Thrashing
When my operating systems covered thrashing I felt an immediate affinity to the poor processor. Thrashing is when the processor spends more time switching between processes and shuffling memory than executing anything. I think the example used in class had to do with a queueing system and the set up of a new process using up all of the available processor allocation, requiring a switch, which used up all that processor. My memory is hazy, though, and most of the online examples have to do with paging.
The human analogue is being overwhelmed with all-the-things! and not being able to focus on any of them long enough to make progress. Sometimes it’s set off by a resource chain: “I want to write up this abstract, but I need to double-check this reference, which means I need to find this paper, and oh yeah I needed to look up this other term…” Sometimes it’s set off by an excess of ideas: “I have a day off! What shall I do? I could knit or clean up or read or start this large project or advance that project, and I’ll just check the internet and play Lux until I decide. . .”
In any case, the result is—as the Wiki link currently says—“large amounts of computer resources are used to do a minimal amount of work.” Oh yeah. That there is the root of my procrastination issues.
So, solution? Picking a focus for the day sometimes helps, but even within “concentrate on thesis” the multitude of possible tasks can be overwhelming. Lists are essential (writing to long-term storage to free RAM? How far should I carry this analogy?). Deadlines help, but artificial deadlines don’t always work (and the danger there is setting impossible deadlines, which just leads to discouragement).
I have a feeling mindfulness in general would be helpful, but I haven’t worked out how. Focus is not my strong point. I’ll keep practicing.
It probably comes down to something simple, really: Increase resources or decrease demands. Finding a good way of doing either is the problem.