One productivity technique I heard about is the "pomodoro" technique. The idea is to work for 25 minutes without procrastination, and then take a five minute break. Which is so simple they had to call it after the Italian word for tomato because otherwise it wouldn't sound fancy enough[1].
Of course, many people do that automatically by having a fixed schedule with coffee breaks, etc. But partly, geeks like to understand things, not just do them because they're normal. And partly, if you have a tendency to procrastinate, you may not be *able* to establish a normal routine.
I'd tried something similar before, but not had much success. And when I first tried doing pomodoros I completely couldn't do it: I couldn't concentrate for 25 minutes, and when I had, I panicked at the thought of a ticking clock telling me to start again in 5 minutes.
But after some experimentation, I discovered that once I got into the habit, it did work quite well for me. The problem it solves for me is "I've got lots of things to do and none are *that* bad, but I can't face all of them at once, so I'll goof off now, and then do them all consecutively at the last minute". By starting saying "well, ok, I'll start by doing *this* much, and then I'll pause", it's easier to start.
In fact, I find that when things are going well, I can easily run several pomodoros back-to-back, and if I do it at work I can basically work continuously from when I arrive until when I leave. (Which ought to be taken for granted, but isn't that easy with many potential interruptions.)
But what I found most useful is that when I can't start *at all*, I can run a 5-minute pomodoro, and I can pretty much always force myself to do that much. And after a couple of those, I'm getting into the swing of it, and then can run some normal pomodoros.
It feels like, it's not just that I've got a limited amount of concentration energy per day, but also that I have a concentration velocity, and when it's low, I need to accelerate up to speed. So I can pretty much never go from stressed and distracted to working smoothly without an emergency, but if I know in advance I can accelerate and be working smoothly by lunchtime, I can actually do that and count it as a success, rather than feel like it has to be instant success or nothing.
[1] Because there are 25-minute timers for cooking tomato sauce.
Of course, many people do that automatically by having a fixed schedule with coffee breaks, etc. But partly, geeks like to understand things, not just do them because they're normal. And partly, if you have a tendency to procrastinate, you may not be *able* to establish a normal routine.
I'd tried something similar before, but not had much success. And when I first tried doing pomodoros I completely couldn't do it: I couldn't concentrate for 25 minutes, and when I had, I panicked at the thought of a ticking clock telling me to start again in 5 minutes.
But after some experimentation, I discovered that once I got into the habit, it did work quite well for me. The problem it solves for me is "I've got lots of things to do and none are *that* bad, but I can't face all of them at once, so I'll goof off now, and then do them all consecutively at the last minute". By starting saying "well, ok, I'll start by doing *this* much, and then I'll pause", it's easier to start.
In fact, I find that when things are going well, I can easily run several pomodoros back-to-back, and if I do it at work I can basically work continuously from when I arrive until when I leave. (Which ought to be taken for granted, but isn't that easy with many potential interruptions.)
But what I found most useful is that when I can't start *at all*, I can run a 5-minute pomodoro, and I can pretty much always force myself to do that much. And after a couple of those, I'm getting into the swing of it, and then can run some normal pomodoros.
It feels like, it's not just that I've got a limited amount of concentration energy per day, but also that I have a concentration velocity, and when it's low, I need to accelerate up to speed. So I can pretty much never go from stressed and distracted to working smoothly without an emergency, but if I know in advance I can accelerate and be working smoothly by lunchtime, I can actually do that and count it as a success, rather than feel like it has to be instant success or nothing.
[1] Because there are 25-minute timers for cooking tomato sauce.