The best-ROI techniques I’ve found to date are getting sufficient sleep, and trying hard. I know that these work, andthey work quite reliably.
Another which is somewhat less reliable is ‘sleeping on it.’ I mean quickly and intensively priming the mental pumps on a task, then doing something else, then coming back (ideally after a good night’s sleep) to the task later. I often perceive the benefit of signicant effortless processing which must have taken place in the interim,
Back to trying hard. To help w/ this, I tend to psych myself differently depending on the mental barrier of the hour, e.g. (just by way of example):
raring to go → go (duh);
low energy → compete with self / make it a game / hyperoptimize;
anxiety concerning outcome → depersonalize, take cosmological perspective, dust-mote-on-dust-mote, etc.;
self-doubt → reflect on successes and known abilities, depersonalize;
lazy → see low energy;
competition for focus → promise self rewards if focus, quick-list competing demands then flush from mind, etc.;
uncertainty − 80⁄20 rule, do-then-adjust, countless pithy sayings
The psych-up phase may take 5 seconds (most of my techniques are so familiar I just need a quick flash on them to get most of the effect). Ideally I’ve planned ahead sufficiently so that ‘sleeping on it’ is still an option if I feel insufficiently psyched after the psych-up phase. Sometimes, just reminding myself of this fallback makes the psych-up easier.
Fairly mundane stuff, but reasonably effective and equipment-free (the bed I’ll be needing anyway:-)
I often perceive the benefit of signicant effortless processing which must have taken place in the interim
Are you sure that it works because you’re unconsciously working on it? Might it be that during the time off, you simply forget what you were thinking, and you take a new approach that works?
The best-ROI techniques I’ve found to date are getting sufficient sleep, and trying hard. I know that these work, andthey work quite reliably.
Another which is somewhat less reliable is ‘sleeping on it.’ I mean quickly and intensively priming the mental pumps on a task, then doing something else, then coming back (ideally after a good night’s sleep) to the task later. I often perceive the benefit of signicant effortless processing which must have taken place in the interim,
Back to trying hard. To help w/ this, I tend to psych myself differently depending on the mental barrier of the hour, e.g. (just by way of example):
raring to go → go (duh); low energy → compete with self / make it a game / hyperoptimize; anxiety concerning outcome → depersonalize, take cosmological perspective, dust-mote-on-dust-mote, etc.; self-doubt → reflect on successes and known abilities, depersonalize; lazy → see low energy; competition for focus → promise self rewards if focus, quick-list competing demands then flush from mind, etc.; uncertainty − 80⁄20 rule, do-then-adjust, countless pithy sayings
The psych-up phase may take 5 seconds (most of my techniques are so familiar I just need a quick flash on them to get most of the effect). Ideally I’ve planned ahead sufficiently so that ‘sleeping on it’ is still an option if I feel insufficiently psyched after the psych-up phase. Sometimes, just reminding myself of this fallback makes the psych-up easier.
Fairly mundane stuff, but reasonably effective and equipment-free (the bed I’ll be needing anyway:-)
Also, I hear that fat people need more willpower, and depressed people should just cheer up.
Are you sure that it works because you’re unconsciously working on it? Might it be that during the time off, you simply forget what you were thinking, and you take a new approach that works?