[mryan]

I use a modified version of the pomodoro technique in combination with David Seah's Emergent Task Planner [0].

The problem you describe is familiar to me - once I am in the zone I can continue there for hours, and taking enforced breaks every 20 minutes would force this streak to end early.

To work around this I just made the breaks optional, and use blocks of 15 minutes (as described in the Emergent Task Planner).

So, my timer goes off every 15 minutes. This breaks my concentration for a couple of seconds so I can reset my timer and tick a box to show I have completed another 15 minute block, and then I jump immediately back in to my task. A couple of seconds is not enough to take me out of the zone, but it lets me keep track of my progress on tasks and see where my time has been spent throughout the day.

Personally speaking, my biggest procrastination problems arise when I lack clarity about exactly what I should be working on at this precise moment, or when I finish a task and need to think of what to do next.

My bastardised pomodoro technique solves this problem for me by always making it clear what I should be doing right now. If my mind wanders for a moment, or I get distracted by an urgent task, this list allows me to immediately refocus without any mental effort. When a task is complete I might take 5 minutes as a break, and then jump on to the next task.

If my procrastination problems sound familiar I highly recommend the ETP approach. Print out five of them, grab a timer set to 15 minutes, and give it a try for a week. Make it part of your morning routine - plan out what you want to achieve for the day, write it down, and start the timer!

0: http://davidseah.com/productivity-tools/