Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness? • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by watwut » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 5:57 AM UTC

Take breaks, dont expect to solve it at once. It is ok not to solve hard problem today. Keep coming back to it and keep mix the hard task with smaller tasks. Solving few smaller tasks as breaks from the big hard one helps you to keep confidence in yourself up.

When you have vague idea of a problem, keep thinking about. This is time when thinking while walking somewhere is more beneficial then just sitting at desk. Your mind is less "restricted".

Also, it is normal to feel frustrated or depressed or ineffective while solving hard problem. Managing these emotions is part of the task, having them does not make you lesser. But when they are getting too much, take a break.

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

#152

Post by joelbluminator » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 6:05 AM UTC

Read a good book about procrastination, that's what I think you have. I read one by Nils Salzgeber, very good.

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

#153

Post by mycelium » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 6:16 AM UTC

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…

What was the diagnosis process like? I'm in my early 30s and have been putting off trying to get an ADHD diagnosis (and medication) even though the symptoms clearly resonate, because I'm concerned that I'll be dismissed as just seeking pills. In college I tried to get diagnosed and was dismissed as lazy and just seeking a prescription. Did you have to deal with any of that skepticism?

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

#154

Post by hkt » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 6:39 AM UTC

This is a symptom of ADD in extremis. Take the other advice here about trying harder, but if it doesn't work consider looking at what ADD entails and ask whether any of your other behaviours fit that description.

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

#155

Post by dbg31415 » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:00 AM UTC

Whenever there's something I don't want to do, I say, "I can do it for 15 minutes." And I book in the next 15 minutes I can find. Sometimes it takes a few starts, but that approach has yet to let me down.

Also, I book in an hour a day for "productivity" -- and literally I just try and knock out as many short-tasks I can think of in that time. Anything under 3 minutes, time to do it. Take out the trash, send an email, fold clothes, whatever... I just try and smash out as many things in that hour as I can.

I used to struggle with procrastination. I was the kid would start his homework at 8 PM on Sunday. The thing about that is more often than not you're fucked if something takes longer than you expected.

And now... I rarely get caught off guard with tasks, I know pretty soon if something is going to take more time than I'm expecting it to take.

Don't worry about how talk the mountain is, just take a few steps and see where you get.

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

#156

Post by sevilo » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:06 AM UTC

Why do so many people suspect OP has ADHD? Isn’t it more common for people to give up when faced with hard problems than not? It usually takes experience and training to learn to become persistent at hard problems. I’m definitely much better at keep at a difficult goal now compared to my early 20s due to mindset change and experience. Seems backwards to assume it’s a medical problem at as soon as OP mentions that, and I feel the need to point out it’s a dangerous direction our society has slipped into assuming every imperfection with a person has to do with mental disorder.

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

#157

Post by teekert » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:07 AM UTC

I have this too, but one day a boss told me: "That's fine, we need someone like you in our research department, you start a lot, have many ideas, let others finish them if they turn out valuable. But try to think about what you can solve today, think about your grand vision in 3 years, what do you need to do today to get started on that? That would help."

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

#158

Post by paypalcust83 » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:07 AM UTC

I'm unsure what aspects we are talking about. Is it one or more of the following?

0. ADD. (lack of motivation to execute, lots of plans, many unfinished projects)

1. Inability to buckle-down, focus, and complete mentally-exhausting, complex work.

2. Analysis paralysis. (Fear of failure, criticism, or choosing the wrong approach, so not progressing to avoid the previous.)

3. Fear of responsibility/loss of respect. (Leading is responsibility; owning problems, results, and team support. It's not being always right or doing 100% of the thinking.)

4. Imposter syndrome. (Having the skills but still afraid of being unqualified.)

5. Fear of being a novice. (Fear of new skills, roles, and/or things.)

Before offering unsolicited advice, I think it's better to dig into what are the brutally-honest underlying concerns.

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

#159

Post by shrimpx » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:11 AM UTC

Set time aside where you won’t do anything except your task. Even 15 minutes helps. No big deal spending 15 minutes on something, right? Get a stack of sheets of paper and a pencil. Start laying thoughts down, some bullet points and a basic diagram. Imagine a bit how you’d implement it. Concurrently open a text editor and type some code sketches, non working code that carries a bit of the structure you’re thinking about. Go back and forth between paper and code, diagram, write down bullet points that occur to you. You’ll find gaps in your thoughts, you’ll be compelled to fix them. And so you’re on your way.

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

#160

Post by 0x008 » Mon, Apr 20, 2020, 7:11 AM UTC

By overcoming the concept of "lazyness". Society makes us believe that lazyness is just "not wanting to do something". But that is scientifically proven to be factually wrong. Procrastination is rather a result of our doubts and fears regarding our invidual performance and escapism with respect to the negative feelings we accumulated towards a specific task (even if we don't realize that!). We can feel fine until we discover the mountain of negative feelings we have pushed far far away in a corner and forgotten about. People who are functioning and very seasoned procrastinators don't even realize they are doing it.

If you realize that and manage to develop some empathy for yourself, you can overcome procrastination quite permanently. It is not a weakness to be fearful or have doubts (and in extension to be "lazy"), but a very human aspect of our nature and everybody. It is very very normal to be fearful of failing. But we have to do it anyway all the while telling us that it is ok to be a little anxious and that everybody else has the same feelings unless they are seasoned veterans in a specific topic. And it has been proven time and time again that the strongest and most successful human beings are the ones who accept this.

All other answer (i.e. "breaking down the problems") just combat the symptoms, not the problem itself.