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How I got to 200 productive hours a month

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Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#71

Post by te_chris »

csdreamer7 wrote: post #28
te_chris wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even a just diagnosis as specific as ADHD. I was a chronic procrastinator due to anxiety and high expectations of perfectionism. Working with a psychologist using CBT has transformed my productivity by allowing me to learn that it's possible to let things not be 'perfect', whatever that meant anyway.

Thanks for posting this. I suffer from perfectionism too and it leads to a lot of procrastination. Realizing that getting things to 'okay' was fine was an important step for me, because my okay was often others 'good' or 'excellent'.

My pleasure. It was only about halfway through my course of CBT that procrastination and perfectionism came up as related to anxiety. It was a mind-blowing moment.

The weird thing was I knew it all, but something hadn't connected in my thinking that it was better to do/make/release things than to not. The mind is weird place.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#72

Post by justanotherjoe »

davymac wrote: post #63
tome wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add a counterpoint to all the apologetics, ADHD as a cause rather than as a symptom is a point of view dominant in the US and not shared by most of the rest of the world. If you're inclined to take drugs to try to fix it then so be it, but you might want to try behaviour change first. [FWIW this reply and "advice" is not directed at the parent, kobeya, but is a general point of information.]

Learned inattention is different from ADHD. The whole world has learned innattentive behavior at this point. This can be solved without medication fairly simply. ADHD or as Dr Russell Barkley calls it, Executive Function Disorder, is neurological in origin. By all means try behavior changes first, like you said, but if that works, it was never ADHD to begin with. Finding a youtube video of Dr Russell Barkley was a go…

> but if that works, it was never ADHD to begin with

You're putting yourself in an irrefutable position then.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#73

Post by empath75 »

>Such news don't actually inform us but spread sensationalism, negative emotions, and outright lies to capture attention. What do you gain from following the latest political crisis or some scandal? You can't do anything meaningful about these events. They only depress you and occupy space in your mind. It's better to direct your focus toward things that we can actually impact and improve.

This is a depressing point of view to have and dangerous to the future of democratic system.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#74

Post by coldtea »

taway_1212 wrote: post #59
coldtea wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is like telling depressed people to be happy or victims of violence with PTSD to 'grow a pair' and 'snap out of it'. It might go against the "just feed them drugs" mentality, but lots of times it totally works. They had plenty of "traumatic stress" before the 21st century, in all parts of the world -- huge wars, conflicts, disasters, even genocide. But those involved (like older friends and relatives that have…

> They had plenty of "traumatic stress" before the 21st century, in all parts of the world -- huge wars, conflicts, disasters, even genocide. But those involved (like older friends and relatives that have survived bombings and wars and dictatorship) also could grow a pair and snap out of it, and even thrive afterwards. To the contrary, I think the past generations of my family who have survived WW2 and Stalinism were…

Dunno, we have had huge WWII impact, dictatorship, civil war, and other such things in my parts, and they didn't impact much the generations involved in everyday life. I know tons of people that survived those events. Speaking to friends and relatives it was just things that happened. So it goes, etc.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#75

Post by dahauns »

taway_1212 wrote: post #59
coldtea wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is like telling depressed people to be happy or victims of violence with PTSD to 'grow a pair' and 'snap out of it'. It might go against the "just feed them drugs" mentality, but lots of times it totally works. They had plenty of "traumatic stress" before the 21st century, in all parts of the world -- huge wars, conflicts, disasters, even genocide. But those involved (like older friends and relatives that have…

> They had plenty of "traumatic stress" before the 21st century, in all parts of the world -- huge wars, conflicts, disasters, even genocide. But those involved (like older friends and relatives that have survived bombings and wars and dictatorship) also could grow a pair and snap out of it, and even thrive afterwards. To the contrary, I think the past generations of my family who have survived WW2 and Stalinism were…

As someone growing up in rural Austria in the 80s, when lots of grandfathers had been Wermacht soldiers, I firmly agree.

In hindsight, it was painfully obvious with so many of them. And the number of functional alcoholics (with often a rather loose definition of "functional") was huge.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#76

Post by dx034 »

emodendroket wrote: post #69

I don't believe anybody is really productive 200 hours in a month. Focus on fewer things if you feel you need to work 50 hours a week, every week.

It's 46 hours a week and if he works 6 days a week that would be 9h per day. Considering that he has no commute it's probably not more than a 40h workday for most people working in an office. Rather less than that.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#77

Post by azag0 »

crispinb wrote: post #60
welly wrote: post #45

Who works 200 hours a month? That's either five 10 hour days a week or roughly seven 7 hour days a week. My time off work is far, far too important to me to be working either of those options. It seems I value working less than other people. I'm fine with that.

From the article it looks like he works 7 days a week, in two 3hr+ sessions. Not so punishing perhaps in terms purely of hours, but .. really? Not even one day off a week? In 2017? > It seems I value working less than other people I don't know anyone who works 7 days a week.

It also seems that he works at least partially on his own stuff. For me personally, there is a big difference between working on something for someone, and working on my own ideas. The latter tires me much less.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#78

Post by dx034 »

tome wrote: post #46
kobeya wrote: post #8

> Two years ago I could spend a week not working because I was avoiding some task. This is a great article and there’s plenty to talk about in organizational systems, even if this seems to be subtly pitching his own products in places. But if anyone reading this identifies with this sort of chronic procrastination, consider seeking psychiatric help. This is a giant red flag for adult ADHD, which is a serious and ofte…

To add a counterpoint to all the apologetics, ADHD as a cause rather than as a symptom is a point of view dominant in the US and not shared by most of the rest of the world. If you're inclined to take drugs to try to fix it then so be it, but you might want to try behaviour change first. [FWIW this reply and "advice" is not directed at the parent, kobeya, but is a general point of information.]

What is most of the rest of the world? Most countries in Europe recognize it. International medical associations also recognize it. Are there countries where a psychiatrist would never diagnose ADHD?

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#79

Post by emodendroket »

dx034 wrote: post #76
emodendroket wrote: post #69

I don't believe anybody is really productive 200 hours in a month. Focus on fewer things if you feel you need to work 50 hours a week, every week.

It's 46 hours a week and if he works 6 days a week that would be 9h per day. Considering that he has no commute it's probably not more than a 40h workday for most people working in an office. Rather less than that.

I went for the simplifying but technically inaccurate "four weeks in a month."

Anyway, I'm not sure that commuting should be counted in the same bucket as work, but, more importantly, you seem to rather glibly gloss over having only one-day weekends. Like, OK, maybe I could do that a few weeks in a year, but all the time? It's a big difference.

Re: How I got to 200 productive hours a month

#80

Post by kerrsclyde »

deepGem wrote: post #29
kobeya wrote: post #8

> Two years ago I could spend a week not working because I was avoiding some task. This is a great article and there’s plenty to talk about in organizational systems, even if this seems to be subtly pitching his own products in places. But if anyone reading this identifies with this sort of chronic procrastination, consider seeking psychiatric help. This is a giant red flag for adult ADHD, which is a serious and ofte…

Can I ask what is considered chronic procrastination. For instance, I am sitting on a tax filing task for almost 2 months now. It's not gonna endanger my life, but it's one of those things I can't get my mind to do.

Do something, do anything. Set a timer for ridiculously small amount of time, 2mins or something, and do something towards it. Like just logging into the filling web site, or looking at the forms. More often than not this gives me the motivation to do more.

Easier said than done though!

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