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Running out of steam? Check out this 5-step strategy to find inspiration to write, nurture a regular writing habit, and enjoy your writing more.

Getting motivated and taking action doesn't always work the way most people think it does. Here's my simple method for getting things done.

There's no shortage of procrastination cures out there, but few of them come with the sort of detailed instructions that make them easy to put into practice. Be kind to yourself, suggest psychologists, for instance. Which sounds nice, but if that were simple to do, most of the nation's therapists would be out of business.

Try breaking the task down into itty-bitty, totally non-threatening action steps, says another common piece of advice. That also makes a ton of sense, but we all know the human mind is hard to control. You can tell yourself you're only going to write 200 words to get started on that book project, but your brain often does an end run around your intentions, paralyzing you with visions of savage critics and blown deadlines nonetheless. Suddenly, you're looking at cat pictures yet again.

The ancient Greek term "akrasia" helps explain why we don't follow through on things. Read this article to learn how akrasia works and what to do about it.