Loading practices
Loading practices
Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Get started
Deciding in advance exactly when and where you will start removes the moment of friction where you usually stall.
Take action, God will see your actions (Quran 9:105). The call is to move; a concrete plan is how the intention becomes the deed.
التوبة
وَقُلِ ٱعۡمَلُواْ فَسَيَرَى ٱللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمۡ وَرَسُولُهُۥ وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَۖ وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَٰلِمِ ٱلۡغَيۡبِ وَٱلشَّهَٰدَةِ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُونَ
Say [Prophet], ‘Take action! God will see your actions- as will His Messenger and the believers- and then you will be returned to Him who knows what is seen and unseen, and He will tell you what you have been doing
Qur’an 9:105read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Naming exactly when and where you will act, an if-then plan, sharply increases follow-through, because the cue triggers the behaviour without needing willpower in the moment.
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist doi
Forming a specific if-then plan for when and where to act greatly increases follow-through on intentions.
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A specific if-then plan links the action to a cue, so it fires without a fresh decision.
Where this sits: Executive-function support; implementation intentions.
Do not wait to feel ready. Say Musa's prayer, ease my task, and take one step; the wish to go on comes after.
Everybody finds unrewarding tasks harder to start. If yours seem to cost several times what other people pay, that is a real difference in how your brain handles reward, not a flaw in your character.
If someone close to you has become the person who chases you, that arrangement is wearing you both down, even on the days it works. It is worth naming out loud and changing on purpose.