It is hard for me to comment on this because I am reading blogs instead of localizing a feature. Blech.

"click-for-a-pellet" mode.... darnit. I was hovering around that image for a hour as I wrote the article and could not put my finger on it.

darnit. well done.

Yep, this pretty much describes how I get when I've got more than one thing to do. Rather than start any of them, I just hit the 'Update Feeds' button in my RSS reader.

I have the exact same gap between the want-to-do and the have-to-do which gets filled by reading blogs, espn, populicio.us, whatever I can find. It frustrates me, but I've been getting better since recognition of it.

Basically, I'm starting to treat it like TV - no surfing, but allowing myself to read/watch when there's time and something really interesting going on.

I still break down every so often (ie I'm reading your blog right now) but it's not as bad as it used to be.

That pretty much describes my condition as well. To really get things done, I need to be in a place without net access (I was in a customers lab the last two days working only with setup that my application needs to run on. Two days of sheer productivity)

When I have net access, I try to get 2 hour stretches of uninterrupted working. That's when I really can be productive. Setting the mail reload delay to one hour and the NetNewsWire (RSS) reload delay to 4 hours really helps too ;-)

ack, that descrbes me, too! Oh, well, at least I'm in good company!

Years ago I bought a book on dealing with procrastinarion. Was it any good? Dunno. I never got around to reading it...

Oh wow, that happens to me all the time. Excellently put. I notice that when I am looking in my mailfiles (I have four - different clients) every five minutes or so, or interrupt my work when i see that new mail has arrived, it generally means that I have to do a horrible task.

To refine your idea, there is also the dilemna between the important things and the urgent things. For instance, one of my roles in my company is determining standards, so that we do not reinvent the wheel x times. So I am often confronted by a dilemna between the important thing (we should really define a standard keyword form for all our databases) and the urgent things (the client is complaining because his database does not work). One thing I learnt is that you have to force yourself to do the important things first, or else you never have time and you stay stuck in the "I can't repair the hole in the chicken hut because I must catch all these chicken".

One solution which I have found is a simple text file (I use Action Outline) where I write down all I want to do during the day, sorted by order of importance). This works, with a little bit of discipline.

Also, when I see that I need a break, I take it. Perhaps just a little walk outside. Productivity shoots up like that!

Another point to mention is that, for me at least, there are moments in the day when I know I am creative, and those where I know I am not. So I try to adapt the tasks to the mood I am in. (for instance, revamping complex code I can do in the afternoon, but not right after lunch, and in the mornings I am not really awake so I do things like invoices, offers, etc.

Andrew 8-)

I can relate to this post. But I truly think many times you should go with the flow and work on the want-to-do, at least for a little while. How many times have you spent hours frustrated by a problem until you are forced to step away from it for a while? When you come back to it, perhaps the next day, very often you solve it quickly. I think working on the want-to-do gives your mind the same beneficial break. I often find when I take that approach, and work on the want-to-do for a few hours, I feel happier and in a groove. I gain some momentum that can then make it easier to work on the have-to-do-but-don't-want-to-do stuff.

On another note, Andrew you just described a key message from the Seven Habits of Highly Successful people, by Stephen Covey. Important But Not Urgent tasks are often ignored but are the key to giving you more free time and less emergencies.