Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it • Hacker News Board

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#151

Post by codekansas » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:20 PM UTC

cjfd wrote: post #144

It may not always be wise to start working despite not feeling it. One could burn out that way. Scott H. Young write an article about this recently. https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2020/01/13/too-tired/ I have also experienced this. When I got my first job I actually tried to work all the time, besides the occasional breaks, ignoring feelings of tiredness. This got to the point where I was feeling tired pretty much…

I wonder how much of this is because of physiological aspects that have to change to keep up with your other lifestyle changes. Brain exercise takes energy, and you might just not used to eating and sleeping enough to maintain that level of exercise.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#152

Post by pritovido » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:22 PM UTC

sandos wrote: post #107

laurieg wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

Yeah, people forget that we are animals too.

We get as conditioned as Pavlov dogs. If every time you get out mountainbiking you suffer, you create an anchor mountainbiking = suffering.

if you do it a lot, it gets reinforced a lot, and your body subcounciously will oppose it.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#153

Post by secfirstmd » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:23 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #143

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 wish I had this written down somewhere, but I don't; perhaps it's well known enough that someone else can correct my mediocre paraphrasing: A Marine once told a civilian that everyone is programmed to believe their 80% remaining is their 0% remaining, and the courageous work of realizing that limitation is what unlocks the extreme feats that someone so well physically and mentally conditioned can undergo. I'm not m…

It's primarily because in the military you get used to the ideas that you are in big trouble if you are not on time and also that you cannot fail (failure may mean death). That plus the quiet confidence you gain in yourself and others helps add some of that extra sauce.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#154

Post by keiferski » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:25 PM UTC

Mirioron wrote: post #146

keiferski wrote: post #87

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…

What you're thinking of is delayed gratification. An eagle doesn't have to force itself to go hunt, because physiological processes tell it that it needs to hunt. It's the same reason you don't have to psych yourself up to go have lunch - your body desires lunch. Humans have evolved to sometimes delay their gratification. That is, we don't hunt and eat our catch immediately, but instead we hunt and preserve the food…

I'm talking about something much deeper, more fundamental, than delayed gratification. For example:

> Delayed gratification tends to lead to better outcomes in the long term

These outcomes are mostly considered better because they are made in the context of the system we live in. Often they are only better in the sense that they solve a problem which the system caused in the first place. E.g. if you can delay the gratification of eating food now, you'll be fitter later. But is this actually a problem (being overweight) that existed for human beings prior to the current system?

What I'm saying is - perhaps we should question whether being successful within our societal system is actually the same as being successful as human beings. There are plenty of people considered "successful" which are miserable and unhappy on a day-to-day basis.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#155

Post by spodek » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:27 PM UTC

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…

People ask me why I take cold showers regularly, post to my blog daily, and never miss my burpee-based twice-daily calisthenics over more than a decade (approaching 150,000 cumulative burpees).

Among many reasons, developing the skill to do what I said I would is tremendously valuable. Without these habits, I lacked discipline and thought to avoid tricks, which I thought of as short-term cheats. The habits developed discipline in me and revealed that developing tricks is the way to make habits work.

I have no doubt that the most accomplished people use tricks to do their most valuable activities -- athletes, politicians, business leaders, whatever.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#156

Post by kortex » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:28 PM UTC

bemmu wrote: post #127

agumonkey wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I toyed with this feeling. Not to repeat the dopamine theory we see everywhere.. but it feels that most of the web really ends up in the low hanging easy pleasure of our brain, and any moment of struggle will tickle that reflex. And when you ignore/fight it for a second... You (at least I) can sense blood pressure change in my brain and then the thinking side of my head goes back into rhythm again. Thinking is a plea…

Can relate to that ”moment of struggle”. Thinking about stopping the use of any dev tools that don’t have instant feedback, as having to wait a few seconds for something (currently deploying to google app engine mostly) makes me instantly alt-tab to reddit.

Trivial inconveniences are huge. For years, I could not get myself to floss. I had no problem with the brushing habit. So then I tried using those floss-picks instead of the reel. Bam, flossing rate went from about once a month to every other day.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#157

Post by notkaiho » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

danielbln wrote: post #135

bemmu wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can relate to that ”moment of struggle”. Thinking about stopping the use of any dev tools that don’t have instant feedback, as having to wait a few seconds for something (currently deploying to google app engine mostly) makes me instantly alt-tab to reddit.

I've been finding this browser extension very useful: https://prodtodolist.com/ It will block the time waster websites you configure and will block them for you until you've ticked off the list. It's simple but effective for catching that mindless ctrl+t -> reddit reflex.

This deserves attention as a well-made, easy-to-use and productivity-increasing little tool. Really cool.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#158

Post by amonroe805 » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:31 PM UTC

I'd like to submit an another interesting motivational tactic along these lines: The Christian/Catholic practice of Lent.

I've observed many friends who practice Lent make major life changes that are hard to make at any one time (going vegan, quitting smoking, etc.) because of how major they are. Lent helps because the change is "only for Lent", but I observe that many people carry those changes on indefinitely.

Lent helped them trick themselves into taking on a major lifestyle alteration alongside a major support network of many other people doing the same thing. But once you've built a habit for a month, what's one more month? I think there's a lot of value in this tradition done well.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#159

Post by matwood » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:33 PM UTC

digitalsushi wrote: post #143

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 wish I had this written down somewhere, but I don't; perhaps it's well known enough that someone else can correct my mediocre paraphrasing: A Marine once told a civilian that everyone is programmed to believe their 80% remaining is their 0% remaining, and the courageous work of realizing that limitation is what unlocks the extreme feats that someone so well physically and mentally conditioned can undergo. I'm not m…

In general people have way more capacity than they believe. Our worlds are built around immediate, short term gratification. I find that doing something everyday that's uncomfortable helps me stay out of the short term gratification trap. Getting up early when the alarm goes off, exercising, intermittent fasting, BJJ, are all things that at times are hard and uncomfortable, but they are a constant reminder of the capacity that we as humans have to excel.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#160

Post by Valakas_ » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 1:36 PM UTC

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…

For me that doesn't work because then I learn that "yeah you say just walking but we both know it will end up in running." What works instead is I promise I will walk. And then I actually only walk even if I feel like running. That way you will trust yourself. If I say "ok i go to the gym 30 mins. just for a quick training." Then even if I'm in the flow at minute 30, I stop and go home. Next time I remember that and I know that if I say 30 it will be 30 and not more, that creates a trust in yourself that you're not trying to trick yourself into doing something you don't want to.