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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

#101

Post by rimliu »

klik99 wrote: post #73
onion2k wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Knuth suggests, in TAOCP, that the best way to write a program is to write it once, scrap it completely and rewrite from scratch. Very much in line with spending an entire semester making one perfect program vs spending a semester writing and rewriting new programs from scratch.

First pass: you figure out which problems need to be solved. Second pass: you already "what" figured out, now you can focus on how to do it nicely.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#103

Post by pas »

scandinavegan wrote: post #84
echelon wrote: post #19

I have ADHD, so this is a constant struggle. Make sure the thing you have to do is something you want to do. While you can procrastinate on the things you're truly interested in, ultimately you're more likely to follow through with the things that interest you than the other random tasks that require doing. Writing that design doc, report, or review at work? Meh. I drag my feet until I'm the last person in the office…

I don't have an ADHD diagnosis, but I struggle with procrastination. Does it help you at all to have external recipients of your work, or does it not factor in at all in what gets done? It helps me if I tell someone else "I'll send you the report today", because it makes me more accountable. I'll probably delay it until panicking at the end of the day, but I will at least hammer something out and send it off. Or wors…

Not OP, but.

It helps, because eventually people will start to call you and inquire about the thing you promised them. This of course causes anxiety.

Eventually, after spending enormous amounts of energy on riding that guilt wave some work gets done, typically at night.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#104

Post by sailfast »

Ma8ee wrote: post #30

One thing that really has helped me with e.g. writing an email that I dread writing is to just write a draft that I don't plan to do anything else with than use as a starting point when I write the real email that I won't write until tomorrow. Often the draft is good enough to send after only small edits. Or the writing of the draft have helped me to clarify my thoughts enough, combined with a night of processing, th…

This is a good strategy for contentious topics. That said, I would argue that the best thing in this situation to get the task done is to call the person. That way you can hear them, react to them, and the task is done at the end of the call. That said, I don’t know anything about your email, audience, etc so you do what works for you.

My underlying hypothesis is that too many people are afraid of making phone / video calls, but it’s a much better way of getting difficult things done sometimes.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#105

Post by spai2 »

BaitBlock wrote: post #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),…

This looks cool! Thanks for making it available for free. Awaiting Firefox support so that I can give this a try.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#106

Post by laurieg »

e19293001 wrote: post #29

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 like the idea and I'm glad it works for some people but I tried it and often I would get out the door with all my running gear on and then turn back around and give up. Something about thinking about it like this made it easier to give up.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#107

Post by sandos »

laurieg wrote: post #106
e19293001 wrote: post #29

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 like the idea and I'm glad it works for some people but I tried it and often I would get out the door with all my running gear on and then turn back around and give up. Something about thinking about it like this made it easier to give up.

I recently started mountainbiking, and I often excert myself way too much to the point of having to get off the bike and just resting. After watching the tedx talk "How "normal people" can train like the worlds best endurance athletes" I made it a thing to go out on the bike and _be slow_. Just go as slow as possible up the hills instead of almost collapsing.

Now I feel like going out almost all the time instead of thinking "ooh, wow I was sooo tired the last time I was on the trail!". Made it much much easier to keep a routine of getting out regularly. Also my pace is much more even, and actually not much slower in total on my "slow" runs, since I never have to stop and rest.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#108

Post by Aeolun »

e19293001 wrote: post #29

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…

Just one more line of code always leads to me leaving work at 20:30 :/

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#109

Post by humansvsrobots »

ypcx wrote: post #90

Be aware that the brain is a power-hungry/power-intensive organ. Give the brain (and body) enough nutrients they need for functioning. The brain (and the body) enters a power-save mode if not fed properly, which may manifest as reluctance to work (to perform deeper thought) and result in procrastination and worse, in depression. Don't try to replace real nutrients with coffee or other stimulants - these work great on…

That's probably the most effective way to increase productivity. I would automate this if I could.
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