Shameless self promotion: I just wrote a blog post about it yesterday [1] and while this method have been effective for me, I try to stay away from procsatination and do some non-mental activities that make part of my routine, and thus give my brain the opportunity to subconsciously organize its ideas an thoughts to make it a one piece that fits together.

[1]http://blog.kiloreux.info/my-approach-to-problems/