One particular "glitch" (leftover from my TBI 11 years ago) that I am still baffled at how to overcome is getting past my brain's passive-aggressive "I don't feel like doing this" mode. Once that kicks in, no matter how hard I try, and no matter how urgent the task, I never seem to be able to do whatever thing my brain is resisting doing. I've sat staring at a computer screen for extended periods before, or my brain starts coming up with all sorts of other, "off-topic" things to do instead.
Any ideas on how to override that and get things done?
Started coding at the age of 13, now a professional software engineer and Scrum Master, creating and maintaining enterprise solutions. Eat - Sleep - Code - Lift - Repeat 💪🏾
Oh I feel you, I get the same situation every now and then, even with smaller side projects and some of them are residing at the digital graveyard because of this. Andreas' answer has two good points to which I want to add mine:
ask yourself why you are doing this particular task / project. Ask yourself about the greater goal. If you can't find any reasons, maybe it's best to just leave it be.
take more than a day off if you can. Do something you don't normally do and break your habits for a couple of days. Completely destroy your daily routines. This helps me a lot! Sometimes I whish for those routines badly after just 1 or 2 days and get back to them and the task more happy. But there are also times where this is so relaxing that I can free my mind and can get back to it with a fresh mind.
find a new hobby / game / place to visit. Why? Because when I have something new I can't wait to play with / visit / do, I get more done in shorter time because I want to reach my goal but also want to get it done as fast as possible to be able to get to the fun stuff. So in short: find something that seems more fun to do, set milestones that need to be reached for a break and discipline yourself to reach a milestone every time before you get to do the fun stuff.
I'm so sorry to hear about your suffering! And I really know what you mean. I have those unproductive times too. I mainly do 2 things against it:
I remember that I'm not a machine. It's ok to sometimes not be able to work as efficient as I would like. Than I deliberately take a break. I stand up, drink/eat something, do something totally different. I cannot charge the customer for staring at the screen. So I might as well take a break.
I remind myself why I'm doing this. I remember that my awesome wife takes care of our kids to set me free for work. I remember that I'm so blessed to have the privilege of getting paid for doing something I love! This is often a strong motivation for me to continue my work more efficiently.
I don't know if this works for you too, you are certainly in a very different situation. But I really hope you find something that helps!
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One particular "glitch" (leftover from my TBI 11 years ago) that I am still baffled at how to overcome is getting past my brain's passive-aggressive "I don't feel like doing this" mode. Once that kicks in, no matter how hard I try, and no matter how urgent the task, I never seem to be able to do whatever thing my brain is resisting doing. I've sat staring at a computer screen for extended periods before, or my brain starts coming up with all sorts of other, "off-topic" things to do instead.
Any ideas on how to override that and get things done?
Oh I feel you, I get the same situation every now and then, even with smaller side projects and some of them are residing at the digital graveyard because of this. Andreas' answer has two good points to which I want to add mine:
Thank you Robin for your great additions!
Hi Jason,
I'm so sorry to hear about your suffering! And I really know what you mean. I have those unproductive times too. I mainly do 2 things against it:
I don't know if this works for you too, you are certainly in a very different situation. But I really hope you find something that helps!