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Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#11

Post by biswaroop »

This could be because you were told you're a smart kid. Kids who are praised for intelligence over effort have been shown in some studies to pick easier problems and give up quickly if a problem is too hard.

Check out Carol Dweck's research. Here's an early article: [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/14/science/praise-children-f...]. Note that there are some criticisms of her work, and like many other studies in psychology, reproducibility is an issue. However, I found this quite useful in diagnosing my own thinking patterns towards effort.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#12

Post by bpodgursky »

thrway232934 wrote: post #5

Adderall

This is trite, but the actual answer doesn't really deserve to be sent to the void. If you think you might have ADHD, get evaluated.

The ability to "deep focus" on problems while sitting at desk for 8 hours isn't what evolution optimized for, but it's what you need to succeed today. Not everyone can make that transition easily, and it's not wrong to get help if you can't.

There are a lot of very successful people on ADHD meds, who would not be successful without it. It's not all abuse. I would be the last person on earth to default to medication for a young child, but if you're an adult and unhappy with your ability to mentally commit to problem-solving, there's no reason you shouldn't think about this seriously.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#14

Post by RangerScience »

activehuman wrote: post #9

you might have trauma (little t trauma), which feels weird to call trauma because its not obvious trauma (death, car accident, abuse etc) but still affects you a lot and your feelings are still just as valid and they are there and real. Try to allocate a long time, like 2 hours to focus on something that you know you have to do. Observe how it feels physically, in your body. For me, my throat tightens up and my chest…

Seconding this approach (my specific experiences are different) - step one is observation of the feelings and sensations in the body.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#15

Post by mathgenius »

cjbprime wrote: post #3

You might try something like: * write down the smallest next possible step towards this goal. It should be something you're very close to knowing how to do already. It doesn't matter if it leaves you still a long away from the ultimate goal. * set a short timer (e.g. 20 minutes) and work on it until the timer goes off. * reward yourself with something fun. * repeat.

I'm a big fan of writing down micro-goals, and then crossing them out when I get it done. Even if it's badly done, that just leads to another micro-goal, which is to improve it in some specific way. Sometimes when I do something that is not on the list, maybe I was too lazy to write it down as a micro-goal, I will then make a note of it, just so I can cross it out. It makes such a big difference to my day to be able to see a bunch of things crossed out. I am just very forgetful otherwise and don't remember what I did and start to think that I didn't do anything at all.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#17

Post by xgdgsc »

My experience is what you do after you get up in the morning have great impact all day long. I use appdetox on phone and webblock on chrome to block easier news/SNS apps for the day and only allow them or gaming for a fixed time at night as reward(after a while I find solving hard problems more rewarding than yhose shallow entertainment). I find it became easier to focus on hard things after starting doing this. If you do easy things at morning, the whole day is ruined. Also I run or swim at 5pm.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#18

Post by toomanybeersies »

There is the potential that you have ADHD, because what you're describing sounds similar to my situation. I eventually ended up on stimulant medication to help, but there's non-stimulant medication available (if you're opposed to eating amphetamines for breakfast), as well as counselling and other treatment options that don't involve medication.

Even if you don't want to seek professional treatment, you could look up articles on solving problems and achieving goals written specifically for people with ADHD and see if those help.

Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?

#19

Post by john-tells-all »

cjbprime wrote: post #3

You might try something like: * write down the smallest next possible step towards this goal. It should be something you're very close to knowing how to do already. It doesn't matter if it leaves you still a long away from the ultimate goal. * set a short timer (e.g. 20 minutes) and work on it until the timer goes off. * reward yourself with something fun. * repeat.

Creatives use this technique (Pomodoro) to overcome procrastination and stay effective to achieve their goals.

I have a video discussing using this technique with Agile Scrum. As a developer, we can borrow ideas from other disciplines! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPTc79oVg8

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