[laredo312]

If human nature is to take the path of least resistance, then it really comes down to "Friction vs frictionless." "Distractions," e.g. Twitter, are engineered to be as frictionless as possible -- low effort, quick dopamine fixes. It is on us to engineer meaningful tasks to have as little friction as possible.

Doesn't have to be complicated:

  1. Mute notifications
  2. Install Chrome "Timewarp" extension
  3. Break work down into bite-sized tasks

Some sources of friction are less obvious, and require studying the problem. E.g for me, I found:

  1. Perfectionism
  2. Fear of not knowing/mental fog (the kind you encounter when learning something new)
  3. Fear of futility (that your efforts are in vain)
  4. Not knowing where to begin 

To be strong sources of friction, so I actively work to reduce them.

[gopher2]

That's quite interesting how you think about tasks you want to do with "sources of friction" that way. How did you go about studying/identifying the less obvious sources?

[laredo312]

Probably read them on a blog and made the connection later when I was searching for reasons why I keep procrastinating. Putting a convincing name to the mental force that holds you back gives you something to fight/say no to. Or you can pretend it doesn't exist and hope it goes away (doesn't work for me).