Today was the due date for my third 6-page paper - on a book comparing four different theological views on the Lord's Supper.
Not only was the paper daunting, I knew from early in the month that life was going to get extra busy and the majority of my December classwork would still be waiting for me after Christmas day.
I was right. When Sunday came, I still had 350 pages to read and a few smaller assignments ... and this paper.
Anyway, the good news is that I discovered a new "brain hack" to keep me on track today. I couldn't get myself started on my paper this morning as much as I tried. It felt very intimidating and my willpower was almost nonexistent. So I tried something I had heard suggested on a podcast recently.
I set the alarm on my phone for 33 minutes and 33 seconds and opened my book to start taking notes. When the alarm sounded, I would give myself permission to take some sort of little break.
It worked. Whereas I could not force myself to sit down and write an entire paper, I felt almost no resistance to sitting down to work for 33 minutes. When the alarm buzzed, I had accomplished part of my task and that felt good. I got some coffee and scrolled on my phone for a few minutes and then reset my alarm for another 33:33.
And that's how my whole day went. One unforeseen advantage was that I soon began to accurately judge how much I could accomplish in 33 minutes and it gave me a better estimate of how much more of my day I would need to devote to the project.
All in all, the day was not at all unpleasant. I had time to go for a run and even take a short afternoon nap and a leisurely dinner. And the paper got edited and submitted shortly after 9:00 pm.
I need not have dreaded December 30th in the least.
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