Ask HN: Were you a procrastinator and could overcome it? How did you do?

Figure out the reason you are procrastinating.

For me it was ADHD; the stress of a deadline is stimulating which increases my focus. That's a shitty way to live though so getting it treated helped a lot.

I see another comment where it was anxiety.

If you only procrastinate certain things, you just might find those activities aversive. You can adress that, to a certain degree, by scheduling. Do X amount of the work you hate followed immediately by Y amount of work you like; it's a simple way of rewarding yourself for doing what you don't like. If all of your work is work you hate, prepare yourself for a different job if at all possible.

Some people procrastinate just because they are poorly organized; any system (GtD seems to be popular) can fix a lot of this.

Other times procrastination can just be a form of self-sabotage (there are many reasons for doing this; you think you don't deserve success; you are avoiding the greater responsibility that will come with success &c.). "I left it to the last-minute" is a simple excuse for doing a mediocre job and lets you avoid self-reflection for why you are sabotaging yourself.

There's probably lots of other reasons for procrastination, but the one pattern for myself and friends who had procrastination persist into adulthood was that it was a symptom, and while treating the symptom can help in the short term, treating the problem is a better long-term fix.

Procrastination is a holistic issue with no single fix.

I am not a psychologist, so take the next 5 points with a HUGE grain of salt.

1. Ask yourself if you are suppressing an impulse to perform tasks, or waiting the impulse out, or simply not experiencing the impulse at all. Ask yourself what dots need to be connected to actually lead you to performing the task. Some people procrastinate tasks that require nearly zero effort... often at great personal cost. If you notice yourself doing this, take some time to reflect(non-judgmentally) on your behavior-- its profoundness, irrationality, and what could be gained if it were changed. Think about the day-to-day reasons that a 5-minute task gets drawn out over 2 months. Rephrase your question to "am I accidentally thinking procrastination is helpful?" Procrastination may be a mood regulation technique; rather than thinking of it as "avoiding a boring task", ask if it is "the pleasurable experience of defying or hiding from an 'undesirable' task". When viewed through that lens, procrastination is a maladaptive coping mechanism vaguely like binge-eating or self-harm. The next questions become "why would I think procrastination is helpful?" and "why would I feel the need to cope?" Hypothesize your reasons-- the self-fulfilling prophesy of underachievement. The avoidance of engagement with real life. The assertion of control. What else? Be with these ideas for a while, and ask what is best for you.

2. (rephrasing oldmancoyote's comment) 1/10 rule: for 1 minute of work, you earn 10 minutes of "break." Seriously, get 10 minutes of break guilt-free for 1 minute of work. It's a great deal.

3. Present and patient. Practice mindfulness meditation to help with your emotional state and train your ability to be "present" in your current task. (see omarchowdhury's comment) Being able to be present without thinking about the future is difficult, but it is paradoxically important for your future. Also realize that by being fully patient and present in this menial task, you can sometimes be in a self-healing, meditative state.

4. http://www.procrastination.ca / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhFQA998WiA

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load (feel free to assert that cognitive load does not affect work avoidance) You may be experiencing a self-regulation failure due to high cognitive load. "Abnormal" brain chemistry like ADHD, bipolar, depression, etc., ... dysphoria sometimes due to a sedentary or unhealthy lifestyle, and social or personal problems will eventually sap your emotional energy and cause you to revert to coping mechanisms(see point 1). Invest in that emotional energy. Also blood sugar/insulin

A Exercise B 1/10 idea C Therapy D Healthy Lifestyle E Meditation F Brain Chemistry

Upvote for being the only person on this thread to have actually given a relevant reply (request was for people who used to procrastinate and have to some extent overcome it). Also I wish I could vote twice because - as a procrastinator myself - I've never heard it called "a massive fear of mental activity". But that rings absolutely true to me. Facing that fear seems to be the best route to overcoming procrastination.

I've had a lot of success recently forcing myself to do something "boring" in the morning, while I still have willpower remaining, avoiding high-stimulation activities (internet/apps/junk news etc.) until later.

After getting better at beating procrastination, the main problem has been is the feeling that my brain is totally dead and "heavy" after working on mentally-taxing things for hours - napping seems to help with this, but I can't always just nap whenever I want.

Also Chrome plugins to block Reddit and HN (sorry, HN).

I agree mostly and I am in a similar position. What I don't entirely agree with is that "procrastination is a massive fear of mental activity". For instance, even though I'm not a big gamer, when I procrastinate I can spend hours playing one of my favorite strategy games and strategy games require quite a bit of mental activity. I think procrastination is a fear of boring mental activity, something that doesn't provide immediate reward.