I switched from a project word target to a session target and finally stopped feeling behind
For two years I had a project target set up in Scrivener. It was a big number with a deadline, the kind that looks sensible when you set it on a motivated Sunday evening. Every time I opened the app, the progress bar quietly informed me how far behind I was. On a good day that pushed me. On most days it made me close the laptop and tell myself I'd start fresh tomorrow.
I didn't notice how much that bar was shaping my behaviour until I caught myself avoiding the file. I wasn't avoiding the writing. I was avoiding the feeling of looking at a number I was failing to hit. Those turned out to be two very different problems.
A few weeks ago I turned off the project target and set a session target of 400 words instead. When I hit it, the bar fills and I'm allowed to stop, or keep going if the scene is moving. Four hundred is small enough that I can sit down without negotiating with myself. It's about two paragraphs of effort and maybe twenty-five minutes on a slow day.
The funny thing is that I'm writing more than I did before. Most sessions run past 400, because once I'm in the scene it's easier to keep going than to stop. The few days I do stop right at the target, I still count the day as a win, because it's a day I showed up. Over a month, that adds up to far more than the days I used to lose entirely to avoidance.