How to better switch gears between tasks?

Question

I can never get myself to start things. When I do, however, and there's an unsolvable problem that needs solving, if I pick up even a little momentum in trying to solve it, I will stay on the task/project like Gorilla Glue on rye. Literally, I will forgo meals and sleep till I can get the problem solved.

I think this mindset is largely why it's hard to get started -- Projects and tasks feel overwhelming, where I unconsciously feel like I'll have to finish it all in one go, even if it takes hours on end. It's hard have momentum and then stop and switch to something else.

How do I better shift "gears" by switching to other tasks/projects that need doing/solving? How do you feel OK about leaving something unfinished for the time being and switching to something else?

Answer 1

The first thing to do is convince yourself that you will be more productive by taking breaks. And you will. You aren't thinking at 100% efficiency if you don't eat and sleep.

The Pomodoro technique emphasizes the need to take a break regularly. You will probably find a 5 minute break every 25 minutes too far from where you are to start there. (I only do it for certain types of tasks.) But what if you set a timer for once an hour. At which point you get up and stretch. Or walk. Or something. This helps in the problem solving mode because it lets your mind settle the ideas and come up with new thoughts.

As far as leaving the task, have the last thing you do be a starting point. In code, this is often writing a failing test. In other wok, it may be a post it note with the next thing you want to work on. I like to keep a piece of scrap paper next to me so I can write down stray thoughts as I think of them.

Answer 2

My advice would be to try and break your task down into much smaller sub-tasks. I believe that most tasks are not atomic, and can be spit into smaller parts. Try and get your one mega-task down to smaller tasks which will take no more than an hour or two to complete.

By doing this, you can attack each task with the voracity that is your natural style, without getting bogged down in long-running and crippling projects.

Answer 3

I agree with Dean Chalks post on Mar 9. For me the only thing that effectively works is to have a small "gateway" task to get rolling on a new project. Jumping from one thing to another is difficult if you have to start on something that takes some serious brainpower.

I've found that literally everything can be broken down into a series of small steps - if you follow them you'll get there, if you don't you may or may not.