Scaffolding

I've been trying to implement some of the ideas in Steve Pavlina's scaffolding exercise, which is designed to improve personal productivity. At present, my workflow at work is such that I'm not frantic with getting everything done; rather, I'm trying the exercise out on my personal life. That said, Pavlina's technique is really tuned for on-the-job productivity enhancement.

A personal productivity scaffold is like wearing braces. It's a way to redirect your time and energy back onto the "straight" course and away from the crooked one. Once you've set it up, it's fairly easy to maintain, although you may still regard it as a small sacrifice.

Perhaps the most important function your scaffolding must perform is keeping your attention focused on what you want and off of what you don’t want.

(Link via Lifehacker.)