Do you have trouble getting yourself to do things?

You're not alone! There are simple steps you can do that help, which you can try today.

You know what you intend to do.You already have everything you need to do it.Yet, somehow, months or even years pass, and you still haven't done it.Why does that happen? More importantly, how do we fix this?Why don't we simply do what we mean to do?It happens because we're trying to do too much at once. Too many things at the same time, and too much to fit in one sitting.The result is, counterintuitively, not just doing less, or a little less effectively, but often not doing anything at all.We grind ourselves down and wear ourselves out this way. We beat ourselves up over not having progress to show after putting in significant effort and time, causing to more stress for how we still don't have anything to show for all that work. Pats a point, we give up on even trying.We first solved this for people making their own games, before recognizing that it's a more general issueAfter well over a decade training people in game development, I found that whatever part of game making they were trying to do - code, art, audio, writing, marketing - the same issues seemed to be tying them up, and usually it wasn't really anything to do with code, art, etc.:• They felt discouraged from failed past attempts.
• They got overwhelmed during the unrewarding early stages.
• They gave up in frustration before achieving the reason why they started.
• They couldn't overcome perfectionism or feel pressure to make up for lost time.
• They were over preparing, endless studying and planning instead of really digging in.This pain built up due to struggling with that first issue I mentioned: trying to do too much at the same time. Through helping through this, I got experience at not just how to unblocked them from doing things, but also in how to undo damage built-up over years of frustration.After thousands of hours since 2013 helping clients one-on-one with this to make games, I realized it wasn't unique to game developers.

If someone wants to write a book, but has barely started, that isn't a writing problem.That's a problem of getting ourselves to do the thing that we intend to do.The same applies for programming a game, making a podcast, learning an instrument, starting a side business, practicing art, or any other skill we want to use, but just aren't getting around to.It's not a problem of doing that skill better. There's a different skill to do what we mean to.

This is not (mostly) about productivity or work.

Although people are using these same methods to get some of that finished, too.

When I've done talks, podcast visits, courses and books on this it often gets categorized as "Productivity." This turns some people off instantly, because they assume it's about self-destructive, hustle culture, workaholic grind.It really isn't, and I don't want you to miss out on the real difference it can make due to that same misunderstanding.What I'm going to cover has been used to get business admin work done, but the value of that is because knocking it out leaves you with time to spend with family or friends.It can be used to finish something by a deadline, but the reason for that is so you can stop thinking about it.People use this technique to pick up and hone employable skills, and to send out more resumes through waves of rejections, but the point of that is get the stress of unemployment behind us, so we can focus on other things that matter to us.Work is not the ultimate goal.This method was mostly made and tested to help people pursue, with greater confidence and results, their passion projects, side interests, and hobbies for enjoyment, richment, and personal growth. It's about setting up, then acting on, the things that we want to be doing.Beyond hobby projects, people have even been using this approach to read more, exercise, or to intentionally set aside time to rest.It's simply a way to do what you've been meaning to do, whether that has anything to do business or not.The same knots interfere with us taking action, whether that's to finish a project, advance our careers, or even to get around to watching, reading, and listening to a backlog of learning resources or entertainment we've stockpiled over the years.What will your new priority be when you're better able to stay on task, follow through, and start the things you weren't getting around to?
• Pick up new career skills?
• Start a new creative hobby?
• Release a digital product?
• Improve your self-care habits?
• Finally get back into gardening?"Productivity," in the broadest sense, matters for hobby or learning projects because even if you don't have a burn rate as savings or funding, you still have a finite resource: your interest and enthusiasm. If you don't get this plane off the runway before that runs out it winds up a wreck, on top of a pile of unfinished things we're not proud to share. Then we twist that into evidence that next time we shouldn't even try.The real aim of this method and material is to help you do the things you mean to do, so you can be the kind of person you intend to be.

I'll explain how to do it and why it works, in actionable detail, right after the jump.

"A tough period for me interacted with my (undiagnosed, but in-the-family) ADHD/ASD like personality to really undermine my productivity. I was simultaneously both ferociously busy (but working on the wrong things, leaving central but intimidating tasks untouched) and responding to the mounting anxiety of that situation by dropping out, binging hobbies and unproductively clicking around in an effort to escape the stress. I had an ever-growing personal TODO list, and was failing to fulfill my potential at work.These books give tools to rectify situations like this. Their advice is straightforward, demystifying, and immediately actionable. Indeed, possibly the biggest weakness of 'Self-Command' is that its central advice is so simple that it's easy to think it couldn't actually work. But it works for me, I just had to actually do what it says.The mini whiteboard that Self-Command is based around (pictured) forms part of my workflow every hour of every day, and has for a couple of years now, ever since I read this. I'm not going to say I'm now a perfectly efficient machine in all regards, but I can say that I'm now satisfied with my focus and the usefulness of my efforts, whereas before I was a long way from that.To my mind, the fact you're here, reading this page, suggests that maybe you're ready for a change like that too. So, fellow traveler, I'm leaving this wholehearted recommendation here in the hope it helps you out, as others helped me. :-)I read the textual ebook versions, which read like the transcript of the audiobook that they are. This leads to text which is quite informal and more verbose than tightly edited prose would be, but this makes it a quick and easy read, which is exactly what is needed.Five stars. Literally life changing."-Jonathan Hartley
(excerpt from Amazon review)

Overview of the Method and Material

These sample sections, 100% free to listen to here, will fully explain the core method.

I began formally testing this material in 2017 based on years of notes with my training clients, and self-published it in 2019 as Self-Command. It covers a new, easy way to do the things that we intend to do, which for various reasons, we have not been getting around to.We found this worked well for tasks people would assign themselves. That led to a next problem: understanding and solving why many people don't feel comfortable even giving themselves certain tasks, especially ones they don't already have experience or background in.That problem comes up often in my work as a game development trainer, since I'm constantly helping adults start learning new skills.To address that, in 2022 I released Self-Doubt as an expansion. It explains how to untangle common knots that bind people up from attempting things that they've never done before and don't have confidence doing. Self-Doubt is now always bundled with Self-Command.Self-Doubt helps us undo some of the damaging thoughts and pressures we put on ourselves from years of past attempts not working out.

Here are a few free sample sections from Self-Command (full length 5 hours) and Self-Doubt (bundled, 2.5 extra hours), including parts introducing the central method so you can get started on trying it, even if you don't decide to ever pick up the full material:

Once you can do what you intend to do, and no longer feel limited by what you've done before, the next problem is to be more intentional about which tasks we do. Why pick one over another?A useful, nearly universal answer for this, is to pick tasks that add up to a desired bigger result.Without a way to do that, effort and hard work gets scattered with nothing to show. A few years of that will discourage anyone from taking action again in the future, because why bother?This is a crucial distinction many people overlook: the difference in finishing big projects and larger goals isn't needing more time or harder work. It's about using the same time and work, just lined up better.

When you're driving, which direction should you turn next? That depends on where you're going, and where you are along the way there.We work backwards from the end goal to figure out turn-by-turn navigation, so we can do one thing at a time each step of the way.So in 2023, I made a follow up video course on how to break long-term projects into one-sitting tasks that fit for Self-Command. It's to help you go from choosing a long-term project or bigger goal into knowing what to do next, one task at a time. It's based on easy techniques and practical ways of thinking that I've trained hundreds of people in to help them finish their long-term side projects, and use for my business.(If choosing a long-term project seems like the hard part, in Section 7 from the full course you'll learn in 15 minutes a general way to make big decisions involving several factors, so you can pick an answer to move forward on that you'll feel confident makes the most sense.)Here's the first 30 minutes of that follow up video course, Complete Every Project (full length is 4 hours 15 minutes):

A long-term plan, done right, isn't overwhelming or stressful. It's the opposite - you can pace yourself, build in time to learn, and enjoy a clear separation between what to do now versus the greater number of things you do not need to do or worry about yet.These techniques are simple. There's nothing detailed to remember or hard to do. But the devil is in the details, recovering from mistakes.I've worked with many people on these methods over the years to identify patterns in how to apply these practices effectively, how to spot and fix ways people often mix it up, and how to establish a firm habit so the benefit sticks and becomes a natural part of how we think.Based on people's stories and drawing from what worked best for them I developed these audio programs and video course to teach this method in well-structured detail, so that it can be available to far more people at a much lower price than working with me directly.

The major reason this third part matters is so you can tap into motivation of an end result, even if it's months away. Writing one chapter is easier if you see the path to a released book.This can make a real difference, so it's worth taking time to be sure you're doing it properly.