| I try to burn the candle from all five ends. > * I'm tired/fried and not able to think clearly Keep up with your health - eating well, exercise, and sleep are all things I could do better at myself. Taking some breaks, too, can help - a walk to the coffee shop (I don't even drink coffee!) can clear the mind, or give you a chance to chat with coworkers (if you invite them along). Sometimes they'll bring a fresh perspective to your problem, and sometimes their problems give you a break from your own. While I hate exercising for the sake of it, I've gotten pretty good at walking to lunch - especially if it's with coworkers. > * ... A lot of these seem to fall under a general category of task management. Breaking things down into smaller steps, prioritizing - or just plain picking one specific thing to work on - getting external feedback or prototyping... lots of stuff out there, different things seem to work for different people. Most recently, I'm thinking of going back to TDD just for the sake of really helping push the "break things down into smaller steps" angle. Failing tests? Pick the one on the top of the list and fix it. No failing tests? Add a test that fails. Indecision paralysis for what test to add? Make even a poor choice if necessary, and refactor later. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. > Anyone else find they procrastinate for reasons another than a habitual need to check e.g. reddit/HN? It's usually not even that I want to check reddit/HN, it's that I'm unmotivated to work on whatever I'm procrastinating on. At work, this isn't a problem - I'm motivated to earn my pay, contribute to the team, generally get things done and kick ass. The problem for me is at home. I've read a ton about motivation for tips and tricks with limited success. Although I have had some luck with the concept of "precommitment" as a form of generating extrinsic motivation - in the form of weekly bets with coworkers, for things we'd plan to do over the weekend. Fail to meet your commitments? Owe your buddy a coffee ;). Bonus points: It really forces me to realize just how bad I am at task duration estimation. Fortunately (?) so are my coworkers. I've also noticed that, as a means of distraction, for me the internet seems to be particularly insidious. It's an infinite stream of content, where there's always something new. I've had some minor success with playing games instead. More enjoyable, and much more finite - both in the sense that games can be completed, and in the sense that I'll eventually get properly bored, at which point I'll be much more motivated to do something productive. |