51–60 of 104 posts
What helps with procrastination is Adrafinil (precursor to Modafinil that doesn't require a prescription), Memantine, PhenylPiracetam Hydrazide, working on things that are interesting, and filing away (or having someone/something else do) whatever you don't like doing.
Personally speaking, no apps helped me beat procrastination. What actually helped me a lot is figuring out that I am unhappy and depressed in my life and why is that. Once I figured that out I set for big changes, and stopped caring a lot for things that made me unhappy. I appreciated things I got, I started going on trips around the world and met my wife. After being happy in life I found my self in a very positive…
I absolutely agree with you. I downgraded to a smart phone that only runs maps and has a camera and this has forced me to semi switch off tech when I'm away from my computer. My friends think I'm crazy (mostly because I'm a developer who doesn't have a "smart" phone).
The funny bit for me, is I work for the phone company, on the data/signaling networks running the phones, and I barely use my cell.
Personally speaking, no apps helped me beat procrastination. What actually helped me a lot is figuring out that I am unhappy and depressed in my life and why is that. Once I figured that out I set for big changes, and stopped caring a lot for things that made me unhappy. I appreciated things I got, I started going on trips around the world and met my wife. After being happy in life I found my self in a very positive…
I absolutely agree with you. I downgraded to a smart phone that only runs maps and has a camera and this has forced me to semi switch off tech when I'm away from my computer. My friends think I'm crazy (mostly because I'm a developer who doesn't have a "smart" phone).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I absolutely agree with you. I downgraded to a smart phone that only runs maps and has a camera and this has forced me to semi switch off tech when I'm away from my computer. My friends think I'm crazy (mostly because I'm a developer who doesn't have a "smart" phone).
lol, I do something similar. I've had to add a few apps finally for various reasons, but I basically just use my phone as a phone, I have email just so I have calendar reminders, and will occasionally do light web browsing when stuck waiting in lines (checking HN of course). Pretty much all notifications are turned off so that it's not distracting. The funny bit for me, is I work for the phone company, on the data/si…
Full disclosure, I'm it's co-founder.
Before I found that no matter how much time I had, I was always scrambling. This may be a bit too philosophical, but focusing on moment to moment and bringing attention to the problem at hand really helps.
I recommend reading Jacob Needleman's book about Time and the Soul.
"It is not, therefore, the rapidity of change as such that is the source of our problem of time. It is the metaphysical fact that the being of man is diminishing."
--Jacob Needleman, in Time and the Soul
There's no magic pill. There's no yoga. There's no special coffee. There's no long walks on the beach. There's nothing that will get the work done for you. You're the only one capable of getting the work done, and it just takes sitting down and doing it.
Of course, that is easier said than done. But try it some time. Try repeating to yourself "the work does not get done until I choose to do it."
I also started getting very comfortable with the idea of giving up on things. I either choose to do a thing now or I throw it away completely. If there was something that I couldn't give up on, then the whole process sort of naturally collapsed into a propensity for starting things right away.
We make up these lies to ourselves. TODO lists, with multiple things marked as "high priority". There can only ever be one priority. If someone says two or more things are a priority, they are confused. You have to figure out what the actual, real, priority task is. There is always one thing, one real thing, that is the actual priority, and people can often lose sight of it because they think they have their planning covered. Tasks are always on the backlog until they are being worked on, and only one thing can be worked on at a time. Certainly order the backlog by what is important, but don't delude yourself into thinking you can work on more than one thing at a time.
I got more comfortable with the concept of living a lifestyle, rather than achieving goals. When you define success by goals-achieved, then you are constantly a failure, until a brief moment when you succeed, and then you need to define new goals and are right back into being a failure. I am a success because I live the lifestyle I want. Because I'm not living in a constant state of failure, then there is no sense that any particular action is woefully inadequate towards achieving success. No task can be inadequate towards achieving success, because all tasks that I engage in are a symptom of my notion of success.
And I grew an understanding that living a certain lifestyle meant not living other lifestyles. To choose to be a certain way is equally to choose to stop being another way. If there is some way that you want to be that you are not achieving, it means there is some way that you are that you need to choose to stop. I'm overweight, I could choose to stop drinking beer, and I would lose weight. I choose to have a lifestyle that involves drinking beer in front of my computer at night. I choose to not have a lifestyle that involves rock climbing on weekends. I choose to work on Virtual Reality software. That means I also choose to stop working on electronics, painting, photography, writing novels, or whatever other low-grade hobbies I had before I finally found focus.
So long as you understand your choices and their consequences, I don't think they can become psychological weights around your neck, keeping you dragged down in the duldrums of anti-productivity.
Here is an example. I have lost a significant amount of weight in the past year and managed to build good exercise habits and eating habits, keep the weight off, and feel very happy with the physical shape and condition I am in.
I tried using apps like Lose It to count calories, record exercise, etc., and it did not work at all. The neurotic clawing feeling that the app was always there to get me, to demand me to check it, to obsess over my progress, pressure to share my progress on social media, etc. etc., was self-defeating.
What ended up working was I bought a cheap electronic scale from CVS and I weighed myself whenever I felt like it, and did not write down or record that number. Sometimes I would weigh myself consistently, other times I would weight myself very frequently / very sparsely. I put no pressure on myself to weigh myself every day, to record or keep track of my current weight, or anything similar.
Basically, weighing myself was like a throw-away activity. I happened to see a number on the tiny LED screen. I might remember it; I might not. Who cares. But I did make sure to check in with that scale any time I felt like it.
It was similar with counting calories. Actually, what I found worked very well here is to establish decent calorie estimates for composable food items. Know the calories in the things I usually combine for a salad. Know the calories in the pasta I buy. Know the calories in bread, condiments, sauces, basic foods.
Then when I combine them together for a meal, I can get a rough estimate of the total calories. I'm not obsessively scanning the barcode of everything I buy, but I'm also rarely ever flying blind with ingredients I can't estimate.
Same goes for exercise. Know roughly how many calories you burn walking some certain distance, or running some certain distance, or doing aerobics or calisthenics. Many people recommend keeping a fitness journal, but for me this again turned it into a pressure point, ominously looking at me from across the room, tell-tale-hearting me into feeling guilty about not working out enough.
So I started writing down the exercises I did, quickly getting a ballpark on the calories (when it wasn't obvious, like reading it off a treadmill display), and then throwing the piece of paper away. Who cares.
I made rituals out of these actions, and it started to guide me a lot. I found that it focused me on things I needed to do (e.g. skip that extra helping of food because I estimated the calories) but it didn't function like self-flagellation (e.g. obsessing over my weight in an app, or stressing out about eating something minor because I've already eaten 1,799 calories today or something).
I experienced way less ego depletion in my decision making, but still felt like I was keeping tabs on things.
I don't think this would work for everyone nor for every kind of task. For example, when I want to be more productive with writing and personal tech projects, I haven't found a great sort of "throw away" equivalent for to-do lists.
But in general, I think it's worth a try. Don't go for things that will be overbearing, ever-present, or come with a high degree of pressure. The effects of all that stuff will be counter-productive. Instead, think about what those things are, and find ways to measure them that are cheap, easy, give you only the info you need for situational decision making, and can be easily thrown away / forgotten / ignored whenever you need to.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I absolutely agree with you. I downgraded to a smart phone that only runs maps and has a camera and this has forced me to semi switch off tech when I'm away from my computer. My friends think I'm crazy (mostly because I'm a developer who doesn't have a "smart" phone).
I'm genuinely curious to know what phone or plan you use that only runs maps and camera. Google Maps or soemthing like openstreet map? I'm looking to do something similar. Any info would be appreciated.