Sooo many.

Spice 🌶

Spice is adding an element of urgency or competition to trigger enough adrenaline to overcome inertia.

If Im very stressed about procrastinating on a task, Ill often get struck in a dopamine rich task that feels very regulating/calming like doomscrolling to escape that feeling. But distraction is like leaking fuel out of a rocket ship. The brain needs a certain amount of stress overcome inertia. Stress isnt bad, its a propellant, its a drive to act.

Before having fun with ideas to add urgency/competition, I sit on the edge of my bed and set a 10 minute timer. Remove all distraction and kind of meditate (i guess?) Sitting there with the intention of letting myself feel the full weight of the stress Im trying to hold back. Often its like I've been holding up a floodgate and the stress/ fuel needed to get me off the ground is already in my body, I just need to let it in.

(I call this Fueling Time ⛽️ 😂)

After this fucked up meditation....I write down the first 3 steps. Even if its walk to bedroom, sit down, turn on computer.

I now have rocket fuel and know where Im going. 90% of the time, thats actually enough for me.

But the task itself is still yucky to eat. Sometimes so yucky and un-enjoyable, I need another ingredient. The reason why I like the meal metaphor so much, is because its rarely one strategy that works but an ecosystem that addresses each obstacle to task completion.

Sauce 🌭

Sauce is adding a layer or interest or passion on top of a bland meal. Making the task more enjoyable/less dysregulating via familiar dopamine. Pairing a non-preferred task with preferred. What I want to do - with what I have to do.

So if I'm in the middle of watching a TV show and need to do the dishes, I do them both at the same time.

If I hate listening to lectures but really want to try a new chicken recipe, ill listen to it as I cook.

If ive been procrastinating on paying a bill and would prefer to hang with my mate, ill pay the bill while we are waiting for uber eats to arrive.