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The real reason I procrastinate is because I hate my life, and I'd be better off dead.
"If I'm going to die, I might as well finally help those old people at the asylum and see how that feels"
"If I'm going to die, I might as well travel without money through Europe"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/why-i-taugh...
2 ways to deal with procrastination: 1. Don't worry about it. We all procrastinate and most of the time it works out OK. Our instincts know what they're doing. 2. Break tough tasks down into very, very laughably small tasks. Don't even worry about doing them. Once the first task in the list is small enough you'll think "sod it" and do it right away. If you try to improve your self control you will fail. Go with the g…
Both those ideas appear is some form in David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done). I'm not a particularly big fan overall--I don't much care for systems. But some of his individual ideas include: - the idea that, if you can do something in 5 minutes or so, just do it rather than keep putting it on to do lists. - breaking down complex projects into discrete small concrete tasks. Both are good ideas which do help me. One…
This seems so obvious now I've read it. When I think of how many small tasks I've never got around to doing it's embarrassing.
1. Forgive yourself
2. Ignore your feelings about whether you're in the mood to work on it
3. Break it down into small steps
I would say #2 is easier said than done for an extreme procrastinator. But, decent article. Sometimes it's good just to hear that change is possible.
I would add to it that once you adopt new patterns they can set in and make productivity easier. It's sort of like drinking or other chronic problems.. It's rooted in your DNA and you do have to watch out for it creeping up on you, but the more successful you are the easier it gets.
In my case, making really granular todo lists and then crossing things off helped establish a rhythm. It showed me I could in fact accomplish a lot. It does take time to make and prioritize the list, but good prioritization is really important and totally worth it. Wunderlist helped a lot. Made it super easy to add things, prioritize in free moments, and constantly check it and "live by the list".
I would still let some high priority stuff live on top of the list for weeks sometimes, but I could forgive myself for those lapses more readily because I could see how overall better I was doing. And that vastly increased my chances of eventually tackling those big scary tasks as opposed to spiraling into a negative feedback loop.
As the article notes, it really is about emotional management. Todo lists would be useless without structuring them in a way that lets you build up emotional gratification and self confidence.
I try to say this whenever the subject comes up, procrastination is a form of anxiety and is a real mental health issue. You should talk to a professional about it if it's affecting your life.
Procrastinate -> Feel Bad -> What's the point -> So far behind -> Procrastinate...
The real reason you procrastinate: You fundamentally don't want to be doing whatever task it is that you're avoiding, and while it might be the logically "correct" thing to do, that doesn't mean you want to do it. What we want and what we are pushed into doing are not always aligned. News at ten.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
pomodoro is a great technique. its similar to #2
Admittedly I've never tried it, but from the description, the pomodoro technique would drive me mad. It often takes me more than 20 minutes (sometimes an hour or two!) to get "in the zone" but once I've got my head in the game I can smash through work for hours. The idea of just getting some flow going and then being interrupted seems awful. The only thing I can think of which it really sounds good for is boring, eas…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both those ideas appear is some form in David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done). I'm not a particularly big fan overall--I don't much care for systems. But some of his individual ideas include: - the idea that, if you can do something in 5 minutes or so, just do it rather than keep putting it on to do lists. - breaking down complex projects into discrete small concrete tasks. Both are good ideas which do help me. One…
- the idea that, if you can do something in 5 minutes or so, just do it rather than keep putting it on to do lists. This seems so obvious now I've read it. When I think of how many small tasks I've never got around to doing it's embarrassing.