Just to dissect what has transpired, you basically suggested to a clone of you (who is most definitely not you!) in some hypothetical copy of this universe what s/he should be doing in this situation, which happens to be identical to yours, but is most definitely not yours, so you don't have to worry about having to actually do any of it. ... And then you restored the temporarily severed identification between you and the clone.
Does this seem like an adequate description?
Well, I didn't deliberately disassociate myself from the situation, I was just structurally barred from action.
I guess if "clone" is "Tuesday me" then your description is otherwise a decent abstraction.
Is this a known technique? It sounds useful, kind of Stanovich-ey.
Here's an example of a mental manoeuvre I accidentally found, and thought might be generally useful (typical caveats apply).
I've had a manageable-but-important Problem for a few months now (financial in kind, details neither relevant nor interesting), of moderate complexity and relatively minor importance unless I leave it unsolved just a little longer.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the precise combination of things that triggers one of my ugh fields, which manifests subjectively as a fuzzy blank inability to maintain focus. Several times last week, it occurred to me that I should really Solve The Problem, but I wasn't able to get myself to spend any time thinking about it. Like, at all.
On Saturday, the Problem found itself top of mind once again. How irritating that I couldn't solve the Problem because it was the weekend, and when it wasn't the weekend, maybe Tuesday when work wasn't busy and the Bureau was open, I should really email Dr. Somebody and call Mrs. Administrator for the ...
*blink*
I had a solution, and a plan. What the what?
My working theory is that when there's no chance of actually Doing Something, this particular ugh field deactivates.
To me, this suggests a strategy (of uncertain generalizability): when an ugh field is preventing thought about something important, find a time when action is impossible and use it to generate a plan.
I would feel better about this advice if it had a deep theoretical backer. Anybody?