I did it!

[rebeccmeister]

I have this funny complex about writing--academic writing, that is. Sometimes I have to trick myself into working on something, like, say, my dissertation proposal. Occasionally, the oblique approach works best. I start out by thinking about some other semi-related puzzle, and then all of a sudden, hey, I've opened my proposal draft and have started editing/re-thinking the introduction! Success!

Of course, sometimes this gets sidelined by more devious subconscious procrastination methods, like updating my blog.

Hmm.

Comments

tricks of the trade

[global-keewee.livejournal.com]

So, I doubt you're as appointment driven as I (I get totally thrown when I don't get Outlook reminders for some technical reason). However, I find lately that the easiest way to trick myself into otherwise impossible-to-motivate tasks is to just schedule it in my calendar. When it is, say, time to do my Czech homework, I just do it, rather than think about how much I don't want to. Just like going to row, right? Don't give a chance to consider the motivation, and just go...

Re: tricks of the trade

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Theoretically, that could work, and I'll often resort to that tactic. But even when I set the time aside, I'll often let myself get distracted by other tasks. Usually, they're related to my dissertation proposal, but are slightly off-topic. So I feel like I'm getting something done although I'm not working on the topic at hand.