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0 pointsagentultra5y ago0 comments

I’ve been employing a tactic I’ve picked up from artists/authors: don’t talk about your project.

Talking about it tricks your brain into thinking you’ve done the work and you lose motivation.

Sticking to a schedule can help as can ritualizing the process of working on your project: have a certain place you associate with the project or a particular genre of music that gets you excited (it’s important to not listen to that genre/album while doing anything else). These tactics exploit the power of association in our brains to form habits.

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yboris5y ago

I've come across this tactic, I think there may be some psychological studies backing up the suggestion.

There is an opposite suggestion that may work too: telling others you're planning on _releasing_ an app at some date (setting a public deadline). This way you may feel pressure (to avoid the pain of 'losing face') to complete it on time.

Note, do not talk about "I'm working on this thing" (see comment above why that may backfire), but instead talk about an explicit deadline you think you can hit.

Needless to say, this is best when talking with people you expect to interact with in the future (so you feel responsible to finish), it may not help psychologically when talking to someone you'll never see.

smilebot5y ago

I read that in the section Commitment and Consistency of the book, Influence - https://sites.google.com/site/724ecialdiniwiki/home/commitme.... If you commit to something publicly to someone especially written, you are more likely to do it.

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