I'm sure this is familiar to most of you - I have lots of tasks to do: experimental work, planning, lots of writing up and organising literature that would be sensible to do. So I write a list and prioritise them, then look at the list and think "I'm not in the right mindset for that.. or that .. or that, I wonder if 30 mins. of Call of Duty will help clear my mind".

How do you break the deadlock?

yep, I always do the easy stuff (admin) first and then never get onto the later stuff. I guess for me I left it so late that I HAD to get on with it eventually! (I left it 2 years before analysing my first study data!)

But mytomatoes.com helps with getting stuff done. Also having strict rules if you work from home.

i.e. NO call of duty! (whenever I've played I can't work out how to walk in one direction AND aim the gun!)

Have goals to do in the day (on my goal thread - I'll even give you a star if you're lucky)

I have very similar lists! and i often find myself in the same position, looking at the list, and thinking 'i really don't feel like doing any of those things'.

I find that if you can break the tasks into lots of smaller tasks then it's easier to get through. I'm in the same position at the moment where i'm finding it really hard to get stuff done, but by breaking it down into lots of small tasks, you get through each of the individual bits quicker than you think. For me, focusing on all the little bits individually, makes it easier to focus and get it done than looking at a big task like 'write a chapter' that just seems unmanageable and makes me switch off.

at least that way when you do turn to the tv or computer games, you can still feel like you've achieved something that day!

I'm often not motivated to do any of it, but I start with my smallest/easiest task (even if it's not small or easy) and force, force, force myself to do it under the threat of tremendous guilt. I always find that starting is the hardest part, but once I have started, motivation kicks in. (I should probably never stop - problem solved!)

Oh, and I agree that you should stay away from CoD! :-)

I make lists as well, but then pick the easiest / least unappealing thing, and get going that way.

Once you've made your list as others have suggested-and chosen which task/tasks you can tackle, give yourself the rewards system AFTER you have achieved a task not before. 30 minutes of CoD after two hours of whatever.

Personally, unless it is something I really like, such as writing and reshaping, I can only do 1 and a half hours on something before I have to have a reward. So you will find you have an optimum work time as well probably once you set yourself on a system. Don't completely take something you love off the table though-a complete ban never really works (as you will know if you've ever tried long term dieting) but keep it under strict boundaries or guidelines.