Sometimes I find myself stuck. Instead of working on something worthwhile, I'm playing phone games, watching TV reruns and searching the fridge for snacks. There is a time and place for downtime - it's important, but this is not that. I'm talking about unplanned downtime - when you'd rather be productive, but you Just. Can't. What do you do to get you out of that trap?

I used to wait for motivation to happen. As if at some point during hour 10 of watching Netflix I'll be suddenly struck by a lightning like force that propels me into action. Would be nice. But the thing is, motivation is a side effect of doing. It doesn't come first, its a bi-product of making progress and seeing achievements.

I like playing games. I was playing Doom on Xbox the other day and noticed a loading screen had a quote on it:

"Hell devours the indolent. Movement is the key to victorious combat."

I couldn't agree more. Not just in the game, but the real life game we all play in our minds in order to do real stuff. You need to move.

Want to exercise? Just tell yourself to go put on your exercise gear and then you can go back to doing nothing. Then when you have them on, who knows - maybe motivation happens. If not, how about cueing up your workout playlist. Still not working? Why not a quick 2 minute walk to the mailbox. The key is to do, just small, and then let the rest follow. You'll be surprised.

This goes for all those projects on your someday list. Coding side project? Tell yourself to just open the IDE and hit build. Then see what happens. To write this article - I had the thought of writing that Doom quote down so I didn't forget it. 10 minutes later I'm here.

Don't let Hell consume you. Be victorious.