Starting When You Cannot Focus
For the afternoon you have read the same paragraph four times and opened nothing. It shrinks the job until starting is easy, then removes the things pulling your attention away.
Focus · Motivation · Perfectionism · 8 items · whenever you need it
The checklist
- Write down the one thing that matters today — A list of nine competing jobs is why nothing has started.
- Cut it down to ten minutes’ worth — Not the whole report, just the first paragraph, small enough to feel boring.
- Put the phone in another room — Willpower loses to a screen within reach every time.
- Close every tab but one — Each open tab is a small ongoing decision about where to look.
- Set a timer and work badly on purpose — A rough first pass beats a perfect one you never begin.
- Write down the distracting thought — On a scrap of paper it stops circling and waits its turn.
- Stand up and move at the timer — Focus comes back faster after two minutes away than after an hour of pushing.
- Note where you stopped — A half-finished sentence is the easiest place in the world to start again.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it whenever you need it, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.