I have definitely been there. I don’t think there’s anything that’s sure to work with everyone but this is what works for me. I need to set deadlines for myself that I actually care about. If they are arbitrary then they don’t work, part of me will know that there won’t be real consequences for missing them. So I try to set up a situation where there’s a deadline that has consequences, but not anything life-ruining if I miss it. If I want to do something like cleaning up, I’ll invite some friends over for a game night and then I’ll have until then to do dishes, tidy up, vacuum etc. I want the place to look nice and my friends are unwittingly holding me accountable, but if there are dust bunnies or I don’t clean the sink my friends are chill enough that it’s not that stressful.

Another thing that’s worked for me is setting a goal with a nebulous but semi-urgent deadline (like “before spring” or “before it snows” and whatever it is, magically I want to do anything other than that thing. It’s amazing the things I can get done while avoiding the thing I’m “supposed” to do. So let’s say you want to do your taxes before April, you’ll definitely get to them this weekend, watch how suddenly there are myriad things around you to do instead!