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Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Structure and routine
Keep a light record for a few weeks. Three things only: the date you picked, the date it was done, and one line on what the gap cost you. Sometimes the answer is nothing much, and you can stop paying that task any worry at all. Sometimes it is a late fee, a tense conversation, or an evening spent bracing yourself, and seeing it in your own handwriting lands differently from anyone else predicting it.
God has set a due measure for everything (Quran 65:3). Finding the real measure of a slipped deadline, instead of the one you dread, is its own kind of honesty.
الطلاق
وَيَرۡزُقۡهُ مِنۡ حَيۡثُ لَا يَحۡتَسِبُۚ وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسۡبُهُۥٓۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بَٰلِغُ أَمۡرِهِۦۚ قَدۡ جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَيۡءࣲ قَدۡرࣰ ا
and will provide for them from an unexpected source; God will be enough for those who put their trust in Him. God achieves His purpose; God has set a due measure for everything
Qur’an 65:3read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Two randomised trials of a bedtime procrastination exercise had people picture the outcome they wanted, then the obstacle in the way, then form a specific if then plan. Separately, a systematic review with meta regression looked across lifestyle interventions to work out which behaviour change techniques explain why some hold up and others fade. Neither studied work deadlines, and the procrastination work is two trials on going to bed, so read this as a sensible starting point rather than something proven for your Thursday.
Valshtein TJ, Oettingen G, Gollwitzer PM. (2020). Using mental contrasting with implementation intentions to reduce bedtime procrastination: two randomised trials.. Psychology & health doi
Samdal GB, Eide GE, Barth T, Williams G, Meland E. (2017). Effective behaviour change techniques for physical activity and healthy eating in overweight and obese adults; systematic review and meta-regression analyses.. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A cost you worked out yourself is much harder to talk yourself out of than one somebody warned you about.
If the record turns into another way of keeping score against yourself, drop the commentary and just note the two dates.
Writing Tuesday at two in your diary is not a vow. If Tuesday comes and something else matters more, move it. At least it had a chance of happening.
A deadline you privately know is soft has no pull at all. If six o'clock really means midnight, then ten in the morning means nothing, and the whole day drifts until the panic arrives.
Moving between lessons is where things fall apart, so plan the move out loud before it happens. What to bring, where to go, and who will be waiting.