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Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
If you cannot start, the step is too big. Shrink it until it sounds daft: open the document, write the date, put one plate in the sink.
The catch is that the daft step has to be the whole of what you agreed to do, not a trick for getting yourself to do the enormous thing. Most days…
Praise the sitting down at the desk, not only the finished piece. If recognition only shows up when something is completed, most weeks it never shows up at all.
Say what you actually saw, and say it close to the moment: you sat down twice today when you clearly did not want to. Small rewards work too, as long…
Use a timer you can see rather than one you have to read. A dial where the coloured part shrinks tells you how much is left at a glance, with no arithmetic in the way.
Set it for the length of the task, or for the length you can stand, and leave it where your eye falls. A digital countdown asks you to work out what…
When a young person tells you something in their own blunt words, meet them there. Laughing together buys more trust than a well judged correction ever will.
Correct the language and you sort yourself into the same bin as every other disappointed adult, and after that the useful information stops arriving.…
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.
Put something you genuinely want at the end of the chain, and keep it where you can see it. A reward far off in the future is much the same as no reward at all.
Name it before you begin and write it at the top of the page. Keep it close: this evening rather than next term. It does not have to be impressive.…