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Re:Good and Bad Procrastination (2005) by read on Sunday June 08, 2014 @11:00AM (#7864809)
Try doing nothing.

You wouldn't be able to even if you tried. Your mind would start wandering to topics you haven't let it.

Set as a goal that you'll accomplish less every day, and with zero expectation about what to do with the free hours that open up. Just as you pressure yourself to do more, pressure yourself to do less.

Try doing nothing and suddenly your subconscious takes over. You discover thoughts you didn't even know were brewing. The fundamental principle underneath is one of balance, and you can trigger it with constraint. Constrain yourself to do nothing and your subconscious will find a way to pull you to something you like. Limit yourself to less, and you start overflowing to a new direction.

Like other people said, you look like you are trying to suppress the fact that you don't like what you are doing. The power of a drifting mind can be used positively just as much as it can be used negatively.

  A writer told me "I didn't get anything done today".
  Answer: try to do nothing. The best way to have only good
  days is to not aim at getting anything done.

  Actually almost everything I've written that has survived
  was written when I didn't try to get anything done.

  - Nassim Taleb

Make sure you give it enough time. You need at least 1.5-2hr blocks of time where you can shut off the world and play uninterrupted, and you also need to schedule such unstructured play lots of times. Don't worry about feeling unproductive in the meantime. Worry more about noticing the pattern to your thoughts, and do that at the end of each block of time so you don't feel pressured to be noticing.

I'd love to hear what you discover.

Re:Good and Bad Procrastination (2005) by mareofnight on Monday June 09, 2014 @02:22PM (#7869680)
I like this idea. I notice that I tend to get more ideas when I'm stuck waiting for something or doing chores, than when sitting at the computer and reading things is an option.
Re:Good and Bad Procrastination (2005) by dm2 on Sunday June 08, 2014 @06:44PM (#7866202)
I will try your suggestion this week. Thanks!

I like the idea of scheduling play time rather than assuming play comes after work.