An odd technique, which I’ll rate at +5: whilst already locked into some mundane but necessary task (e.g. grocery shopping, dishes, wading through work e-mails), consciously forcing my brain to complete the “Man, I wish I could be doing [blank] instead” template with some other mundane task that I would normally procrastinate—then immediately switching to that other task when the first task is done.
For example: “These dishes are taking so long—I really wish I could be… [hijack the train of thought by picking something else on my to-do list]… doing research for that article.” I’ll then make my brain, while still doing dishes, concretely imagine working on the article—what I’ll search for online, in what order I’ll attack the sections, even how I’ll format it, etc. - in the ordinary way I would normally fantasize about playing a game, watching a TV show, or some other fun task naturally preferable to doing dishes.
By the time the dishes are done, I literally can’t wait to jump into the article. After all, these dishes have been keeping me from it for so long!
I have had a shocking amount of personal success with this.
An odd technique, which I’ll rate at +5: whilst already locked into some mundane but necessary task (e.g. grocery shopping, dishes, wading through work e-mails), consciously forcing my brain to complete the “Man, I wish I could be doing [blank] instead” template with some other mundane task that I would normally procrastinate—then immediately switching to that other task when the first task is done.
For example: “These dishes are taking so long—I really wish I could be… [hijack the train of thought by picking something else on my to-do list]… doing research for that article.” I’ll then make my brain, while still doing dishes, concretely imagine working on the article—what I’ll search for online, in what order I’ll attack the sections, even how I’ll format it, etc. - in the ordinary way I would normally fantasize about playing a game, watching a TV show, or some other fun task naturally preferable to doing dishes.
By the time the dishes are done, I literally can’t wait to jump into the article. After all, these dishes have been keeping me from it for so long!
I have had a shocking amount of personal success with this.