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Attention drifts quietly, so twenty minutes can go without you ever deciding anything. A small physical gesture gives the question something to hook on to and makes it answerable, and once you can answer it you can choose whether to bring the beam back. Do it a few times a day rather than once, and let it be noticing rather than judging whatever you find.
Lord, increase me in knowledge (Quran 20:114). It is a prayer made in the middle of the work, which is exactly where this question belongs.
طه
فَتَعَٰلَى ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡمَلِكُ ٱلۡحَقُّۗ وَلَا تَعۡجَلۡ بِٱلۡقُرۡءَانِ مِن قَبۡلِ أَن يُقۡضَىٰٓ إِلَيۡكَ وَحۡيُهُۥۖ وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدۡنِي عِلۡمࣰ ا
exalted be God, the one who is truly in control. [Prophet], do not rush to recite before the revelation is fully complete but say, ‘Lord, increase me in knowledge!’
Qur’an 20:114read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A randomised trial compared three short self-guided app programmes, one of them brief mindfulness training, to test whether that kind of small practice gives comparable benefit to the others. It supports short attention practice being worth something. It says nothing about hand gestures in particular, and the benefits on offer in that trial were modest.
Mak WW, Tong AC, Yip SY, Lui WW, Chio FH, Chan AT, Wong CC. (2018). Efficacy and Moderation of Mobile App-Based Programs for Mindfulness-Based Training, Self-Compassion Training, and Cognitive Behavioral Psychoeducation on Mental Health: Randomized Controlled Noninferiority Trial.. JMIR mental health doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
You cannot steer something you have not noticed you are doing.
One question to keep in your pocket: if I skip this now, how will I feel about it on Thursday? Ask it at the door of the task, then move.
When you catch yourself saying you are not motivated, try swapping the word out. Ask instead which bit has stalled: getting started, knowing what comes first, staying with it, or holding your attention on it at all.
When you finish the dull task, give yourself something you actually like. A reward you do not really want does no work at all.