Tribe Of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World

by Timothy Ferriss

So how to keep myself from doing that? During my 20 minutes, I’ll just physically write down any incoming missile of a thought on my “Distractions” pad, and I immediately go back to my major undesirable task. Now I don’t have to worry I’ll forget it. I’m not trying to disregard it and ignore the thought. I’m just keeping track of it by writing it down and deferring it, even if it’s an extremely productive thing, because anything that takes away from my main task is technically a distraction. Once it’s written down, I can go back to my main task until the 20 minutes is up. If I’m on a roll on my main task, I’ll add another 10 minutes to the timer and go as far as 30 minutes. But that’s the limit. I find that if I don’t reward myself often enough, my brain will mutiny. I then take a 10- to 15-minute “reward break.” I get up after 30 minutes and walk around. I take my distraction pad (which by now probably already has several things listed) and I’ll get to go do one of those things for 10 to 15 minutes only. You must set a timer for this, too.