butterflyinthewell:

towardsagentlerworld:

(different reasons that i might not be able to focus, how to tell them apart, and [maybe] how to solve them. work in progress.)

low energy
– feeling tired and sleepy
– yawning a lot 
– working feels like it takes way too much energy; I’d rather just sleep
– feels effortful even to think
– seek low-mental-effort activities like tumblr
solutions: stimulants (incl. caffeine), listening to energetic music, getting up and going for a 20+ minute walk

lack of self-monitoring
– feel like i’m running on autopilot
– can’t easily recall the last 3 things I did
– get up and walk around a lot; get lost in daydreams and thoughts
– difficulty verbalizing thoughts
– can respond to prompts, but hard to generate new plans/thoughts
– often goes along with low energy
solutions: not getting up and going for a walk, sitting at my desk and listening to happy-energetic music while looking at the task. talking through the problem with someone else – it’ll be hard at first but having to converse will bring my self-monitoring system back online.

restlessness
– feeling bored, wanting stimulation
– feeling frustrated
– changing sitting position often, feeling uncomfortable, fidgeting a lot
– seek tasty food but almost all food is not tasty enough
solutions: try working with loud energetic music and a fidget toy. if this doesn’t work, go outside and run around for a bit until you’re breathing hard, then try again. let yourself have sugar after the run if you still want it.

compulsion for something else
– pulled towards other, more interesting thoughts/activities
– if i start working, i get sidetracked by the more interesting things without noticing
– easy to enter flow state on other tasks, just not this one
solutions: this one is hard. write down the more exciting thoughts and promise yourself you’ll come back to them? (you may not come back to them.)

task aversion
– feeling stressed when i think about the task
– or, thoughts slip off the task easily (ugh field)
– feeling scared or self-hatey when i think about the task
solutions: try working on the task for just two minutes. if you still hate it / feel scared after two minutes, you can stop. try talking through the task with someone else and figuring out small first actions. try listening to happy-calm-forward-motion music. query your brain about other small things that would make you feel happy to be at your desk (tea? wearing your jacket if it’s cold? moving to a conference room with better lighting?) and if they’re easy, do those, and take the time to appreciate them as you’re doing them. but mostly, talk through the task and get help from others.

Omg “compulsion for something else” gets me every time. Every. Time.

Sometimes when I get the compulsion to do something else, I try to make it research for the task, since usually it’s fanfiction where this hits me. It helps, most of the time lol!