Mise en Place
Putting in place, a French culinary term I scoffed at as a home cook. I considered it a fancy step done by those who have never had to wash their own dishes, all the dainty little containers for every single thing. I may never do it exactly as seen on TV, but the spirit of the concept is actually a pretty good one. Prepare everything so you can start on the task at hand right away, never missing a beat.
If your brain is anything like mine and you struggle at starting something, never underestimate how effective putting things in order is. It applies to just about anything, really. When I cook, I begin cleanup as I go. When I leave work at the end of the day, I keep the next tasks open before I set the machine to sleep. After I've done painting, I make it my priority to put everything back in place and wash the tools. Do not put it off. Make sure your things are always ready for you to start right away, so when you actually have to do it, you do not make excuses.
As always, I talk about drawing and writing primarily, but honestly the idea stands for any kind of creative practice.
This is how I arrange my "studio" area now. When I have off time but too tired to do anything, I make sure my waterbrushes and my spritzer are filled, my palette clean, my pencils sharpened, my brushes ready to go. When I want to doodle, I can grab the nearest set of paper and whatever floats my boat. My storage area is within reach and the drawers are shallow, so I wouldn't have to rummage through anything. Suddenly, starting feels less like a series of chores.
Previously, there were times where I talked myself off doodling because I would have to find my brush, wash my palette, yadda yadda yadda. Sometimes I would go as far as to finish prepping, then the Big Mood has passed and I don't feel like doing anything anymore. We keep telling ourselves to be more creative, to have time for more creative works, but rarely do we make it easier for us to be creative.
It's easier for me to keep this going because my space is small. I don't have too many supplies to maintain. I imagine things will not be so easy to manage if you have multiple rooms or a larger space and the maintenance routine might take up a lot of time if you have a lot of supplies. I've seen people with "house tote" and tiered cart to deal with this, or simply creative placements of supplies in places they frequent.
If analysis paralysis overwhelms you, you can even divvy up your supplies into smaller starter kits if you want to make it even simpler. The sketching kit contains only a pencil and a sketchbook, spare yourself the agony of color picking! Or maybe the problem for you to start is not knowing what to make today. Keep lists of prompts or references. When in doubt, follow one of them. If you keep getting distracted by your phone, write them down in a notebook.
Another example? I make Visual Novels. Whenever I have a project going, I leave all the tabs open: resources I plan to use, a text editor, my engine launcher, the engine documentation page... This way, whenever I touch my laptop to scroll idly, I could work on my project instead. I will not have to wait 30 seconds to open an application, it's already open. I also collect snippets of useful functions and coding tips so I could use them without having to browse around, which means I'm less likely to wander off. I download every resources I need at the beginning, so I could check and reference them without having to go online again. If I miss anything, I would download them after I've done all I could. This means I could work on my project even if the power goes down and I lose access to the internet. I also don't have to break my flow in the middle of it to check something. Light.vn and Renpy's docs are available offline, bundled with the engines.
When I don't have a project going, I collect the snippets and tips. I update the engines and note the breaking changes. I check for interesting resources.
Don't let two hour engine updates kill your mood. Prep your tools, make it easy for future you.