Fellow #octodontists what are your methods for focusing on work you would much rather avoid?
How do you conjure up focus, summon the will to complete, create a you that produces rather than consumes?
My weakness is beginning and I'm looking for signposts leading forward.
@Averly Ok, I've got that part right!
Susumu Yokota - Acid Mt. Fuji
@Mainebot Good stuff right there!
@Mainebot Music helps, or structured noise of some kind. Work I'd much rather avoid I try to split into sub-tasks that feel more easily finished. Gives me a sense of going forward if I can tick off little checkboxes.
@Mainebot Creative procrastination for the win! Just find something that is more urgent (but not necessarily catastrophic when neglected) and do the work as a way of procrastinating from doing that. Inviting friends for board games (and having to clean up before that_ works for me, for example -- I do a lot of quality work avoiding cleaning.
@Mainebot A few things:
- self-assess if I'm tired to the point of not functioning and the lack of will is part of that, or procrastinating
- front-load tasks I put off with the promise of getting to the more enjoyable stuff after
- if I'm really stuck, promise myself a reward for getting what I keep putting off done
@Mainebot I am the best at avoiding work. Truly.
What I find helpful is to break the project down into ridiculously small chunks. So if I need to write something hard, my to-do list won't be:
- Write first draft
- Revise
- Make edits
- Write final draft
It will be:
- Open TextEdit
- Write a descriptive title at the top of the page that will probably be wrong
- Drop thoughts in the doc
- Keep dropping
And by then, or shortly thereafter, I’ll be tricked into doing the writing.
@jason I'm trying this:
Open outline
revise Outline
rewrite revised outline
write introduction
Go hunting for citation-fodder
@Mainebot that hunting one is great for switching to if you have a short attention span. I do, and I find keeping peripheral (yet necessary) sub-tasks nearby is a huge time reclaimer.
@jason I'm hoping I don't overextend myself doing peripheral research or my time is going to vanish. Scope, scope, scope!
@Mainebot I intentionally allow myself to procrastinate until the stress from not doing it outweighs the dread of doing it.
They key is that I give myself permission to procrastinate, which prevents stress buildup due to doing something I'm not supposed to be doing (which is paralyzing instead of motivating) and let's the helpful stress just do its thing.
@milo I get that, it's like giving yourself permission to do things on your own time. I know people who can just sit down and start powering through mountains of work without the song and dance I seem to go through before I can even get to the keyboard.
@Mainebot some people have an iron will. I have a spaghetti-like-substance will that I've gotten very good at manipulating.
@Mainebot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpW7iYfuGDU and a glass of red wine sometimes help me to relax enough to focus on work I'd rather avoid.
@cynix That is an amazingly specific kind of white noise! I love it!
@Mainebot Music always gets me going!