Oh, I think you just have to start.Sit down and study. Don't think. Just do it.
Get yourself on your mat / put on some music and start practicing.

You just have to start. From there on you'll be ok.

Having said that, It's not easy (especially when it comes to studying - for me too Amy!!!). It's hard work - starting out with that every day (or many times in a day). Reeeeally hard.

After I've read the WAR OF ART by Steven Pressfield twice, I'm starting to see how powerfull Resistance is. But the war can be won!
It took me a day to read the book and the next day I ran out bed to practice. It's just sooo good.

Get it, read it and do what you have to do ;)

Hope it helps!

who wrote this book?

I actually tried a few times to find the good moment of the day for me. I found that it's easier for me to study during the night because there is no sound and nobody doing something I want to do. All I can tell you is try and you'll find when you're more concentrate. If you achieve things you'll want to achieve more and you'll have more motivation.

My yoga teacher says that half of the battle is going to the yoga mat to practice... and he's quite right... so, as others said, try to just do it... I know firsthand how it's much easier said than done but, hey, if you can do it, you'll see that it will get increasingly easier with time. ;)

Hang in there!

for tasks that require some sort of output from YOU (ie writing an essay) one of the best ways to clear a block is to allow yourself to start off by producing ANYTHING, no matter how crappy it seems. just let the ideas flow and write them down. it's easier to go back and edit, refine, rewrite something that's already out than to try to produce something perfect right from the start.

and don't feel guilty about taking breaks every now and then, because your brain will still be working on things in the meantime. just remember to get back to whatever you had to do!

Well, it all worked out in the end--the pressure of a deadline never fails to kick my brain into gear, and I had it printing out just in time for bed. I always seem to need outside pressure to get me working, so I usually just go with that and let the pressure build, or find some way of engineering a firm deadline, like packing my schedule full of stuff so I really have to do it *right now*. Somehow, my head seems to know just how much time something is going to take and won't start until then. But, I would so like to be one of those people who can get things done early (how do they do it?), so that essay day I was trying so hard to get it done (didn't need it really until the next afternoon).

I've read War of Art a while back, when the first thread recommended it. It actually made things worse this time, 'cuz I kept thinking "This is Resistance. I must Push Through It!" and came up with the plan to Make Myself Do It Early and was totally at a loss as to how. It's one things if it's something that starts with a routine (like horse back riding--just start saddling up) or something that you don't need to your brain for exclusively (like dance--pop in a tape and do what the dancer tells you) or even when it's writing something that requires some spitting back out of facts ('cuz then I can just start typing what I already know). But, when it's purely creative and you're stuck, then what?

I will say that the "just do it!" first response was a good kick in the butt for me--thanks. And I'm sure I'm totally overthinking things, probably in another subtle attempt to procrastinate (or maybe the whiny typing and brooding counts as the "just write anything!" that got me started....) But, now I'm off to study for the next exam, so I'd better take off the sweaty dance clothes and get to work...