This is yet another try of fighting procrastination in order to regain and maintain control of my life.

ucdi resembles Getting Things Done but it's mostly inspired by the articles by Tim Urban published on waitbutwhy.com which are based on the theory that procrastinators procrastinate because of their Storyline - something they keep telling themselves with the effect of lowering their confidence.

The critical goal is to change that Storyline by proving it wrong. Through action. Hence I named this tool U Can Do It - or short ucdi.

The tool aims to help with the following activities.

The first step is to determine your Goals - things you want to achieve, be it "Learn to play the guitar" or "File tax report". The list doesn't have to be exhaustive. Just write down what ever comes into your mind right now.

Each Goal should have an objectively verifiable criterion of when it's considered to be achieved. For example "Recite Spanish Romance in front of at least three friends" or "Tax report sent to ministry of finances".

Also write down a sentence or two about why you want to achieve it - as a reminder if you get demotivated. The more personal the better.

For each Goal, outline tasks that will have to be completed in order to achieve it. It's okay if they're rough in the beginning, you can always refine them later. If possible, formulate the tasks as verifiable criteria as well (aka Milestones).

From your list of Goals, select a winner - the Goal that is right now most important for your happiness. You can either follow your gut feeling or use a system like the Eisenhower Matrix.

From that winner Goal, take the first Task and make it something small and doable. The smaller the better. It should seem almost trivial and you should be able to imagine doing it. Like "Buy a cheap guitar online". That's your Brick.

Next, you need to schedule when you are gonna lay the brick. You can do it right away of course, but in any case make it a specific date and time and also decide on a minimum duration. This appointment is non-negotionable and non-canceable.

So far, there hasn't been any actual doing so it should be not too hard for most procrastinators. The doing is usually the hard part for it is when the Instant Gratification Monkey takes over the wheel. The first thing you can do is to be aware of the Monkey and to expect having to fight him.

If you manage to actually get started on the Brick: congratulations, but the fight is not over yet. Stay aware of the Monkey. It will find an opportune moment when your concentration slips to take over the wheel. That's not a disaster. By staying aware of the Monkey and noticing when it took over the wheel, you have a better fighting chance. I usually divide the Brick into smaller slots (aka Pomodoros). Each new slot is a new chance and reminder to fight the Monkey and take back the wheel.

Usually there is a tipping point when the end of the Brick is in sight and the Monkey will stop resisting. Don't stop there.

If you haven't scheduled the next Brick already, after just having laid one is a good time to do so. Just make sure that you have always at least one Brick scheduled.

Don't overload yourself. Instead, aim for slow and steady progress. Start with one Brick per week. Then after a couple of weeks make it two. Maybe after a year you can do one Brick a day. That might not seem much, but it's probably a huge improvement compared to the previous year.

Don't expect the next Brick to be any less of a fight than the last one though. The Monkey doesn't give up that easily and also has a terrible long-term memory.

If you lay one Brick at a time, after a while you will have built a house - provided some planning.