Re: motivation to start, I learned two versions of the "five-minute rule" over the years.
The first is, if you know a task takes less than 5 minutes, just do it now without thinking further. Often the task takes less time and effort than all the mental anguish around whether to do it or not.
The second is, for longer tasks, tell yourself you'll just work on it for 5 minutes and then you can decide whether to continue. This is quite similar to your idea of taking the first step, like putting on workout gear or opening the textbook!
Very succinct and on-point advice, Wing 💕
Re: motivation to start, I learned two versions of the "five-minute rule" over the years.
The first is, if you know a task takes less than 5 minutes, just do it now without thinking further. Often the task takes less time and effort than all the mental anguish around whether to do it or not.
The second is, for longer tasks, tell yourself you'll just work on it for 5 minutes and then you can decide whether to continue. This is quite similar to your idea of taking the first step, like putting on workout gear or opening the textbook!