Motivation follows action

Books on "getting motivated" ironically compound the problem by reinforcing the idea that you need to feel positive about doing something before you begin it.

What if you dropped the requirement of feeling good, accepted that you felt bad and just started anyway? Motivation usually shows up quickly thereafter. (See the work of psychologist Shoma Morita at todoinstitute.org.)

In his book The Now Habit, Neil Fiore suggests keeping an "Unschedule " - a time log on which you make plans for leisure activities but on which you record hours of work only after you've finished them.

If you plan in advance to do x hours of work in a day, anything less becomes a failure;...