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Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

deprocrastination.co

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Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#91

I have a nagging feeling that any time we have to force ourselves to do a task, something is wrong at a fundamental level; that we are somehow out-of-tune with nature; that contemporary society is missing a key insight about our minds and the way we organize our work. An eagle doesn't force itself to hunt for food; it just hunts. I can't imagine it having to psych itself up simply to be. Looking for and harnessing th…

I kind of agree, but if you take the premise of Sapiens that homo sapiens is distinct from other animals in ability to organize around stories rather than more immediate drivers of behaviour - then this may just be part of the human condition.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#92

I'd like to share this post[0]: The last two weeks I made it a goal to run 5km every morning. A few times, particularly today, I felt lazy and run down, but I got out of bed anyway and told myself that I'll at least walk. The next thing I know I'm running and feeling amazing and on to set one of my better times. The point: When you tell yourself "just one more game" or "just one more post", or "just one more video" a…

This is a technique often employed to help people suffering from anxiety, you can always break something down into smaller tasks and eventually you'll get to a point where the task feels doable.

Also basically programming in a nutshell.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#93

I have a nagging feeling that any time we have to force ourselves to do a task, something is wrong at a fundamental level; that we are somehow out-of-tune with nature; that contemporary society is missing a key insight about our minds and the way we organize our work. An eagle doesn't force itself to hunt for food; it just hunts. I can't imagine it having to psych itself up simply to be. Looking for and harnessing th…

I kind of agree, but if you take the premise of Sapiens that homo sapiens is distinct from other animals in ability to organize around stories rather than more immediate drivers of behaviour - then this may just be part of the human condition.

Yeah, I'm not arguing that we are simply like other animals, but rather that we aren't organizing our work efforts in a way more cognizant of our nature. Instead, most productivity advice seems to be about fooling or 'hacking' yourself into being some sort of machine.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#94

I'd like to share this post[0]: The last two weeks I made it a goal to run 5km every morning. A few times, particularly today, I felt lazy and run down, but I got out of bed anyway and told myself that I'll at least walk. The next thing I know I'm running and feeling amazing and on to set one of my better times. The point: When you tell yourself "just one more game" or "just one more post", or "just one more video" a…

I damaged my shin bones because I was running too much too soon and currently taking 2 months break. Side note, I used to run 20k every week, then stopped.

Be careful of the problem on the opposite side of the spectrum: your body might not be able to keep up with your motivation.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#95
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 5km run is probably between 30-45min activity. If you run at a medium pace, I don't think that would be an issue. If run as fast as you can, I agree that you should take breaks.

Depends on what your body is telling you. If your kneed are killing you half way through you might want to stop and take a break for a few days.

Or change shoes - my knees constantly hurt whenever I ran until I switched to more barefoot style shoes.

Really transformed running for me. It went from something I was terrible at, which hurt and I hated, to something I merely hated.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#96
post #9

Anyone 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.

Rather than creating an unbreakable chain, I have a big calendar on the wall with a big X on days when I exercise. Some weeks I travel (or get lazy) and there is a gap, but I find that gap to be as motivating as the Xs are. I'm on year 3 of doing this and it's still motivating to see the Xs fill the calendar.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#97

I'd like to share this post[0]: The last two weeks I made it a goal to run 5km every morning. A few times, particularly today, I felt lazy and run down, but I got out of bed anyway and told myself that I'll at least walk. The next thing I know I'm running and feeling amazing and on to set one of my better times. The point: When you tell yourself "just one more game" or "just one more post", or "just one more video" a…

I damaged my shin bones because I was running too much too soon and currently taking 2 months break. Side note, I used to run 20k every week, then stopped. Be careful of the problem on the opposite side of the spectrum: your body might not be able to keep up with your motivation.

I think this could do more with your running form and listening to your body than your will that kept you going. It might be worth checking out your form with a running coach. Either way, wishing you a speedy recovery.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So cheat! If you use a physical calendar, you can mark those days with another symbol, like an arrow to show that the chain carries on. If you use an app, you can mark the day anyway, knowing that you had a legitimate reason to skip it. Think of all the benefits you would get from practicing 95% of the days marked, compared to a much lower percent without the chain. Don't let the 5% or 1% stop you. As an aside, this…

>As an aside, this is my view of veganism. When I talk to people who say they can't go vegan because they'd miss cheese too much, or kebab, or whatever, I suggest they go vegan and keep eating cheese or kebab. 95% is a lot better than nothing!

This is pretty much how I'm doing veganism, every meal I make at home is vegan. But I eat the occasional cheese and kebab. But I find myself replacing those with vegan/vegetarian alternatives more and more.

Also do vegan > vegetarian > normal food when going out. Without it becoming annoying. It's really uncommon to find a restaurant with vegan options around here, but vegetarian is pretty common.

I personally don't do chains either, as I really prefer being able to do things spontaneously. I approach the tasks I set for myself that way as well, so I end up doing things like squats when I have some dead minutes to fill in a day.

Basically doing anything is better than doing nothing, and often times you find yourself doing more than what you set out to do.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#100
I've a side project extension underdevelopment "Baitblock":

https://baitblock.app that helps people deal with this.

We've pretty advanced stuff coming up like in page distraction blocking using machine learning, 1st party tracking protection (deletes cookies on websites that you're not logged in to), TL;DR before clicking the link submitted by other Baitblock members, blocking sites (although it is pretty standard), etc. Keep in mind that the already implemented features have a few bugs (to put it politely), while the others are in development but this is very early preview (latest version is under store review that is shown in demo vid in site) :)

Since I'm from Pakistan, we dont have Stripe and Paypal here, so Baitblock is free for early people.

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