You could also make use of the deadline. Think as clearly as you can about 
when you would like to have the unpleasant task finished and behind you. 
Pick a realistic date, not an optimistic or aspirational date. Put it on 
your task as a due date.

When the due date arrives, the task turns red. Train yourself to hate the 
appearance of red tasks in your to-do list because you know that continued 
postponement will make the task more difficult or will erode the benefit of 
completing it. If you are tempted to postpone further, contemplate for a 
moment the reasons why you picked this particular date.

This only works if you only have due dates on a few tasks. Some people 
assign a due date equal to the day on which you plan to do some task. If 
you do that and you ever get even a little behind in completing your tasks, 
you will have loads of red in your task list most of the time, so the 
motivational effect of having a splash of red is lost.

-Dwight

On Sunday, December 19, 2021 at 3:54:46 PM UTC-5 [email protected] wrote:

> Hi johntom...
>
> IMO tools like MLO helps you empty your mind but that new available space 
> should not be filled with potential negative outcomes or a " a mental 
> questionnaire" about them. I think we all procrastinate at one point and no 
> one likes negative outcomes. My two cents of advise would be : 
>
>    1. Build you project/task/sub-task with positive outcomes in mind. 
>    What do I need to do in order to have the outcome I want.
>    2. We all have a peak potential period in a day. In my case its in the 
>    morning and don't expect me to achieve anything outstanding after dinner. 
>    Others will like the calmness of the night. Find your peak period and put 
>    some time down in your agenda for those difficult tasks, during that 
>    period. Forget about them he rest of the day.
>    3. Reward yourself when succeeding and never blame yourself for 
>    negative outcomes. However always learn from them.
>
> Best of luck to you. 
>
> Le samedi 18 décembre 2021 à 10 h 35 min 14 s UTC-5, imajeff a écrit :
>
>> First I will say, Stéph is right about what you will need when there is 
>> emotional reasons, or dangers, in getting the task done.
>>
>> Now, the most powerful thing I have found in MLO is how a task can be 
>> broken up as much as you need it. This is extremely important for me 
>> because of my neurology, everything that seems simple to somebody else is a 
>> "daunting task" to me! So I have to learn that I don't even need to look at 
>> the whole thing at this moment. If the task seems like it would be bad to 
>> just do, then I consider one or more subtasks that would PREPARE for this.
>>
>> The beauty is that when I add subtasks, MLO easily disappears the parent 
>> task from my flat or "Active" todo list so I can just focus on what I am 
>> ready to do for now.
>>
>> I guess one of my first tasks was to find a therapist I can talk to about 
>> the tasks I'm not ready for, but for some tasks there were simpler subtasks 
>> like taking an online course (it one case it would be relationships) that 
>> would help me complete it.
>>
>> On Thursday, December 16, 2021 at 8:59:43 AM UTC-7 [email protected] 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> What to do about tasks with a potential negative outcome that cause 
>>> stress?
>>>
>>> If I have stress causing task i want something from someone and might 
>>> get a no, or a the outcome of the task could be negative, I usually get 
>>> stressed and will procrastinate.   I am looking for tips in regards to 
>>> breaking down these stress causing tasks into less worrying action items, 
>>> or even less stressful states of mind. 
>>> I know if you get blocked break it down into smaller steps, but is there 
>>> a mental questionnaire, specifically a process that will allow me to 
>>> eliminate the stress of potential negative outcome tasks.
>>>
>>

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