Planning, the motivation slayer
I am lucky to have a lot of freedom in my work. I can set my own focus and priorities. I tend to pick whatever most interests me to work on that day, what I most feel like doing. What most interests me is usually starting up something new, rather than finishing off a work in progress. But I do generally manage to gradually keep things ticking over, and I have relatively few real deadlines, so this approach mostly works when averaged over the course of a few months or years.
However, sometimes I do have a real deadline, a deliverable, something that takes consistent effort over a few weeks or longer. I can plan the time required to do it into my calendar. But when I actually reach those scheduled slots? My brain just does not want to know. The act of making a plan sucks out any joy that was in the tasks.
Today was the start of such a project. Fifteen days of work have been slotted in around my other appointments over the next two months with an unsidesteppable deliverable at the end. In principle it's a fun project. But my, it was hard to get started.
I'll get there. I rarely miss deadlines. It will end up being a last minute rush - most things do, for me. Then I will be able to start the cycle again with the next project. In the meantime, I, and the deliverable, await deliverance.