Hocus Pocus, When I Need to Focus

There are days when I can keep things running on rails. Those are rare, rare creatures.

More often than not, I have all the focus and attention span of a kitten under an operational disco ball. So I need a few things to help.

Alas, I don't have AD(H)D, so fidgets attract my attention rather than help me maintain it.

There are several things I do do that are moderately reliable:

1. Shut everything else off or down - If my notes counter on Tumblr, Youtube's main page, or just something pretty on my social media feed absorbs my day, then minimising it, shutting it off, or shutting it down can assist in directing my attention to where it needs to be.
2. Music - having background noise really helps me. Especially if that background noise is (a) my choice and (b) familiar enough that it can be ignored. Yes. I know that sounds counterproductive, but with the right kind of music, my brain is not constantly wondering what that other noise was.
3. Keeping a schedule with variations - If I have time limits on my jobs, I'm more or less good at sticking to them. I generally light a fire under my own arse if I haven't published the day's Instant before 10AM and I tend to feel horrible if I haven't done my allotted five hundred words in my novel before 2PM. Variations occur when I have other Life Duties that mess with that schedule.
4. Yelling at myself - On very bad days, I chant, "Hocus pocus, I need to focus," at a very loud volume whilst also clapping along with every syllable. It's surprisingly effective. It's also something I prefer to keep out of anyone else's hearing or vision, because that shit's rather embarrassing.
5. Reward system - Once work is done, play can commence. On good days, it's do the Instant, watch a YouTube video and have a lunch. Then do the 500 words and get cracking on Minecraft, Critical Role, or whatever I'm having fun with at the time. It generally involves some trawling of my favourite tags on Tumblr as well.

On very good days, I get to get all of it done early and feel like a greedy swine for over-indulging myself for so many hours of my day. But as I said, those days are rare, rare creatures.

More often than not, I finish everything at the last possible second and give myself a choccie for getting it actually done.