Barbara Oakley talks about procrastination in the bestselling book A Mind for Numbers and her inspiring Ted Talk. She mentions a simple but very effective solution: The Pomodoro Technique.
š The Pomodoro Technique: Overcome Procrastination with this simple trick
You set a timer for 25 minutes and work only on one task in front of you.
You do NOT try to reach a goal in the shortest possible time, but concentrate on what you are doing in the present moment. The process is the goal. As with meditation, when you get distracted or your mind starts to wander, you gently and kindly bring it back.
Often thoughts like, "Now I can't focus again." Or other self-critical comments will arise. Try to push these gently to the side and return to the task you are working on.
š The metaphor of seeing the thoughts of cars driving on a highway helped me a lot.
I sit on the side of a highway and watch the cars drive by in three lanes. I see different models and colors: little pink cars, a big black truck, and so on. I can look at a car for a while, but I don't try to stop it. Above all, it is useless because I cannot stop a car.
Do you know what is meant by the metaphor? :)
When you have been focused on one task for 25 minutes, take a break for 5 minutes.
Now, just let your mind wander.
You can go out into the fresh air or relax in your favorite chair and close your eyes.
With the Pomodoro technique, we train the switch between focused mode and diffuse mode. If you want to know more about this, I highly recommend the Google Talk by Barbara Oakley.
Lukas