All the things here.

The method I've been having most success with lately is a severe restriction of myself.

Part of that is because if I don't wanna do the Thing, it's so incredibly easy to forget the Thing, my mind doesn't wanna hold it.

Currently, the routine I follow when I fail to self-motivate is

1. Drop my kid off
2. Maybe remember pills
3. Maybe remember caffeine (coffee is my goto)
4. Sit on the couch, think about my day
5. The remote is close, do a YouTube on my TV.
6. 4 YouTubes in, now understand the Chinese role in ww2 and the life cycle of 2 different moths, realize I have things to do.
7. Get up, forget the things, make too much food.
8. Watch things on my phone/scroll Lemmy/play mobile games
9. Oh crap I have to get my kid

I have found that removing individual parts, like telling myself "no YouTube today", only works temporarily, until I get distracted by something else, then I forget the new rule. So all it really does is reorder the schedule above.

BUT, I have found that removing all of the distractions, even the important ones like food, until I have begun the important task, helps.

So based on what I typed above, my rule for the day looks like No YouTube, no social media, no mobile games, no breakfast, no sitting on the couch I have to spell out each thing, I can't just say "no distractions", because the me in the moment thinks it's a break or I'm warming up to doing the thing, some nonsense.

After an hour of doing the Thing, I get a break for breakfast, it is important. But once ive put that time into doing the Thing, it's a lot easier to get back to it.

So the new schedule is

1. Drop my kid off
2. Know I need to do something, but the Thing has slipped my mind.
3. Mentally run through a list of things I could do. Because so much is banned, and the Thing is forgotten, this turns up nothing.
4. Realize I haven't taken my pills or made coffee, do those
5. After those, I remember why those are all I'm allowed to do, and therefore remember the Thing.
6. Delay a bit because the Thing is boring or hard, but still can't do anything else
7. Do. The. THING. (For an hour)
8. Breakfast, which feels so good, and dopamines the brain, hopefully making the Thing easier in the future.
9. Do more Thing.

I hope this helps. This is only possible because of my prescribed Meth, caffeine, and because I'm actually a lot better at telling myself what not to do than to just do something. Good luck, we all need it.