Ask HN: Have OCD, suffering from extreme procrastination, please help?

Of course, they would not do that publicly, but who knows if some of them might hide behind throwaways and might gently try to nudge the poster towards what they think could work better?

For procrastination, you might try not sitting down hardly at all.

If your default is being seated, change the default to standing or being in motion instead.

Then only sit down for one particular reason at a time, most deliberately.

Whether one seated session naturally allows the eventual feeling of completion, or OTOH far from completion, as soon as that session is drawing to a close get ready and go back to the default for a bit of time.

Standing up, moving around, accomplishing something that doesn't require sitting (housework & gardening are good in moderation), all can help give you better perspective before you commit to your next seated session. Whether you are picking up where you left off or leaving that alone and going back down for something completely different.

At the other end, it's not just procrastination, but productivity.

Things like this really helped when I had 5 desks with various combinations of ambitions & obligations.

Funny I have had very similar experiences. The negative consequences for the work not being done soon compound the procrastination. I can’t say this is a solved problem for me, and I’m not a healthcare professional. But some tricks I’ve learned; Get proper rest (6+), in a quiet (silent, pitch black) environment. Modafinil or better Provigil/Artvigil with green tea, in the morning only. 6500K LED lamps. Change your wallpaper to light/pale green, uniform color. But the most effective way to get out of this situation is to reset your mind. The simplest way is to get drunk. In California we have edibles, and that’s effective as well. At the extreme you could use shrooms if you can get your hands on them, but be careful to dose exactly based on bodyweight. If you take a serious (not micro) dose while supervised with a friend, it will result the next day in being ‘mixed up’ and when you recover, the procrastination issue will be easier to overcome. If not select a new substance and try again. Hope this is helpful, good luck

That sucks - sorry to hear you are struggling. I’ve also been there most of my life - and it got much worse over time. But if it helps, here’s what I’ve done to get a handle on it — I wish I had found this out sooner.

First and foremost is to find a talk therapist who will work with you long term on helping you develop a mental mapping of your emotions to your physiology. When you are feeling an emotion, there is a corresponding physiological change throughout your body. The key here is that when you find yourself obsessing or avoiding or focusing on other people’s problems instead of your own, you will begin to notice the physical correlations in your own body. You will learn to use breathing techniques to notice your mental states. Emotions like despair, vulnerability, resentment, shame, guilt, etc all have physical correlations. As you begin to map the language of emotions to your physiology, you will begin to find ways to short-circuit these patterns through physical regulation and asserting emotional boundaries with your family.

The most important aspect of this… you will discover that regulating your body and your environment is the same as regulating your mind. The harder you push your body physically, the less you will feel mentally adrift or obsessing over external information to contain your emotions. Your attentional willpower will improve in parallel to your physical confidence and you will choose to care for your self.

Some other practical basic tips to self-regulate

Find some activity that keeps you centered on your own body - hard exercise, yoga or physical games are best — gardening and hiking are good too. AVOID all activities where you are constantly cognitively systematizing information. As an Information Age worker, you MUST take regular breaks for 5-10 min each hour - especially when you are in the hyperfocused productive zone. Go for a walk or do some pushups or yoga. You also cannot sacrifice sleep to the obsessive mind — if you can’t sleep or don’t have the will to sleep go do some physical activity.

Info Hygiene is key

Delete most non-utility apps on your phone and turn on time limits/screen time. Unplug from real-time digital media in your life - especially interactive media. Email and forums are fine - but not as realtime activities - check them at 2-3 fixed times each. Reading and writing are fine - but set limits.

Hope this helps. Good luck

(P.S - search for Andrew Huberman Willpower on YT)