Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
111–120 of 198 posts
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#112It's a common problem. Watch this TED Talk about why we procrastinate by Tim Urban and read his articles. They're both funny and insightful. https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_mas...
It's pretty bad for me, I dream about bailing to a blue collar life because then I can focus and work with my hands, and not click around online procrastinating. All that talk did was talk about the symptoms of what it's like to be a procrastinator. Including the link in another comment. Who wants to talk about how to fix it other than "stop procrastinating!"
Don't blue collar workers procrastinate by chatting with each other?
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#113I feel this too. I find that exercise and diet help me control it the most.
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#114For a counterintuitive remedy, I'd suggest this: get busier. Have more stuff going on in your life. Pick up a hobby or two. Take on more projects. Busy people don't have time to procrastinate. Your projects, like gasses, will expand to fill the free time allotted to getting them done. So give yourself less time to get them done. Structure your time. Have at least two or three things of significance to worry about eac…
Note that if you already aren't sleeping enough or taking care of your body, this is a very very bad idea. I tried this in college and the result was that I spent even more time wandering on the internet, was miserable and sleep-deprived, had chalk thrown at me by a professor when I fell asleep in his class, and was a complete flake.
Taking care of yourself is definitely a must. Especially sleep and exercise and diet. No question, and sorry if I gave the wrong impression. I'm not an advocate for the coffee-and-pharmaceauticals grindcore crowd.
I should probably clarify: I'm not saying people need to fill their days with random tasks or meaningless busywork. Nor am I saying that people need to overcommit themselves. Rather, I'm saying that, if you believe you're the kind of person who doesn't handle unstructured time very well, then some small amount of structure is your answer.
Everyone procrastinates for his or her own reasons, and I can't claim to have a magic bullet for all types. But I know what my type used to look like, and when I turned the lens of objective introspection on myself, I realized that my issue was not dealing well with unstructured time. I am guessing there are quite a few of us out there, and those who grok what I'm putting down will probably self-identify as such.
Note, too, that "finding more to do" should come from a goal-directed place. Make life goals, then atomize them into tangible steps, then atomize those steps into action items. Even hobbies and leisure have a place in the mix -- as things you'd like to get better at, or hell, just fun ways to kill time that refresh and reenergize you, or help you decompress.
(The opposite of this, which is just randomly committing to a laundry list of things with no overarching purpose, is indeed a recipe for burnout and thinly spread attention.)
My only real point is, procrastination is remarkably easy to do in a void. So next time you find yourself procrastinating constantly, look around the void. See how big and empty it is. (Or isn't.) Think about what that means in terms of how you're spending your time and planning your life.
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#115One thing I've noticed is that in some people procrastination is some sort of protection system. (Not saying this is what op has, just a discussion point) They seem to feel that most tasks in life are a bit beneath them (of course I can do this course work / assignment / deliver this project / get great grades / ace this interview - I don't really need to try). Then they keep waiting and waiting until there is little…
> If they get praise/good grade/the job they have proof that they are cleverer than most and can knock work out in no time. If they fail, well it's because they didn't try that hard, so their ego isn't damaged. I've done this for as long as a can remember, in all aspects of life. In my mind, there's nothing more pitiful than a person who tries his best and fails. Because that's the last thing I wish for, I rarely put…
>Now if only there was a fix that didn't involve a downgrade from thinker to doer.
If you think that being a doer would be a downgrade, it seriously sounds like you should try it out.
Why go through life imagining you are better than other people when there is a way for you to know for sure?
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#116The problem you have is called procrastination. Everyone has it. Just in different doses.
I had a serious problem with this. but these articles by Tim Urban helped alot.
For a solid understanding on why you procastinate, read this http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastin...
To know how to beat procrastination read this http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.ht...
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#117I've had this problem forever. My take on this: One - address the problem in short term. Second - its not a problem, but a signal to do something better. Its better not to stay absolutely at one end, but keep taking sides as the situation requires - works best for me. TodoLists help a bit. But these don't work for too long. The problem with todolists is these keep growing and then our inherent nature to not-focus tur…
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Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#118I started writing a table:
start_time, end_time, activity, project
08:00, 08:30, emails,
08:00, 08:35, facebook, procrastination
08:35: 09:00, work, project1
09:00: 09:30, hackernews, procrastination
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If they get praise/good grade/the job they have proof that they are cleverer than most and can knock work out in no time. If they fail, well it's because they didn't try that hard, so their ego isn't damaged. I've done this for as long as a can remember, in all aspects of life. In my mind, there's nothing more pitiful than a person who tries his best and fails. Because that's the last thing I wish for, I rarely put…
>Now if only there was a fix that didn't involve a downgrade from thinker to doer. If you think that being a doer would be a downgrade, it seriously sounds like you should try it out. Why go through life imagining you are better than other people when there is a way for you to know for sure?
Exactly, if anything a doer is a step above the thinker - when you do you can review and adapt to be better next time. If you just think you never actually know what the outcome would have looked like, just what you believe.
That what I mean a bit in my reply above about breaking work down in a scrum/lean way and just doing the individual pieces and not thinking just about the great big scary whole.
Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later
#120I really liked this practical approach to working with bad habits:
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/4/11147432/immunity-to-change