Note your daily goals in your task manager

Reading time: 1 min

This is what got me more productive lately.

I applied this method not only to old commitments, but my current commitments as well. A daily goal to do the bare minimum every day to reach an end goal, noted as a daily repeating task in my task manager. Reminds you that you only have to do 5 minutes of a task before crossing it off.

It's not overwhelming (underwhelming, really), and takes an insignificant amount of time to fulfil, giving you a sense of readiness and perception that it's easy to complete.

I'd do the task as soon as possible just to fulfil that daily 5 min goal for each major project or habit. Often, I end up not stopping after time is up, since getting started is the hardest part, and it's effortless to continue. Switching tasks and getting your mind into a different environment for another task is friction in itself.

It's not uncommon that I end up working for 2 hours, finishing an entire task in one sitting.

There's a certain joy associated with crossing something off a task, perhaps a sense of relief, accomplishment, or excitement that I can do whatever I want afterwards. It's arguably a small reward. Placing daily 'bare minimum' goals in a task manager is leveraging that to the maximum.