51–60 of 61 posts
I did consult a psychiatrist and was prescribed medication [SSRIs]. However, I had experienced some negative side effects due to the medication.
I'm off them for now but I am looking for alternative solutions.(Hence this post)
I appreciate any kind of advice and suggestions.
And Dr. Huberman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jlHaxZnig
Everything else didn't have enough data for me to latch onto.
Life is difficult, and some tasks are not meant to be fun. You can't fix that. You can however reframe your minds' perspective on the manner. Instead of thinking "Man there are so many dishes to do, I'd rather be playing Helldivers 2 now" you can think "I can do 5 dishes... That was easy, I can do 5 more dishes... Look how many dishes i did! I can do 5 more". Even if it's clearly a lie to yourself that you enjoy it, you'll find that your brain will start to believe it.
Over time, your brain will take on the new perspective. This is why "faking it until you make it" works.
Therefore no advice per se can really help.
- Knowing what you really want - and reflecting one minute about something before starting it. If you're clear with yourself that you don't want to do something, it helps too. - understanding a bit more about motivation in general (why we do what we do, Edward L. Deci) - Knowing what extrinsic motivation may motivate you or not and reflecting a bit on it: a bit more money, anticipating nice things, the joy of things well done, reognition. Working on some vain thing for a better performance review (for the boss, conditioning yours) next year doesn't motivate everyone. - Sharing the psychological burden: talking about it, linking with other projects, some kinds of collaborative work. Maybe I'm getting older, but I sometimes suspect a lot of the bulsh* meetings and collaboration at work serve mainly this purpose. Not every method works for everyone though. - Solving general health problems, anxiety, depression, sleep apnea issues of course helps.
Exercise is a thing for me. It really helps when I do something regularly but it's not something which comes naturally to me. Other than that, I think all of the tips and blogs aren't useful -- except if they give you that little dopamine hit to actually pick up something and get started. Which in my experience is the only useful advice, pick something and do it. The momentum from doing something rather than nothing…
It sometimes slightly mitigates it but never fixed it.
Only thing which was life-changing: Ritalin.
Best advice besides that: whenever I have a meeting outside of work I create diligently a calendar event with notifications for -1 day and -1h and write down / estimate the time for travel.
There are precisely two realizations that helped me beat procrastination, but I know that these won't be helpful in every situation: - Totally keep motivation out of the equation. Depend fully on routine. Give yourself time to think before you commit to something. Totally reject it if you don't deem it worthy of doing. Once you make the decision, carve out slots in your calendar/text file for that task only. If it's…
Does not work for ADHD people, we can’t keep routines :( I have to remind myself to brush my teeth every day.
I am ignorant of these things. Please let me know.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does not work for ADHD people, we can’t keep routines :( I have to remind myself to brush my teeth every day.
Do mean that you forget? Or don't want to? I am ignorant of these things. Please let me know.
Last year I found myself spend a lot of time hoarding tasks to do at work, but less to work on them. It’s causing constant anxiety, and the anxiety is driving me to take more tasks, making promises that’s gonna be missed. Once I felt it’s such vicious circle I went to a doctor and after many visits and tests, they finally decided that I have ADHD and prescribed me some non-stimulant meds, it took about 12 weeks for the side effects to wear off and finally start working.
Looking back I feel like ADHD might be occupational hazard for some. Or just a result of bad habits? I personally was switching context very often, like 15 minutes on a project in python, then switched to another one on Go. Also I’m the yes man at work. Now I just slot half a day fixated on only one project, and use the “focus time” feature on my calendar (blocks chat etc).