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a) Integrate break "tasks" into FVP and select them using the system. One possibility to control the length of a break would be to add breaks of different length, for example "Take a 5-minute break" and "Take a 20-minute break".
b) Handle the work/break rhythm outside of FVP, for example using the Pomodoro Technique. So you would set work periods in which you work the FVP list and break periods in which you don't.
Personally, I use variant b).
1. Write "BREAKTIME!" at the end of the list
2. Dot it
3. After the break, erase the task and go back to the last dotted task.
I use this both for scheduled and unscheduled breaks. I do not use scheduled breaks much, but I am considering them. Mark's new book has excellent advice on scheduled breaks and I might use them soon.
Since I live alone and use FVP mainly at home, unscheduled breaks are used more often. I list "fun" things also in FVP but I use them more as reminders and idea generators: during breaktime, I may or may not scan my FVP list for ideas on what to do during the break, and erase and re-write them as necessary. I also use a timer from my phone, usually using 20 or so minutes in the morning and afternoon. Lunch lasts 2 hours long to include preparation, clean-up, and siesta.
I'm using the question less version of FVP, but I have named it 'FV9' as a time span for working the list (between the hours of 9am and 9pm). It seems to help me set a limit for myself and catch up on some rest.
(1) Workpace ergo thing on my computer forces me to take breaks. Some people hate this thing, but I really think it's valuable -- it helps clear my mind and rest my eyes. I set it to force me to take a 3-minute break every 30 minutes.
(2) Enter different kind of breaks into FVP -- RR, Don't Forget to Drink Water, Coffee, Quick Walk, or just Break. Some people think this is silly but it works for me.
(3) My problem isn't so much getting started on my work, but rather getting so sucked into one task, or one break, or one diversion, that I never get back to my list. Pomodoro helps with that. Today I am using an iPhone app called 30/30 and set it up for a repeating series of 12-minute tasks. It beeps at the end of each one, and starts the next task. This prompts me to stop what I'm doing, cross it out, re-enter if needed, and start something else -- or, just take a break. I try not to repeat any single task or activity until I have a good feel for everything on my plate. On more normal days, when I am more caught up on things, I just use Workpace, and do the same thing every 30 minutes, and allow myself to keep going past 30 minutes. But it's still a good check to prevent me from getting too sucked into one thing and neglecting everything else.
My greatest creativity comes out when I approach a problem with purposefulness and a dollop of "what if?"
Back to the question - I've been using the method in Mark's book (5T-SMEMA) on weekends and I can just feel when it's time for a candy crush / WWF break. It happens less frequently than I thought it would.
>>My problem isn't so much getting started on my work, but rather getting so sucked into one task, or one break, or one diversion, that I never get back to my list.<<
Could it be that you are not telling the whole truth to yourself, when answering the question?
"What do I want/should/must/reallyshould/haveto/realisticallyshould do before X?"
You dive into an intelectually stimulating endevour, which keeps you from doing the more important things and thus "working" becomes a problem for you?
So I take a step back, and follow the work where it takes me, by giving the work itself the chance to prove its value. After perhaps an hour, or a few hours, of this kind of approach (working on each thing that stands out for a strictly limited amount of time), I start getting a better feel of where the real work is, where the real value is, and where the real bottlenecks are. I feel more on top of things, and have a better sense of where the priorities are.
But when there is just way too much to do, and I find myself falling into this numbness day after day, then I find I need to really take a break and just spend a day thinking, walking, looking out the window, catching up on some reading, and maybe doing some writing. Sorting things out, letting the work emerge, but at a higher level. "Get away and think" might be the thing I write on my list -- which is another kind of break, I suppose. I find this intellectually stimulating -- which is why I thought of this, in response to your post. Stepping back from the day-to-day, looking at overall themes and values and commitments, thinking through them, doing a bit of deeper reading (books not articles) -- all of this is intellectually stimulating but helps the really important larger themes to emerge and come into focus. It doesn't seem to go AGAINST doing what's important, but helps me FIND what's important.
Anyway, I'm not sure if that's even a valid response to anything you said! But it was helpful to me to write it out. :-)
What I do is draw an empty box next to the day's date. An empty box signals that I am 'on list'. If I don't want to work on the list and do other stuff then I draw a line diagonally through the box. This signals I am now 'off list' until I'm ready to come back to it.
I've only been doing this for 2 days but I'm feeling pretty good about it. Yesterday I did two 'on list' sessions and today I did three. Note: the night before I put my self 'off list' for the next day until I am ready to get back 'on list', which varies depending on scheduled responsibilities.
I hope it helps those like me who may struggle to switch off at times from any sort of list system. BTW I'm tracking on and off list counts plus new tasks in and tasks worked on per day (which I hope will extend to weekly and beyond!).
I decide each day how many “Pomodoros” (being 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break) I want to devote to FV and then work the list for that period of time.
Writing “take a break” on a list that isn’t broken down by time would stress me out.