While I’m working on a project, especially in the beginning when I haven’t gotten in the flow, I come up with a lot of distracting thoughts.
“Do a google search for…”
“Check your bank account for…”
“Yesterday you forgot to…”
“I need to buy…”
Sometimes trying to ignore these thoughts are just as distracting as switching to the less important activity. So here’s what I do.
As I work, I keep a notepad file open. Everytime I get a distracting thought, I write it down in the notepad file and minimize it. Then continue writing.
Because I wrote it down, I’m able to stop thinking about it. While it does stop my work progress for a moment, it’s much better than actually giving in to taking care of the task. And really, I’ve already disrupted my momentum just by thinking the thought.
Eventually I get in to such a flow that these thoughts stop.