I have seen a recommendation to plan your next day in the evening. Probably for the same reason: "not now" deactivates the ugh field.
Maybe it would be possible to achieve this effect immediately by precomitting to do nothing during the next 10 minutes. Just sit (don't browse the web) and optionally think about the problem. But don't do anything until the 10 minutes are over. At the end you could have a plan. (Maybe there would be an exception that you are allowed to write notes about your ideas during the 10 minutes, but nothing else.)
Maybe it would be possible to achieve this effect immediately by precomitting to do nothing during the next 10 minutes
That what people call meditation. It quite useful for having clarity of mind.
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?