more aware of the existence of risks and thus avoid crises. This time, facing these troublesome tasks, imagination faithfully executes its mission, and these negative expectations may indeed become facts we have to confront. Then, all negative emotions arise from this; we feel fear (fear of failure), anger (questioning the rationality of our actions), sadness (helplessness)·······
Before us is a gloomy future (imagined), and behind us is a heavy emotional burden, making it seem that hesitating in place is the best choice for us.
Cultivating Three Fires#
Upper Fire: ==Refuse preset difficulties==#
We are good at envisioning the future, but the problem is that we are particularly good at identifying risks. This makes us more inclined to negative imagination, and often we only imagine the worst outcome and firmly believe it. But if we think rationally, the worst outcome cannot occur every time; these imaginations are largely self-imposed difficulties. However, like real difficulties, preset difficulties also affect emotions, leading us to develop resistance to action.
We need to stop meaningless pessimistic imagination and view these difficulties objectively. We can still make pessimistic predictions, but only at the level of risk management—we should use this function properly, just like our ancestors. The remaining negative imaginations that we cannot influence cannot guide our actions; they will only deepen our negative emotions, so please strive to ignore them.
In contrast, optimistic imagination can make it easier for us to start. When we turn to imagine that things will progress smoothly, even if it is just a form of self-deception, it indeed reduces the resistance to starting. Moreover, from the results, these optimistic predictions are not all wrong. In the face of inevitable objective difficulties, we will eventually have to endure their torment, so it is better to enjoy some light-hearted and optimistic emotions before that.
Middle Fire: ==Reduce startup costs==#
Previously, in the article Rekindle Reading, I mentioned the importance of an accessible reading environment, and from the perspective of habit formation, environmental design is also extremely important. To resist the resistance of difficulty starting, we should increase the convenience of action as much as possible and fill the environment with positive cues to start action.
==Start faster==#
We need to make the action of "starting" as simple and quick as possible. The benefit of doing this is that ==the shorter the time required for the starting action, the less time there is for regret==, thus increasing the probability of starting action immediately. For long-term activities, we have even more reason to do this, as lower startup costs will save more time under the compounding effect of time.
=="Starting faster" generally has two approaches: one is to use tools and automation to reduce steps and shorten time, making "starting" a basic triggering action; the other is to carry out necessary preparatory work in advance.== Thanks to "difficulty starting," we often only start thinking seriously about the task when we formally begin, which causes us to spend the time of our highest enthusiasm during the starting phase on preparatory work, while also causing the core task to stagnate. Slow progress on tasks not only exacerbates the next "difficulty starting" but also lowers our sense of self-efficacy. Therefore, the best way to face preparation work is to complete it in advance, finish the preparation during the preparation time, or it should be broken down into a separate task to focus on.
Environmental Design#
Most of our actions in a day come from the inertia of habits and environmental influences; the behaviors we actually perform through brain thinking are surprisingly few. When we fill the environment with obvious cues, we are more likely to do something.
- Change the unfavorable environment: Change the environment that causes your "difficulty starting," or simply choose a new environment.
- Create obvious visual prompts: Place your task goals and objects within your line of sight.
- ==Spatial cues== ==: Create a dedicated space that aligns with the task goals. For example, a tidy desk without clutter makes it easier for you to start working. If this desk is only used for studying or working and not for leisure, it will make it easier for you to get into the zone each time you face it.==
Lower Fire: ==Simplify tasks==#
We are unwilling to do difficult things, so we can simply make things easier.
==Break down tasks==#
When we perceive a task as difficult, we often also describe it as "complex." Aside from the real difficulty in execution, many times a task is difficult because we have not broken it down to an executable granularity.
Tasks like "10 days to learn programming" or "decide on a career plan" always lie prominently on our to-do list, leaving us unsure of where to start.
This is actually caused by two aspects: on one hand, they are still just goals, waiting to be broken down, lacking specific task content and measurement criteria. For example, "learning programming" needs to be broken down into "installing the Java development environment," "completing the Java introductory course," "writing code for after-class exercises," and "developing a practice project" to be executable.
On the other hand, we do not know how to break it down. The concept of career planning is not unfamiliar to us, but when we want to make a good plan for ourselves, we find that we do not understand it at all—can we find the most suitable career just by completing a "career personality test"? Is interest more important or making money? How should we choose an industry?······ Questions come flooding in. When we do not understand something, we cannot clearly and reasonably break it down, and thus cannot enter the execution phase. What we actually need at this time is a "meta-task," a task aimed at "breaking down tasks."
The Magic of 5 Minutes#
I previously saw a method that makes it easier to start learning: "Just learn for 5 minutes, no matter what." Specifically, it refers to setting a basic learning duration of 5 minutes, and after completing 5 minutes of learning, you can freely decide whether to continue. The principle of this method is to reduce task difficulty by shortening task time, turning the painful long learning process into a brief moment, relieving pressure, and thus making it easier to start; and after learning for 5 minutes, you often continue to learn longer because you have entered a learning state, achieving the goal of learning more.
This is similar to the concept of “mini habits”; when something is small enough, we cannot fail. When difficulties no longer exist, difficulty starting also leaves us.
The Secret of Nimbus Cloud#
In addition to cultivating the three fires mentioned above, here are two nimbus clouds. It is difficult to flip a nimbus, but once learned, flipping it once can take you thousands of miles.
- Develop habits
- Control emotions
==For long-term activity startup difficulties, the best method is to develop habits.== The sign of successfully developing a habit is the disappearance of resistance emotions, which is the moment we bid farewell to difficulty starting.
The most direct inducement of difficulty starting is our negative emotions. If we can control our negative emotions or do things without emotions, then there is no such thing as difficulty starting; we just do ordinary things with a calm mind.
Related Reading
- Cover image by Yang Yongqing, from Journey to the West - Classic Illustrated Edition, 2009, China Population Publishing House
- Mini Habits by Stephen Guise, 2016, Jiangxi People's Publishing House
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, translated by Wu Yijun, 2017, CITIC Press
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, translated by Gao Xinyong and Wang Yibing, 2015, China Youth Publishing House
- Just learn for 5 minutes learning method by Kawamura Takuya, from The East University Formula of Mackerel Fish, 2017
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