I just had a thought… and that is a problem.  I read and interact and do.  In this course of existence, things occur to me, I make connections, I hear about potentially interesting things.  I have been using the following technique for a couple of years now and it helps. 

I have multiple todo lists for various personal and professional projects.  One of these lists is entitled “Curiosities”.  When I find myself down a rabbit hole and it just seems too interesting and too possible that my question has an answer somewhere deeper down into the darkness of the unclicked internet, I add my quest to the “Curiosities” list.  I might add the last URL in the thread pointing to an interesting topic that has morphed into being unrelated to my goal.  I might log some search terms or a youtube or amazon link with a couple words to describe and remind me of why I got there and might want to continue.  

Personally I currently have on my “Curiosities” list things like:

1. The Constructor Theory in physics
2. The Monroe Institute’s work on binaural sleep training
3. A competitive heart rate variability app
4. The band Georgia Thunderbolts
5. Booster seats  https://youtu.be/Db1jJqBHkNs?si=cunXfBquz6Q2A3rz
6. Albums by Rick Beato’s favorite producer
7. Look into erythritol in blood stream correlation to stroke occurrence
8. Look up lowbrow art movement
9. Watch Farnam Street’s Most Shared Podcast Episode https://fs-lc.s3.amazonaws.com/Podcast+Audio/171+Naval+Ravakant+Re-Release+No+Ads.mp3
10. The movie Emma Marx
11. Look up meta studies on long term effect of creatine supplementation
12. Check out local writing circle https://thedairy.org/event/community-writing-circle/?dm_i=6QGA%2C7FU5%2C1KD6B1%2C11ZHX%2C1
13. Only small teams innovate article https://lingfeiwu.github.io/smallTeams/#next
14. Human Proteome Map http://www.humanproteomemap.org/
15. Research scholarly articles on kissing and the art of kissing across cultures.
16. Look up which communities tolerate dissent the best and if these communities are more successful?

There are dozens of other things on the list as well.  I don’t endorse any of the above.  I haven’t read, watched, or listened to them yet.  They are just curiosities that spun off another activity which I noticed were about to distract me.  At some point, each was leading me down a path away from my immediate goal.  Having a list to put them on allowed me to GIVE UP, and get back on track. The pain of giving up on the dopamine hit of completing something right now in the middle of my larger, won’t-be-finished-for-a-week, task is mitigated by knowledge that this thought or task or curiosity has been captured and I will see it again.  Following those threads, thoughts, occurrences, spasms of associative memory, factoids, new frameworks, recommendations from friends and interesting items I stumble upon is part of why my brain is full of things I can draw on to make sense of my world and come up to solutions to problems or empathize with others.  I don’t want to give that up.  But I also can’t let it stop me from doing what needs to be done. However, if I think I just need a 30 second peek into this curiosity before being done with it, I set a timer. 

I do revisit my curiosity list.  When I take a long relaxing bath I will take my phone. Indulging my curiosity list in the bath did cost me a phone.  My new phone is waterproof.  The advantage is that I have months worth of curiosities I could go back to. I prioritize them.  David Allen was right that there is a high value in having a list. You can sort it and work on the highest payoff item. I find value in prioritization even when chasing curiosity.