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I have a list called "Low-energy tasks" which I use whenever I'm feeling burned out and can't focus on actual work. Simple things like "Organise my mailbox" or "Review documentation" that aren't taxing, but still count as work. I'll probably still procrastinate a lot on those days, but at least I can say I got something done.

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Yeah, I do the same and find that it works really well at managing my procrastination habit. It's also consistent with the idea of managing your energy and not your time, made popular in this HBR article.

https://hbr.org/2007/10/manage-your-energy-not-your-time

I've really taken this to heart and found that there are entire categories of "high-involvement" tasks that I'm simply not up to outside of my peak energy periods (mornings) but that still need to get done. Even breaking those high-involvement tasks down to micro tasks I find that my low-energy intervals can deal with some of those quite well.

I have a few things like this.

I sew when I'm brain dead and hate working. Not even organizing/grunt work sounds appealing, so I'll design and make some sweaters.

Ive also found getting stuck in a favorite video game has helped productivity. When I'd rather work than get past a hard spot, I'll keep working. Similar is true if you simply uninstall a large game.

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