Oh man, I've been struggling with this for a while (seems like a lot of people are).
It's because I'm often overwhelmed by my perfectionist nature; I end up avoiding anything that has to do with my future goals for fear that I'll attempt "things" (everything's really vague in my brain) and won't reach the standards I try to achieve.
I won't allow myself to become passionate about anything because that'll mean intentionally becoming vulnerable to my own mental barbs.
And
then when I decide that I seriously need to stop avoiding crap, I feel like there's way too much lost time to make up, way too many things that I want to do, should do, need to do--it's all too late, so what's the point, right?
A way that helps me deal with this is to simplify everything. I write on a piece of notebook paper what I enjoy doing, what I want to see myself doing in the future. Then, I think about what I can do in the present that will help me achieve whatever I wrote down.
So my thoughts will be, "Well, one day I'll find some profound purpose in my life that'll motivate me, but not today, what's the point... someday..."
to
"If I don't do A, I won't reach B."
And if I don't know what B is, I'll make something up until further notice.
Shit adds up man. One day you're too lazy to wipe after #2, next day you got ass gangrene.
If that visual isn't enough to motivate you, nothing is.
Lmao! That's a nice visual.