10 Tools to Help You Avoid Procrasti-straction

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* * *

Hello, Pumpkin Spice!

I’m on my way to the Tiny House Studio to write this letter.

Somewhere during the 372 steps across the lawn I get a notification from FedEx: A package I need has been delivered to the mailbox uptown.

So I google: What time does the UPS store close? (6:30 pm) Should I combine that with the trip to pick up takeout—it’s Friday, takeout would be nice. (Or does that Italian place deliver?) (Do they still have the lobster mac and cheese?)

Lobster. Did my brother try the lobster roll kit I sent him for his birthday? I text him. He did. He loved it. He sends me a series of high-fiving gifs. Or jifs. Wait didn’t the gif/jif creator die recently? What was his name? (Stephen Wilhite) How did Stephen pronounce gif? (He said jif.)

The last gif/jif my brother sends is a Golden Girls group hug. Betty White. I miss her.

I’ve now been sitting in the studio for an hour.

I haven’t written a word.

* * *

Why does writing trigger a latent ADHD condition in almost everyone?

Why are procrastination and distraction chronic handicaps?

You plan to write and send your brother a text and the next thing you know you’re watching the top 20 Betty White TV moments on YouTube.

* * *

It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

It happens to me too often. So when I’m in that procrasti-straction mode… I turn to one of these anti-distraction, pro-focus tools to help me out:

• Write or Die bills itself as putting the prod in productivity. It allows you to set a time limit and attaches random consequences if you quit typing (sirens, pop-up boxes, heart attack-inducing unwriting—the words are erased right before your eyes).It’s either motivating or anxiety-producing, depending on your temperament and mood.
• 750Words delivers points and badges based on output. It’s based on the idea from The Artist’s Way of writing three pages (or 750 words) daily.
• Ommwriter offers a clean, minimalist writing experience for focused, distraction-free writing. Similar are Zen Writer and ZenPen.
• Cold Turkey allows you to blacklist or block certain sites or servers for a set period of time if you are powerless against the compulsion to check what’s happening with Betty White’s estate since her death.
• SelfControl is similar to Cold Turkey, but only for Mac. Its logo is a skull, which tells you everything you need to know, doesn’t it? (Betty’s California oceanfront house sold this past spring for $3 million over asking; it’s unclear who or what inherited her fortune.)
• Google Docs offers a distraction-free writing feature—which I just discovered during the writing of Everybody Writes 2. Toggle it to make the writing page go full-screen minimalist.
• StayFocusd is a Chrome extension that allows you to limit the time you spend on websites you consider irresistible time sinks.
• LeechBlock NG is like StayFocusd, but it’s also for Firefox.
• Pomodoro Technique is more of a time management and productivity technique than an actual tool—unless you count the cute, 25-minute tomato-shaped timer as a tool.
• An old-school typewriter doesn’t allow me to open another browser or respond to a notification. Because, well, it’s a typewriter.Plus, I like the sharp clacking sound of the typewriter key striking the page—it’s like a small cheer that goes up with every letter… You! Did! It! Keep! Going! You! Are! Gorgeous!A typewriter also doesn’t offer me endless opportunities to go back and rearrange the words and paragraphs before I’ve got it all down. I don’t interrupt myself with second-guessing and self-editing.

  I pull out the typewriter during those Betty White rabbit holes.

  Sometimes, slower can be faster. (I hope Betty gave her fortune to the animal charities she spent her life supporting.)

That’s my list. What’s your fave productivity tool? Hit reply and let me know!