Mark Manson: So there’s two ways to approach procrastination like ending procrastination or ending distraction. One is, you need to manipulate your environment. Procrastination is just anxiety. There is something very important in your life and because it’s important, it scares you and because it scares you, you naturally find other things to do and focus on.

Remove your phone like don’t even bring your phone or turn it off. Maybe if you’re not working online, disconnect the Internet or download one of those apps that blocks a bunch of websites and social media and things like that. Basically, set up your workspace so that your brain doesn’t even have a chance to move somewhere else.

The next thing to do is, I always advise "bring the scale down." So one thing that people do when they get nervous about something is, they blow it up in their heads. So let’s say, I’m nervous about writing a book. If I’m thinking in my head, in terms of like, "Okay, this thing’s got to be like 400 pages and it’s going to be this massive thing with all the stuff going on and all these cool stories."

Like, if I’m trying to hold all that in my head at the same time, I’m going to drive myself crazy. I’m going to be terrified because I’m basically asking my brain to comprehend and focus on this massive thing, that is probably going to take years.

What’s actually way more valuable is simply sitting down and being like, "Okay, what’s a really good paragraph I can write here?" And just taking it paragraph by paragraph and not worrying about the big picture, actually trying to ignore the big picture a little bit in the short-term.

And when you are able to chunk things down like that, they become —they feel way more manageable like anybody can write a paragraph or anybody can write a sentence. And so, once you start making that your goal, it’s much easier to get the momentum going.