>Billionaire Richard Branson has a catchphrase: "Screw it, let's do it" He is a black swan. Britain has only one Richard Branson and that is Richard Branson.
Sir Richard Branson is British.
His successes were in the United States
Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
41–50 of 378 posts
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#42Anyone tried using a chain calendar? I used an app that tracked how many days in a row I meditated and that's the first time in my life I was able to do a good habit consistently for 15 days straight. I didn't want to break the chain! Later I used the same idea for studying every day, started with a few minutes and worked it up slowly. Eventually, I was able to concentrate for long periods of time. That sense of mome…
I thought about doing the chains, but I was always held back by the thought of having to break the chain for legit reasons. For example I'm currently practicing guitar, so I'd create a chain for that. But there are legit reasons why I can not play at a given day, I might not be able to access a Guitar because Im in a Hotel in a different country, or a myriad of other reasons.
Duolingo has streaks built in but it allows you to buy a "Streak freeze" with a virtual currency that you earn by just using the app. When you skip a day, the freeze will be automatically consumed and you have to buy another. You also can't have more than one.
I find this system very effective without being frustrating. Even when you skip a day, you have to at least open the app to buy a new freeze.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#43Three advices given by the article - and many more - was given in "Rework" book (by creators of basecamp). Book worth reading, even though many advices are, well, obvious.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#44Anyone tried using a chain calendar? I used an app that tracked how many days in a row I meditated and that's the first time in my life I was able to do a good habit consistently for 15 days straight. I didn't want to break the chain! Later I used the same idea for studying every day, started with a few minutes and worked it up slowly. Eventually, I was able to concentrate for long periods of time. That sense of mome…
Sounds like a good idea, what app did you use?
There is one on f-droid called loop habit tracker. Might be on the play store too
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#45Anyone tried using a chain calendar? I used an app that tracked how many days in a row I meditated and that's the first time in my life I was able to do a good habit consistently for 15 days straight. I didn't want to break the chain! Later I used the same idea for studying every day, started with a few minutes and worked it up slowly. Eventually, I was able to concentrate for long periods of time. That sense of mome…
I thought about doing the chains, but I was always held back by the thought of having to break the chain for legit reasons. For example I'm currently practicing guitar, so I'd create a chain for that. But there are legit reasons why I can not play at a given day, I might not be able to access a Guitar because Im in a Hotel in a different country, or a myriad of other reasons.
By the time you really care about breaking long chain, you might find that you no longer need it as you actually enjoy what you are doing or developed a habit.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#46>Start sloppy >Another trick to start sloppy - you might have high expectations of your finished work. >You want to write a great book, not just a good one. Or create a stellar artwork, or start a great business. >All those expectations can put more pressure on you than you can bear, leading you to avoid it by procrastinating. >Instead, you can escape those expectations by starting deliberately badly. I use this one…
It's often easier to add to something that already exists than to start something new from scratch. And when you're the one who created the thing in the first place, it's that much easier to make the improvements.
Even if the initial thing is so terrible it needs to be redone completely, at least you figured out what you don't want. All while getting into the habit of doing the thing.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
This idea is captured nicely in the book "Art and Fear" with the following anecdote: "The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroo…
Maybe this works for potters but I don't think it'd work for developers. If a compSci lecturer suggested one group would get an A for writing a perfect, bug free app and the other group would get an A for writing 50,000 lines of code, I wouldn't expect the group writing as much code as they could to make the best app.
I think it does work for developers. You also learn programming by doing it, rather than by thinking about it. Write 50 apps, and your 50th is bound to be better than if you start out trying to write the perfect app on your first try.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
This idea is captured nicely in the book "Art and Fear" with the following anecdote: "The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroo…
Maybe this works for potters but I don't think it'd work for developers. If a compSci lecturer suggested one group would get an A for writing a perfect, bug free app and the other group would get an A for writing 50,000 lines of code, I wouldn't expect the group writing as much code as they could to make the best app.
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Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#49I'm needing this a lot right now for a massive project to deliver at work. I get so tangled up in the mess of trying to make it perfect or thinking that I'm not approaching the problem in the best way that I end up twiddling my thumbs for hours, pretty much doing nothing worthwhile the whole time.
I'll be trying these out tomorrow and see how deprocrastinated I can get before veering off again.
Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it
#50Keep this pinned on top of Hacker news, please.