My inability to pay mind to details and the concrete has been a constant thorn in my side. In particular, my complete inability to fill out forms and paperwork without making small mistakes is becoming a real impediment. I try to focus on the task at hand, but it feels like trying to shove my mind into a test tube. I have a headache after 20 minutes.
Any ideas on how to manage this irksome tendency?
:steam: I feel your pain and I hate it. Paperwork has proven to be one of my biggest personal challenges at work. I always thought it odd since I'm a J. I should in fact be a pencil-pushing machine (right?)! I discovered one of my biggest problems with it is procrastination. I wait until it piles up and then accuracy becomes an issue. I TRY now to do it as it arises....a little at a time. I think this is the true answer to the problem. What usually happens though is I attempt various methods of organization hoping that will cure the issue instead of actually just doing it. You will find me finally going into my office (when enough people bug me for it) closing the door blocking ALL distraction and doing stacks of it all at once
! Hopefully someone else has a better solution.
It's a paperwork world these days. There's no getting around it.
For me, a big help is to do most of my "brainless activities" (admin stuff) in small doses (10-20 minutes on each activity) as the first tasks of the day when I'm still alert.
IOW, on workdays the first tasks I do after I get settled in my office are checking investments (transcribing numbers), filing the previous day's paperwork, answering e-mails, and filling out admin paperwork. Those things help me break into the day because they don't require a lot of concentration, and they allow me to procrastinate a bit before digging into the day's big jobs while still being productive. And since I do them every morning in small chunks when I'm alert, it's not a big deal to dash them out, check them over, and get them right.
Same thing at home. If I have some time available for puttering around the house, then the first thing I tackle is paperwork--bills, forms, filing. Put in about 20-30 minutes on it, get it out of the way while I'm alert, and then I'm ready to move onto something bigger.
The key, of course, is to make it a habit. In my case, I've been doing these paperwork tasks so long that I actually see them as relaxing--a "brainless" way to procrastinate a bit and still be productive before digging into the day's big projects.
I have other tricks for other situations. For example if I'm translating a long document over several days and have to proofread my own work, then I consider that as two separate tasks (the initial translating tends to be N work and the proofreading tends to be S work) and I separate the proofing from the translation by a night of sleep. So I translate on day 1, then I spend the first hour or two of day 2 proofing the work from day 1 before picking up the translation work again, etc.
Another trick: If I have an urgent translation that has to be absolutely perfect and I have to do the translating and proofing the same day: Once I'm finished with the translating I try to take a break before the proofing to clear my head; and then at the end of the day when it comes time to proofread the translation I read each sentence out loud--first from the source text and then from the translated text. It's time-consuming, but the ear and tongue catch the errors that the eye misses, and it doesn't require a tremendous amount of concentration.
As Mort suggested, when something requires multiple steps or multiple components I draw up a checklist and post it on the wall right in front of me. I also keep a "to do" list in front of me and note things on it all day long so that I don't have to remember things in my head. I take the scribbled version of the list and update it on my computer the next morning for a clean print-out as part of my morning "brainless activities."
But getting back to things like admin paperwork and double-checking for accuracy: If you're doing a task that requires you to work with a weak function (like filling out forms and proofreading for errors), then I think the starting point is to do the work in short bursts and schedule it for a time when you're still fairly fresh and alert--IOW, get in the habit of doing those sorts of admin/detail tasks in small batches first thing in the morning before you jump into the day's main projects.
The method you describe is how I generally complete almost anything with a due date attached! 
all the better.
