in these situations, i tend to think of things not in terms of volume of work, but in terms of length of time. when i have loads of work to do, my resolve, attention span, and energy start to wane, but instead of reassuring myself with “i just have to read this and write this, and then i’ll be done,” i reassure myself with “in twelve hours it’ll all be over.” the countdown method of coping is certainly better for one’s sanity, but it means i’m not pushing myself to do anything at all.

in twelve hours it’ll be over.