One thing I found sometimes helpful for myself was to compose out of order.
Instead of simply writing cues from beginning to end, I would think about the workflow.
For example let's say the following cues XYZ are solo piano (or a character, or emotion etc.)
I would write all of those cues.
The reason why I think it worked for me was once I was in that emotional state, just keep that flow going.
I found it harder to switch between without a break anyway, so this helped me stay on the quota track.
Another thing was to tackle the hardest cues first. In the beginning I used to spend more time than I should on a
scene that was not really important.
Last thing I noticed about my early projects was a similar habit from learning piano pieces, and that is over working the opening sections and getting into deadline crunches for the middle of later parts of the film. The nice thing I found by writing some cues toward the end of the film first is I knew more where I was going later so I could add in more foreshadowing of the material.
I am also a fan of taking markers and large sheets of paper and mapping out things like a 5 year old.
I just like seeing the whole picture in a snap shot.
Oh, and don't forget to go for walks and drink water.
