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We all have that one task that we absolutely dread doing. Dishes, laundry, homework, taxes… These are things that we need to do and may even want to do, even if it is just to get the thing done. And yet, finding the motivation to get that thing done eludes us. Sometimes motivation isn’t the problem though. Sometimes the task is built up so much in our head that it becomes daunting. Suddenly we convinced ourselves that the dishes are going to be impossible to do and we become paralyzed by the very thought of even starting the dishes.

Now, rationally, we realize that the dishes are not that big a deal but this is not the time for rational thought. The task paralysis is too strong. Often the problem for me seems to be time related. I don’t feel like I have enough time to do anything. So I do nothing. This is where the timer comes in. A lot of my struggle with time probably comes from time blindness so a timer can really help. But it can help anyone when they struggle with something like this. You choose an amount of time that you think you can handle doing the thing and set a timer for that amount of time. It could be 60 seconds or 5 minutes or any other time that seems reasonable to you. That is what is nice about something like this: it is all about your comfort and ability. So if you can only handle 2 minutes, then 2 minutes it is.

When your struggle with tasks like this isn’t time related but is instead mental or emotional energy related, what you may find is that, once you are up and doing the thing for your designated time, you can actually continue to do the thing a little while longer. This is where you can reset your timer and start all over again. It still helps to keep you from getting overwhelmed by the thought of doing it for an indefinite amount of time while allowing you to continue being productive. You could also adjust the amount of time before you restart the clock to give yourself more or less time, depending on how you’re feeling about the task.

This article from pickthebrain.com talks about more ways that you can use a timer to help you with productivity. Let me know in the comments if the timer works for you!

I know, I know. Meditation is terrible and you can’t do it. Clear your mind? How is that even possible? But what if you could? Not clear your mind, but meditate.  You’ll have to bare with me because this post will be a long one. If you’re only interested in a specific sense, skip to that section for a brief description of it.

In the Positive Psychology class I took in undergrad I learned about mindfulness meditation and realized that I had been doing it for about 10 years already, without even knowing it. Mindfulness is more than just meditation. It is a way of experiencing life and being in the moment, mentally and emotionally. An important part of mindfulness is being without judgment. Do not use subjective, judgment words to describe what you are experiencing. It also means that you do not judge yourself. If you find that your mind has wandered when you are trying to do something mindfully, you simply acknowledge that it has wandered and redirect your attention back to what you were doing.

In mindfulness meditation, instead of trying to “clear your mind”, you focus your thoughts and attention on what is going on right this second. One of the ways you can do this is by focusing your attention on one of your senses. I tend to go for hearing because it seems to be the easiest for me to do without judgment but I’m going to give a brief explanation of how focusing on each sense mindfully might work.

Hearing: As I sit here, writing this, if I turn my attention to what I can hear, I get the following: The sound of my mechanical keyboard clicking as I type letters out, my dog sighing, the 3D printer running in the other room, my husband tapping his fingers on his desk, another dogs nails on the hard floor, cars as they drive by outside, and my husband shifting in his chair. I did this for about a minute and I was able to identify all of those sounds. When you focus on your hearing, all you do at first is work to identify the sounds. You can say them out loud or you can just use your internal voice to identify. As you progress, you can get to a point where you can hear without the need to identify. Just focus your attention in the moment.

Sight: You can do the same thing with sight, by identifying all the things that you can see where you are. Right now for me it would be: a jar of skittles in front of my computer, no green. A stack of seed packets held together by two binder clips, a red pen, a black pen, a notebook, a water bottle with a tree of life design on it that is also a yin and yang symbol at the same time, a tv remote, box of tissues, two blue sticky notes on the bottom of my monitor with black writing on them, a short stack of that same color of sticky notes right in front of me, two more notebooks, a gingham patterned can koozie… That list can go on and on for me. My desk is a cluttered mess. However, the thought that I would want to avoid while doing a mindfulness meditation exercise is exactly what I just said. Stating that my desk is a “cluttered mess” is a judgment and should be avoided.

Smell: If you’re in a place where there are many scents and you haven’t gone nose blind to them yet, you can use smell. I’ve been sitting in my house all day so I’m pretty nose blind at the moment. When my husband got home he could smell the potato soup I had cooking as soon as he walked in the door while I haven’t been able to smell it since shortly after it started cooking. If I hold my shirt up to my face I can smell the laundry detergent I use. If I open the jar of skittles on my desk I can smell them. If I went into the kitchen, closer to the potato soup, I could smell it too.

Taste: Taste is a fun one to do when you eat but probably isn’t easy to do as a general mindfulness exercise unless you put something in your mouth that has a flavor to it, such as gum, a mint, or a piece of candy. I’ll be honest, this is one that I’ve never practiced before, nor have I recommended this one for the purpose of meditation. If you try it, please leave a comment describing your experiences.

Touch: The last sense you have is touch. If you’re like me you probably think of your hands and fingers when you think of your sense of touch. However, your entire body has nerves on it that are constantly taking in stimuli which your brain then discards. To meditate with the sense of touch, you can focus on everything your body can feel. For this I recommend that you sit in a chair with your feet on the ground. Place your hands on your legs and sit with your back against the chair. Start at your feet. Can you feel your socks or shoes on your feet? The pressure of the floor under them? How about the fabric of your pants on your lower leg? Can you feel the pressure on your knees from that same fabric? Now the pressure of your hands on your legs. Do your hands feel like they’re warm? Cold? Does the chair feel hard or soft? Cold or warm? Can you feel the fabric of your shirt on your skin? How about your hair on your neck? Can you feel the texture of the fabric of your pants under your hands?

There is so much to focus on through your senses that you probably are rarely, if ever, aware of. Your brain is constantly taking in information in your nonconscious mind from these five senses that it then filters by how important it is to keeping you alive and well. In mindfulness, you choose to bring this information to your consciousness and focus on it instead of other things. I’ve never been a person who could clear my mind, but I can focus it. At least for short periods of time. Mindfulness meditation is a good skill to practice in your everyday life but it also works as an effective coping skill in times of stress or strong emotion. It can help you get to sleep, similar to counting sheep (which I could never do by they way. I can’t visualize to save my life). All in all, it is just a good skill to have.

For more information on the benefits of mindfulness meditation, check out this article by Julie Suttie. If you want to try to add it to your life then start with a short period of time to practice, 60 seconds. Redirect yourself without judgment when your mind wanders. Go longer if you wish. There is no limit here on how long or short you can meditate mindfully. I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you decide to practice this. Let me know how it goes, what worked for you or didn’t, and how you feel about the practice after trying it.

I know I can’t be the only one that experiences this. You’re trying to get something done and every few seconds a new thing pops into your head that you need to do, look up, research, shop for, etc. At least I hope it’s not just me. This is a constant issue that I have and in the interest of being a productive human being, I had to find a way to cope.

This issue is mostly present for me when I’m trying to do school work. Or maybe it is just the most noticeable under that condition. Either way, I did finally find my solution. I am the queen of multiple browser windows with multiple tabs. This technique has been surprisingly helpful for me when I keep thinking of new things but need to continue to focus on one.

Here’s how it works: As I am working on a task that I need to focus on and complete, a thought pops into my head. I open another tab on my browser and put that thought into that tab. If the though is somewhat related to my current task, such as another school assignment that I remembered needs done, it stays in that window. However, if that thought is unrelated to the current task, the tab gets dragged out of that window so that it creates its own, new, random thoughts window. Any time a thought pops up that is related to the current task, it stays in the primary window. If it is unrelated, it goes into the random thoughts window.

Sometimes, the thought that pops up actually does need to take priority over the current task. In that case, it is opened in a new tab, pulled into its own window, and completed. Then I can close that window and I am right back where I need to be: my original task. Any time something pops into my head that needs addressed I open a new tab or window. The word “need” here is a relative term. If the thought is going to impact my ability to get my task done, it needs addressed in some way. This is the solution I have found that works best. 

By having multiple windows it helps to keep me from being overwhelmed by what needs done when I am working on the primary task. I don’t have 100 tabs at the top of my primary window, in my field of vision, calling for my attention and I don’t have the nagging thought in my head that I need to do this other thing before I forget. I used to just jot down notes for myself instead but the combination of my sloppy, illegible hand writing and the lack of detail in the notes made it difficult for me to actually remember what I wanted to do. This was an issue that brought with itself a whole new set of frustrations (queue the hours long chorus of “what was that thing I wanted to do?” in my head). 

This certainly isn’t the only way to manage this type of issue. It is just the one that I have found that works best. Do you have a technique that works for you to help with your productivity? Share it in the comments!