[tomxor]

A more specific tactic I have discovered to avoid thinking and start straight away is to make a very quick promise to myself:

That I can quit as soon as I get too bored or hit a block of some kind - this relieves me of all the concerns that I might need to worry (think) about upfront, I waved those requirements when I allowed myself that quick exit.

Most of the time you just end up persevering, and due to the nature of these unimportant tasks - not planning just doesn't make any meaningful difference.

[trilinearnz]

I really like this one. It's similar to another one I've used: Just commit to doing the task for an extremely small amount of time (e.g. five minutes or even one minute). That dramatically reduces the perception of pain in your brain associated with the task, since you're containerising it down to a level where it cannot possibly not be achieved.

For particularly anxiety-inducing tasks I have been known to use a 30 second time box ;) Safe to say, this always tends to build the requisite momentum to follow through with a much greater bracket of time, even if it's not a conscious decision to do so (this is probably the key point - the mental shortcut).

Another tactic which can be useful when the procrastination is driven by perfectionism: embracing the notion of "wrong action". Simply by initiating some kind of action in the interests of the task at hand, and it doesn't matter how "wrong" you think that action might be. Obviously, since you have a base level of expertise, even your so-called "wrong" action will in fact be a useful step towards the goal. This is a bit like the "beginners mindset": stripping preconceptions that are obstructing any kind of progress.

[aprdm]

On top of this I also like to think that if I ended up doing anything it was better than doing nothing. Just trying to make yourself a little better every day can go long ways

[tmatthe]

Oh that's a good one, thanks for sharing!