Ask HN: Were you a procrastinator and could overcome it? How did you do?

In college, I got a part time job which I started taking more shifts at and stopped going to classes altogether because I was anxious about doing classwork.

After dropping out, I went full time self studying 3D art and animation through DigitalTutors (now Pluralsight). I found myself more interested in programming so traded that for Pluralsight and Safari Books Online.

Both 3D art and programming were immensely more interesting to me than Physics (which I was studying before) which I think influenced my work ethic.

I got a programming job which forced me to learn as an additional full time job.

I'm a relatively successful professional now, but I still suffer from devastating procrastination​. I put off launching an engineering blog for my company for almost a year because there was a step I avoided which eventually I did and it took 15 mins.

The things which have been effective for me are the pomodoro technique. I use kanbanflow for this which also has a kanban board. I don't use this for everything, but I rely on it when I'm unmotivated or the task is really important.

I also became more effective when I switched managers and made it a point to ask them to bug me about things. I tend to take on a lot of side projects and get them 80% done. Having a accountability (peer and/or manager) whom you actually care about impressing (or disappointing) is important, even if they're not in tech or at your company.

I have never been a lazy person in terms of physical activity. I like all kinds of sportive activities - hiking, biking, football (soccer), swimming, working out, etc. But over years I had become very lazy for mental gym, a master of procrastination, developing a massive fear of intellectual activity. A few years passed, and I became so tired of myself not doing a useful cognitive work. I hated it - if you ever been a mentally-active person even in a childhood and in later years you realize you've become slacker, then you will hate yourself for not doing useful things. It's a good thing if it bothers you - it should bother you.

What started my recovery from procrastination was reading. It was like going back to roots - I was an avid reader as a child, so, it really helped me to kick-start. At this point, I guess everyone has some kind of useful hobby, or habit, as a mental activity and if it has gone rusty, they should clean that up and start rotating the gears. BTW, I should also mention the "Learning How To Learn" course (MOOC on Coursera by Barbara Oakley). It helped me a lot too, as I like learning by listening and it motivated me to set a daily goals & complete them. Essentially, it taught me to follow a lesson/lecture again. Maybe this course (it's like "brain 101" or "how a brain works and how to use it efficiently") will not do the same for everyone, but is't not about this exact course - it's about to start learning again, you choose your own one.

All in all, IMHO, procrastination is a massive fear of mental activity (rather than lazyness) and it's so harmful as almost all other fears & one should face it to get rid of it - again, like other fears, it frightens you as long as you avoid facing it. After the face-off, it's just downhill and you feel relieved. (And procrastination can never be overcomed enough and one should never let languor overtake them, IMO.)

I was called "lazy" my whole life. Then I got the right diagnosis in my mid thirties and began getting my act together. I wasn't lazy. I just didn't have the energy to do the things I needed to do.

I still am not as productive as I would like to be, but it is vastly better than it used to be.