[joseph4521]

For me, what works best is to kickstart the day by checking something out of my todo list. Every morning, I choose a small task which shouldn't take more than 2 hours to complete, trying to have something to show for. The rest of the day using flows naturally afterward.

[awillen]

This is the thing that works best for me, though I define a smaller task as much smaller than that... ideally something that takes <15 min and doesn't necessarily require a lot of brainpower. I'm in the midst of starting a business, so I have a lot of paperwork that fits the bill nicely.

If I don't have any task like that, I just make myself work on something for ten minutes. 90% of the time, I continue to be productive after that. The 10% that I don't, I either give up and take a break until I feel productive (if that's feasible) or just force myself to work on anything that absolutely must be done now.