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Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

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Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#1

Post by prothrowaway »

I've been trying to get into programming jobs for the last 4 years. I've been at 3 companies but I haven't lasted longer than 6 months at any of them. I just can't seem to get anything done at work. I don't think I've ever written any code that is used in production.

I've also tried free lancing but I've had the same kind of problems. I got a freelance job to build a property database for a local realtor. I managed to get started on the project but quickly got overwhelmed. After feeling overwhelmed I never touched the code again and felt too nervous to email the client back. This has happened a couple of times before with freelancing.

I've been for a psychological assesement and was told I had no problems. The doctor I spoke to suggested maybe I just wasn't suited to employment in a company and maybe I should start my own thing. That's what I decided to do.

I had an idea that I'd like to develop and managed to make a very simple prototype. I invested all my savings in the company but now feel like I'm under so much pressure from myself that I can't do anything. The day I set up the company I spent the entire day in bed because I felt like I couldn't face doing anything.

I feel like I've tried everything. All sorts of to do lists, books on procrastination, exercise, keeping myself accountable to other people and so on. I just can't seem to get started doing anything, and when I do it feels so painful that I can't continue. Occasionally, maybe once every 3 months or so, I'll have a day where I get lots done and I'm really focused, but I've never been able to work out how these days are different from any other day. I always go to bed feeling great at what I've achieved and then wake up to another day of nothing.

I'm going to visit a doctor again next month, but I wondered if hacker news could offer any insight on the situation. Is there anyone else who had a disastrous level of procrastination who has managed to turn it around?

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#2

Post by andymoe »

Couple of ideas that I’ve used when working on and through my own stuff.

1) Track your time. Pay for a time tracking app (one that has a timer you can start and stop) and “bill” to your own projects.

2) Renegotiate commitments to yourself and others. Sounds like you get overwhelmed and this pushes you toward depression.

3) Talk to a professional if you have insurance or can afford it. Mental health is no joke especially in this industry. It’s ok to realize you need help figuring yourself out. Otherwise, find like minded folks you can talk to, on a regular basis, in person.

4) Work Sustainably, you don’t need to get lots done everyday, you need to get enough done for many many days.

Hope some of this is useful. Feel free (anyone) to reach out if you want to chat more.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#3

Post by sharemywin »

you can try finding another type of work that you might enjoy more. If you don't like coding you shouldn't try making yourself do it every day. what do you do when you aren't coding? you could be addicted to electronics also. just some random thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#4

Post by sharemywin »

andymoe wrote: post #2

Couple of ideas that I’ve used when working on and through my own stuff. 1) Track your time. Pay for a time tracking app (one that has a timer you can start and stop) and “bill” to your own projects. 2) Renegotiate commitments to yourself and others. Sounds like you get overwhelmed and this pushes you toward depression. 3) Talk to a professional if you have insurance or can afford it. Mental health is no joke especia…

you can also try breaking down the task into the smallest task possible. just get one small thing done. usually once you get started it becomes easier. I hate setting up environments but once I get coding I enjoy it. Although I don't enjoy it as much. It's started to get repetitive.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#5

Post by _ah »

Sounds like classic Fear Of Failure to me. The longer you procrastinate, the more is riding on your "perfect" solution or performance, and the more daunting the project becomes. You need to realize that failure is allowed, and that it's forward movement that matters. Alwasy try, then learn from the outcome. If you learn you never truly "fail".

To gain confidence, you need to power through by sheer force of will. A few tricks may help:

1. Decompose your tasks. Then decompose them more. Keep breaking down tasks into absurdly small pieces until they seem less intimidating. Then force yourself to do them, one at a time. If you can't, break it down more. "I will create an empty database." "I will list the first table I need to create." "I will fill out 5 columns in that table." "If I miss a column it's ok and I'll fix it later." "I will get my build environment running, and displaying hello world." "I will log into the database." etc etc etc.

2. Time limits. "I promise I will work on this thing for 1 hour, with no distractions, and then I am allowed to..."

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with disastrous levels of procrastination?

#6

Post by prothrowaway »

andymoe wrote: post #2

Couple of ideas that I’ve used when working on and through my own stuff. 1) Track your time. Pay for a time tracking app (one that has a timer you can start and stop) and “bill” to your own projects. 2) Renegotiate commitments to yourself and others. Sounds like you get overwhelmed and this pushes you toward depression. 3) Talk to a professional if you have insurance or can afford it. Mental health is no joke especia…

Thanks for your advice.

1)I've been time tracking in toggl for about 2 months now and all it has done is confirm that I spend too much time doing nothing. It's not unusualy for "Procrastinating online" to be over 60 hours in one week. I'll start thinking "Ok, I just gotta do one little thing" at 9am, and then 6pm rolls around and I've spent another 8 hours browsing the internet.

2) I don't actually have many commitments. I have very little paid work at the moment (less than I need to live) and I'm only surviving because I have inheritance. I formed my company a few months ago but I haven't managed to release a product yet.

3) I have an appointment booked for in a months time.

4) I realise that I need to be more consistent, but I've never managed to crack the 'how'. The only thing I've ever managed to be consistent at was going to the gym, and that was because I would put it before all other commitments. It would often be the only thing I do in a day. Even then, I've never really met any of my gym goals, even after 4 years.

Sorry to be so negative. It just seems like everyone around me can just "do work" like magic. If someone offered me the choice between ending procrastination and $1 billion dollars I would leave the money on the table without a second thought.

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