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Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

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Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#111

Post by Retric »

Yen wrote: post #107

There's another potential cause for procrastination, that this website doesn't seem to diagnose or offer advice on - I have a hypothetical task in front of me, which is interesting, impactful, within my skill range, well-defined, and I know the first couple steps to start on it. I estimate that I can complete the task with 2~3 hours of solid work. This sounds like the _ideal_ anti-procrastination scenario, right? But…

If you have 10 minutes or more then trying to spin up is still useful.

You are not going to make progress directly, but you will have a few hooks to think about during the meeting. If it's a wasteful meeting you get something worthwhile to do, and if it's a useful meeting then no harm done.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#112

Post by criddell »

padobson wrote: post #93
skriticos2 wrote: post #51

Well, maybe sometimes this happens to me.. "I just go check the headlines on my favorite news sites and then I start my productive day.. and I drink this cup of coffee." .. 2 hours later. "Just this one headline, then I'm ready." .. 2 hours later. "Damn, where did the day go all of a sudden?" Of course the solution is to first do the work and then read the news.. but that's the rational part of my brain speaking - no…

Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect. My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish. My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when t…

What's on your flow state playlist?

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#113

Post by isostatic »

padobson wrote: post #93
skriticos2 wrote: post #51

Well, maybe sometimes this happens to me.. "I just go check the headlines on my favorite news sites and then I start my productive day.. and I drink this cup of coffee." .. 2 hours later. "Just this one headline, then I'm ready." .. 2 hours later. "Damn, where did the day go all of a sudden?" Of course the solution is to first do the work and then read the news.. but that's the rational part of my brain speaking - no…

Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect. My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish. My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when t…

I'm the opposite. If my brain has to engage before 10am the day's a waste. If I "ease into the day" then once I've dealt with the world on fire stuff about 11.30 I'll power through and before I know it it's 9PM and I've been massively productive.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#114

Post by toyg »

rconti wrote: post #72
devmunchies wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got back from a week long vacation and when i got back there were issues on github for open source projects i maintain. I was able to crush them quickly without that "discomfort/fear/anxiety". it makes me believe that those feeling start to occur when we need a break, which is why we are procrastinating in the first place.

I have never come back from a vacation more excited about working than before :)

I have, but... not anymore.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#115

Post by adamcw »

criddell wrote: post #112
padobson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect. My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish. My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when t…

What's on your flow state playlist?

I would also like to echo this question, always interested in what people listen to while working.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#116

Post by ben509 »

r3bl wrote: post #18

Can I suggest either carefully stripping away user input or not using it at all in questions? Clear security issue appeared when I typed: alert("this is bad") ...as a reason of my procrastination: https://imgur.com/a/Xmdi9VQ EDIT: Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting

Yes, in this particular case, it doesn't open a security hole.

But scrub all your inputs anyway. That one time you forget, it will be a cosmetic error due to double encoding instead of a security hole due to no encoding.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#117

Post by padobson »

criddell wrote: post #112
padobson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect. My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish. My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when t…

What's on your flow state playlist?

Yo Yo Ma, George Gershwin, Chuck Mangione, Weather Report

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#118

Post by jen729w »

adamcw wrote: post #115
criddell wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's on your flow state playlist?

I would also like to echo this question, always interested in what people listen to while working.

I work from home, sitting next to my partner, and this is responsible for ~80% of our work. No particular order.

Late Night Tales Presents Sasha: Scene Delete [0]

Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk: Passage [1]

Jon Hopkins: Opalescent [2]

HVOB & Winston Marshall: Silk [3]

Anything at all by HVOB. HVOB is the golden stuff.

All of Tycho's albums

Any of Tycho's Burning Man mixes on SoundCloud [8]

Kiasmos: Blurred [4]

Vermont: II [5]

Bonobo: Migration [6] (or any other Bonobo)

Tosca: No Hassle [7] (or any other Tosca)

---

[0]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/late-night-tales-presents-...

[1]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/passage/1177124625

[2]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/opalescent/305037953

[3]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/hvob/564007861

[4]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/blurred/1266258851

[5]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/ii/1174877374

[6]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/migration/1172028049

[7]: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/no-hassle-bonus-track-vers...

[8]: https://soundcloud.com/tycho/ingress-burning-man-sunrise-set...

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#119

Post by mproy »

vbtemp wrote: post #53
yoodenvranx wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion. I am pretty sure my main reason for procrastination is the fact that I never learned to endure suffering/discomfort while growing up. I grew up very sheltered and I was never forced to do anything which I did not like (bring out the tr…

I'd warmly encourage you to not make excuses or find reasons from your past to justify current maladaptive behaviors. If you're 18+ and grew up in safety, comfort, and with education you possess all the necessary executive functionality to take hold of what life will deal you.

I agree with what I think is the spirit of what you say, but it's unhelpfully reductive.

Many, many people who meet your criteria in fact are severely lacking in executive function.

Neurological conditions aside, surely you understand that an adult who's developing years formed a healthy "reward system" for accomplishing tasks will have a much easier time getting things done.

While, yes, most of us have the ability to correct past habits and develop discipline ... It's no different than an athlete who began training at an early age versus someone who took up a sport later in life. The difference in skill and ability is predictably and consistently stark.

Re: Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination

#120

Post by vinbreau »

isostatic wrote: post #113
padobson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self discipline definitely has a momentum effect. My most productive days are the ones that start at 5am with a run, followed by a shower, meditation, and writing up a list of things I want to accomplish that day. Then I start working with my noise cancelling headphones and my flow-state playlist. It's very deliberate from start to finish. My least productive days are the ones where I roll out of bed randomly, when t…

I'm the opposite. If my brain has to engage before 10am the day's a waste. If I "ease into the day" then once I've dealt with the world on fire stuff about 11.30 I'll power through and before I know it it's 9PM and I've been massively productive.

This is me as well. My brain is useless until close to lunch time. After lunch I start feeling productive and this feeling begins to steamroll into the evening. When I am allowed to structure my day I don't even plan to start work until 6pm and can maintain great focus from then until 1am. Admittedly I imagine my ADHD has much to do with that and the habits I formed to cope with it as a child.
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