Use a Work Journal to Recover Focus Faster and Clarify Your Thoughts

The funny thing is, sitting alone thinking doesn’t “look” like work. Even more so if it’s away from your computer. However, my own process for brainstorming and ideating often looks like this:

1. Load my brain with all the context of a problem.


2. Step away from the computer and go live — do the dishes, go for a run, vacuum the carpet.


3. Once potential soluti

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The whole workflow becomes complicated: There is the technique of underlining important sentences (sometimes in different colours or shapes), commenting in the margins of a text, writing excerpts, employing reading methods with acronyms like SQ3R[8] or SQ4R,[9] writing a journal, brainstorming a topic or following multi-step question sheets – and t

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Visualize your workflow. Whether this is literally your occupation or some other “work” (writing your novel, exercising), put it up on a board so you see it visually, step by step. Use different colors, symbols, or columns to sort the stages of your process. Remember, the more you can put out there, the less you have to worry about in here. Avoid w

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If you’ve started a ‘distractions log’, think about how you can design your environment to remove some of these distractions. For example: If you get distracted by email, could you put your phone away in another room or turn off notifications when you write? If you get distracted by new ideas, could you quickly capture the idea in some way and get

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