Letter#1 – Why are some tasks so hard to start?

You’re motivated. You’ve decided it’s time to get started.
And yet… you end up tidying the kitchen, starting a load of laundry, or opening Instagram.

Your brain just chose to flee.

It’s not laziness.


It’s a preservation mechanism: cognitive effort isn’t free.

It consumes energy, demands attention, and can cause fatigue. With good intentions, your body sometimes tries to protect you—especially if the effort feels poorly calibrated.

Why does your brain resist effort?

With every mental task (learning, planning, writing…), your brain makes an automatic evaluation. It weighs costs and benefits.

Possible costs:

  • Task too difficult or vague → an undefined mountain to climb

  • Threat to self-esteem → risk of self-doubt (“what if I fail?”)

  • Energy cost → effort required, anticipated fatigue, mental discomfort

  • Low perceived importance → lack of interest, urgency, or value

  • Limited attention → tiredness, distractions, noisy environment

Possible benefits:

  • Satisfaction → the pleasant feeling of having moved forward

  • Achievement → progress, success, pride

  • Relief → reduced guilt or tension

When costs dominate, the brain activates avoidance strategies: distraction, substitution (“I’ll do something else first”), or even cognitive fatigue (suddenly heavy head, urge to nap).

The good news? You can rebalance the scale.

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How to take back control?

Here are 6 practical levers to regain momentum.

Before diving into the list:


Don’t try to apply everything at once. That would risk the opposite effect—overload and discouragement.

Choose just 1 or 2 levers, test them for a week, and observe what happens. Then, add more if needed.

1. Make the task less threatening

  • Atomize: break it down into clear sub-steps. Example: “work on my application” → “open my Drive and list the missing elements.”

  • Unload: jot down other thoughts or obligations. A lighter mind engages more easily.

2. Nudge your brain

  • Switch ritual: 3 deep breaths, a startup song, 10 steps around the room. Your brain gets the signal: “we’re shifting states.”

  • Limit the commitment: promise yourself 15 minutes. Often, once you start, you keep going.

3. Tolerate discomfort

  • Clarify the reward: remind yourself what you gain. “If I spend 20 minutes on this, I’ll be free tonight.”

  • Accept the tough start: the first minutes are the hardest. Then discomfort fades, and focus takes over.

Going further

__________Research in cognitive psychology shows that effort is paradoxical: it is both costly and valued. It can slow you down… but also fuel motivation and pride once you’ve overcome it (Inzlicht et al., 2018).

Sources

__________Inzlicht, M., Shenhav, A., & Olivola, C. Y. (2018). The effort paradox: Effort is both costly and valued. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(4), 337–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.007

__________Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65

__________Seidah, A., & Geninet, I. (2021). L’anxiété apprivoisée : Transformer le stress en ressource positive. Paris: Marabout.

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