Time Management

SkyEye

Haven't been to h/a in a while but here goes. I'm having a lot of trouble with keeping to the schedule I want. This has been a small issue till now, but it's starting to have severe impact on my ability to get work done. Specifically, when I start something, I can't force myself to stop until I'm done. Watching a video, playing a game, reading an article, whatever; once I start a task I am committed to it. I know that the best way to commit to a schedule is to just pick a time and activity and just make yourself do it at the specified time, but I can't do that for the reason above. Any help?

ArbitraryDescriptor

Have someone start an HA thread about the very thing you are doing at that precise moment. Seems to have worked for me.

Except now I'm replying to it instead of getting back on task...

So obviously I don't have the answer, but I find writing out lists of what you want to accomplish helps, on paper or on my phone. Paper seems to work better, muscle memory, maybe. It helps keeps the task in my mind, subconsciously shaming me to stop doing whatever.

Also: Try cutting yourself off from your distractions. I have trouble stopping once I get started too, but if I can't get started, it solves itself and I have a better chance of aiming that hyper-focus at the job. Turn off your wifi. Stop working in front of the tv. Put on some headphones to shut out the office chatter, etc.

Calixtus

One trick that I've used to keep my schedules is physical locations. There's a lot of studying that I could, in theory, do just as well at home as anywhere else. But I don't, I get distracted.

So I don't study at home. I spend 90 minutes every day commuting instead, because the net effect is more efficient studying when I'm at uni, and more efficient relaxing when I'm at home. For the same reason, despite the fact that my laptop could handle certain games (notably EVE), the laptop is for school work. So I don't game on it, even if, in theory, I could totally just login for a little while during lunch or whatever.

I'd also think about whether the problem is that you can't stop doing things you start, or that you start doing the wrong things at the wrong time. It might easier for you to learn to see if you have the time to comitt to something before you start, than it is to learn how to break out of that comittment (that's definitely how I work!).

seabass

A couple of years ago, I found I was having trouble staying on task, spending enough time on various projects, that sort of thing. I tried a bunch of things to get my schedule settled out, and I found what really helped was that I started using time-tracking tools. Basically just writing what I was doing down for every 15 minute increment during a day (although I used toggl specifically to get it done).

Just having a chart showing how my time was divided basically shamed me into spending less time on leisure and more on work and self improvement. I still don't keep a given schedule from day to day, but I've still got that little bit of signal where I can say "man, I really want to sit down and play a game" and I can look and see if maybe I've been doing too much of that this week / this month / this year.

Djeet

I addition to setting a schedule, calendar it and have your phone nag you about it. I now put (and have my wife and friends trained to send me) calendar invites for everything, even mundane things like take the dog to the vet, pay this bill, take out trash, buy eggs and milk on way home. My phone give me a notification at some interval before it is due, and it keeps popping it up unless I dismiss it.

Though my problem is more that I have so much shit going on I just forget to do things. If your problem is that you cannot value completing whatever important task over completing whatever trivial task then I'm not sure how much a reminder interrupting your trivial task will help.

Gihgehls

OP, do you find yourself unable to get back into your task if you are to take a break?