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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?

#141

Post by hoorayimhelping »

You don't climb a mountain by thinking about mountains then making a huge epic trek in a couple of leaps. You climb a mountain by taking one step at a time. You have to take thousands of steps to reach the top of a mountain. Not every step is going to be perfect, or even pretty. Some will go in the wrong direction and you'll need to backtrack. Some will be missteps that might hurt. But if you keep making a concerted effort to climb the mountain, eventually you'll reach the top. Don't be too hard on yourself - it's important to look back and see how far you've climbed from time to time. The top may not look the way you expected, and you may not feel the way you thought, but you'll have done it.

Stop trying to climb a mountain in a single step, and stop trying to climb the mountain flawlessly. Just getting to the top is an achievement these days. You probably don't want to attempt Everest or K2 right after deciding to climb a mountain. Maybe try a few smaller ones, or some hills first.

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

#142

Post by apostacy »

eru wrote: post #138
apostacy wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly recommend checking out this thread about stimulant medications: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16033574 As someone who has ADHD and has taken stimulant medications for a long time, I would like to share my experience. There is a very faustian aspect of taking these medications. Don't think that you can change your brain chemistry and not change who you are. I would not have the career I have today with…

I was diagnosed with ADHD a few years ago when I was 30. I tried a few medications. When I as on Vyvanse, I noticed similar personality changes as what you described. Most notably, my sense of humour suffered. (And before on dexamphetamine, I was really grumpy when it wore off. So I did get into fights.) Things got better after I changed to methylphenidate. For me, it's milder in the side effects. Modafinil and nicot…

Yes, I have had good experiences with methylphenidate (Ritalin) as well. One thing I noticed is that on adderall I stopped yawning completely. On Ritalin, my body is actually able to signal to me when I'm tired, hungry, etc. The problem is that I had to take ever larger amounts of caffeine to compensate.

I just know that I don't want to be taking adderall when I'm 40.

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

#144

Post by dlivingston »

eru wrote: post #128
toomanybeersies wrote: post #18

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…

There's an easy experiment OP can do: see if nicotine patches help. Nicotine is a safe stimulant that available over the counter; and works really well against ADHD and can help normal people too. Arguably much better than caffeine for the vast majority of people. See https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine for details. One thing to keep in mind: stay away from smoking. That's vile and addictive.

As someone who just quit nicotine (e-cigs/NRT/tobacco-free “dip”) after nearly a decade, stay away from it at all costs. Nicotine is a wonderful brain stimulant (nootropic), but it’s far too easy to become and stay addicted.

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

#145

Post by xsys »

eru wrote: post #128
toomanybeersies wrote: post #18

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…

There's an easy experiment OP can do: see if nicotine patches help. Nicotine is a safe stimulant that available over the counter; and works really well against ADHD and can help normal people too. Arguably much better than caffeine for the vast majority of people. See https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine for details. One thing to keep in mind: stay away from smoking. That's vile and addictive.

Nicotine on its own is also addictive, though there's some evidence that it's less so without a MAOI (so that would include gum, patches, and vaping). I actually find that real cigarettes can help more than just nicotine alone, since there's a natural cadence to its use. So work for a couple hours, then take a 5-10m break, rinse and repeat. It naturally rewards yourself for work done as well as giving you time to process what was just completed and what needs to be done next. Also cigarettes help set the break time (when the cigarette is done you go inside) vs gum or patches or vaping where you can just keep doing it forever.

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

#147

Post by nurettin »

> I have realized that I easily give up when I face a hard problem.

Watch a master tackle a hard problem. Copy their resilience and enthusiasm. I've done this for a few years and it taught me to be patient and focused. Also, leading requires responsibility. To gain a sense for leadership, try teaching and helping others. Show them how you solve problems.

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

#149

Post by Consultant32452 »

I like some of the other answers, but I'd like to add a potentially different filter on this situation. Sometimes different filters offer different kinds of insights into the same problem.

The thing that came to mind immediately when I read your concern is the big 5 personality traits. The big 5 is possibly the most thoroughly researched and supported concept in psychology. There's tons of info about it online.

Your situation, when looked at through the prism of the big 5 might be a combination of any of the following: low openness, high neuroticism, or high disagreeableness. You'd have to read a bit about these personality traits and do some introspection into which of these applies to your situation. You'd then need to look at the specific techniques to train the partiality traits you want. Fair warning, it's not generally realistic to actually change your personality type. But you can learn to change your behavior. For example a high neuroticism person might always be extremely anxious about public speaking, but they can learn skills to help them perform when necessary.

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

#150

Post by lovehashbrowns »

eru wrote: post #135
lovehashbrowns wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am currently getting help with ADD and this is a similar situation to me as well. However, I was diagnosed because I'm trying to get help for insomnia. Specifically, I have a lot of trouble falling asleep. I'm just adding another data point in case anyone is relating to OP, the comment I replied to, AND has difficulty falling asleep. It's always good to have a clear picture of what your mental health is like.

I got diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. I also had sleep issues, but never bad enough to seek help for them. Fortunately, the ADHD meds fixed the sleep issues, too. Have you tried taking some L-Tryptophan in the evening? For some people it works wonders for sleep and mood. L-Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that you can buy over-the-counter. Your body needs it to make melatonin and serotonin amongst other things.

My sleeping issues were never bad enough either until my team started having daily 9AM meetings. Ugh

I haven't tried L-Tryptophan! But I'll give it a go. My medication hasn't really started taking effect yet but hopefully I don't have to take sleeping medication once it does. Thanks for the suggestion. :) Hopefully that helps also.

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