Antiprocrastination station
Aug. 5th, 2011 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vom_marloweI've got a large pile of work to do today.
It has to be done right.
It has to be done quickly.
It has to be done by this afternoon.
It is very fiddly.
It is also very messy.
I must read, sort, comment on, and summarize over 300 pages (letter sized, size 8 font for half of it).
Then I must make an excel spreadsheet to summarize the summaries and send it out by this afternoon. Did I mention that the work is the sort that can be anxiety-inducing and/or stressful by its nature?
I thought I would live blog how I approach this kind of project.
I know some folks find approaches to mastering procrastination/work blocks interesting. I've made huge strides in this area, personally, so I thought it might be fun to talk about.
If I get done early enough, or if there's interest, I'll talk a bit about the theory behind why I do things the way I do them.
But in the meantime, to thebatcave to the desk!
Step One
Gather supplies:
1. Beautiful office supplies. Today's supplies are Zebra colorful pens (Sarasa sticks, in a flock of blue, blue black, teal, light blue, green, orange, red, and purple). Sharpie highlighters in peach, maroon, and pink. Paperclips with colorful tabs.
2. Good music or audiobook. Either soothing or upbeat. I favor R&B, pop, Lady Gaga, or Sigur Ros, Dead Can Dance, soothing down tempo. I generally find Vimes books to be good for hideous paperwork tasks, by the way, and funny Harry/Draco when I have to do terrible awful no good very bad tasks. Today, I'm doing Merlin/Arthur instead.
3. Timer.
4. Small reward. For me: sudoku, cheez-its, coffee, excellent novel, chaptered fanfic. You want to decide on what counts as a small reward before you begin. Chaptered stories work very well, because they're pre-set rewards in small chunks.
Step Two
1. Set timer for a small doable amount. These days it's twenty minutes. I used to do five, three, or seven. It's good to alternative the time. The point is to choose something small, almost laughable. Turn on the timer.
2. Pick up the first chunk of the work at hand. Do not spend time deciding where to start, just pick something up and do it, knowing that you're making progress.
3. Focus on the work at hand, diligently paying attention to absolutely nothing else. Do not answer the phone, do not wander off for a potty break, do not surf the web, do not do anything but the work in front of you.
4. If you notice your attention wandering, as it will, just acknowledge the thought, say "Thank you, but we'll do that later," and return to the work at hand.
5. Keep working until the timer bings.
6. Shut off the timer and put down your pencil. You mind is now your own.
7. Indulge in the reward fully, but only for as long as you have predetermined--one chapter, say. One sudoku puzzle. Or small bag of cheezits. One trip the coffee room. Etc.
Take several deep breaths, then begin again at Step Two.
If you're at work, you can do this until it's reasonable to stop (it's lunchtime, or it's 4 on a Friday and everyone is now napping, etc.) If you're at home and working on a tough project, then it's good to set strict limits such as three little sessions. It does not matter how much you get done in your session, so long as you are working. The fact that you did the work for the time allotted counts.
As of 10:04, so far, I've done two rounds of work. I get to go grab my coffee and then tackle the next bit.
ETA: 11:23, two more rounds.
It has to be done right.
It has to be done quickly.
It has to be done by this afternoon.
It is very fiddly.
It is also very messy.
I must read, sort, comment on, and summarize over 300 pages (letter sized, size 8 font for half of it).
Then I must make an excel spreadsheet to summarize the summaries and send it out by this afternoon. Did I mention that the work is the sort that can be anxiety-inducing and/or stressful by its nature?
I thought I would live blog how I approach this kind of project.
I know some folks find approaches to mastering procrastination/work blocks interesting. I've made huge strides in this area, personally, so I thought it might be fun to talk about.
If I get done early enough, or if there's interest, I'll talk a bit about the theory behind why I do things the way I do them.
But in the meantime, to the
Step One
Gather supplies:
1. Beautiful office supplies. Today's supplies are Zebra colorful pens (Sarasa sticks, in a flock of blue, blue black, teal, light blue, green, orange, red, and purple). Sharpie highlighters in peach, maroon, and pink. Paperclips with colorful tabs.
2. Good music or audiobook. Either soothing or upbeat. I favor R&B, pop, Lady Gaga, or Sigur Ros, Dead Can Dance, soothing down tempo. I generally find Vimes books to be good for hideous paperwork tasks, by the way, and funny Harry/Draco when I have to do terrible awful no good very bad tasks. Today, I'm doing Merlin/Arthur instead.
3. Timer.
4. Small reward. For me: sudoku, cheez-its, coffee, excellent novel, chaptered fanfic. You want to decide on what counts as a small reward before you begin. Chaptered stories work very well, because they're pre-set rewards in small chunks.
Step Two
1. Set timer for a small doable amount. These days it's twenty minutes. I used to do five, three, or seven. It's good to alternative the time. The point is to choose something small, almost laughable. Turn on the timer.
2. Pick up the first chunk of the work at hand. Do not spend time deciding where to start, just pick something up and do it, knowing that you're making progress.
3. Focus on the work at hand, diligently paying attention to absolutely nothing else. Do not answer the phone, do not wander off for a potty break, do not surf the web, do not do anything but the work in front of you.
4. If you notice your attention wandering, as it will, just acknowledge the thought, say "Thank you, but we'll do that later," and return to the work at hand.
5. Keep working until the timer bings.
6. Shut off the timer and put down your pencil. You mind is now your own.
7. Indulge in the reward fully, but only for as long as you have predetermined--one chapter, say. One sudoku puzzle. Or small bag of cheezits. One trip the coffee room. Etc.
Take several deep breaths, then begin again at Step Two.
If you're at work, you can do this until it's reasonable to stop (it's lunchtime, or it's 4 on a Friday and everyone is now napping, etc.) If you're at home and working on a tough project, then it's good to set strict limits such as three little sessions. It does not matter how much you get done in your session, so long as you are working. The fact that you did the work for the time allotted counts.
As of 10:04, so far, I've done two rounds of work. I get to go grab my coffee and then tackle the next bit.
ETA: 11:23, two more rounds.