Ever notice how we put the easiest tasks first when we're really busy?
For example...
Have you ever lost an entire afternoon of planned work because you answered too many emails instead?
Have you ever put off practicing because it suddenly seemed like a good time to clean off your desk?
When we have big projects on our plate, the easiest, most pencil-pushy tasks become the most attractive. Because they're easy.
They're the paths of least resistance, because they don't require much thought.
Practice, on the other hand, requires emotional labor.
Putting together a project, mastering a craft, or creating something new demands deep work. Deep work that we're not used to because there are so many distractions. Too many distractions. Everywhere.
What to do about it?
Put the easy, shallow tasks in their own block of time. Put the big projects and practice that require deep work in a fiercely-protected block of time of their own.
Free from distractions and alluring easy work...like email.
Because it's the practice and the big projects that will change your world forever.
I learned this as a kid and repeated it as nauseum to my son. My thinking was that the more he heard it repeated the more he would actually think about it & hopefully do it.