Mehkurydiaries

I have a productivity problem that wears respectable clothes. Give me a research question or a piece of software refusing to behave, and three hours can be eaten alive before I notice the bones. Meanwhile, applications, emails and administrative work stand outside knocking like creditors. The embarrassing part is that I am not wasting time. I am working. That is what makes the deception convincing. Psychologists call one version of this productive procrastination: replacing an important task with another useful but less important one. The desk is busy. The priority is still starving. Research also describes flow as deep absorption in an activity—focused, rewarding and almost effortless. Flow can produce excellent work. It can also make time disappear with the efficiency of a trained kidnapper. The danger begins when we confuse absorption with discipline. The work I love offers immediate rewards. A stubborn bug can be defeated. A research problem can surrender a new idea. Pro...