Great question. I remember asking this same question (worded differently) some time ago. Since then I have gotten better at this. What has really helped me is the following.
Writing things down - I notice part of the reason it was challenging for me to fluently transition into another frame of mind is because I still had stuff on my mind from what I was previously involved in. If I was working on a problem, I would subconsciously still be thinking of a solution hours after I stopped actively working on it. So what I did was I write down where I left off, what are some potential solutions and anything else I find important. That way my mind is more at rest knowing that when I come back to it all my thoughts are there on paper to pick up from. If I get a new idea while doing something else, I'll just take a quick note on my phone or something and intentionally remind myself to get back to it later.
Wind down/warm up - before I make a sudden switch to a new frame of mind I like to wind down what I was previously doing before moving on. It gives me a kind of closure (my bad if this sounds romantic lol). So for example, as I previously stated, I like to write things down, I also take a quick overview of what I did for that time being, run a few mental checks, give myself a pat on the back and now I am satisfied and ready to put it away for the day. And vice versa, when I want to switch back to a working/logical mindset, I read my notes from last time, run the program, admire it, then start working on whatever tasks I have starting from the easy ones. This works for other things as well. Before you give a talk, have some kind of routine that gets you into a nice flow.
'Throw it out, move on' - lets say you don't have enough time to warm up/wind down. In this case I just have one phrase that I tell myself when I'm switching gears and my mind is still thinking on the last thing I was doing. 'Throw it out, move on'. This just reminds me that I am in a different zone right now. Whatever I was previously doing is not relevant to what I'm doing now. I used to play competitive sports and one thing we were taught was 'next play'. So whatever we did in that play, once it's done, its done its not relevant anymore. Your focus should be on whats current. I incorporate this ideology to my day to day life. Once work is done for the day, its done, whats next? Once I'm done hanging with friends, that was cool, we'll catch up again later, now back to work.
Hope this helps.
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Great question. I remember asking this same question (worded differently) some time ago. Since then I have gotten better at this. What has really helped me is the following.
Writing things down - I notice part of the reason it was challenging for me to fluently transition into another frame of mind is because I still had stuff on my mind from what I was previously involved in. If I was working on a problem, I would subconsciously still be thinking of a solution hours after I stopped actively working on it. So what I did was I write down where I left off, what are some potential solutions and anything else I find important. That way my mind is more at rest knowing that when I come back to it all my thoughts are there on paper to pick up from. If I get a new idea while doing something else, I'll just take a quick note on my phone or something and intentionally remind myself to get back to it later.
Wind down/warm up - before I make a sudden switch to a new frame of mind I like to wind down what I was previously doing before moving on. It gives me a kind of closure (my bad if this sounds romantic lol). So for example, as I previously stated, I like to write things down, I also take a quick overview of what I did for that time being, run a few mental checks, give myself a pat on the back and now I am satisfied and ready to put it away for the day. And vice versa, when I want to switch back to a working/logical mindset, I read my notes from last time, run the program, admire it, then start working on whatever tasks I have starting from the easy ones. This works for other things as well. Before you give a talk, have some kind of routine that gets you into a nice flow.
'Throw it out, move on' - lets say you don't have enough time to warm up/wind down. In this case I just have one phrase that I tell myself when I'm switching gears and my mind is still thinking on the last thing I was doing. 'Throw it out, move on'. This just reminds me that I am in a different zone right now. Whatever I was previously doing is not relevant to what I'm doing now. I used to play competitive sports and one thing we were taught was 'next play'. So whatever we did in that play, once it's done, its done its not relevant anymore. Your focus should be on whats current. I incorporate this ideology to my day to day life. Once work is done for the day, its done, whats next? Once I'm done hanging with friends, that was cool, we'll catch up again later, now back to work.
Hope this helps.