Intentional breaks

How do I turn an intention into attention? That’s my question today as I work through a list of topics surrounding writer’s block. If I want to write on a regular schedule, how do I remember that intention? I’ve woken up and immediately I want to tumble back into dreamland, or I’m reaching for the tablet to play some media to stimulate my brain.

Somehow, I need to break into my daily automatic behaviors. I need to remember setting the intention to write. This means I need to learn how to break my focus on whatever else has grabbed my attention first.

But, I also need to be able to maintain focus once I do remember my intention and start writing.

On the one hand, I want to strengthen my focus. On the other hand, I want to be able to break that focus. When writing, stay focused. When not writing, shift focus.

Is there a hidden benefit to the pomodoro technique? As a technique, pomodoro is usually sold as a method to help you maintain energy throughout a study session. But doesn’t it also provide a way to stay focused on a task while also allowing for intentional breaks? Could it be training the brain not to get so hyper-focused on the current task that it forgets to be intentional?

For example, I could be writing, fully immersed in the task, but as it turns out, wasting my time writing the wrong thing. An intentional break would give me a bit of space to reflect on my work and realize I should be writing something else.

And maybe, by practicing these intentional breaks with a pomodoro session, I can start to train my brain to expect these breaks in my daily life.