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

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#281

Post by tvanantwerp » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

thecatspaw wrote: post #12

andai wrote: 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.

Something I learned in, I think, Atomic Habits that helped me with this sort of reasoning:

It's not about that first day to fail to do the thing. It's about the day after.

That is to say, of course your chain will be broken. And probably for entirely rational reasons! The trick is really internalizing that inevitability and not beating yourself up over it. You have to learn to say, "Yes, I got derailed for this period; that's OK, and now I'll get back on track."

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#282

Post by unnouinceput » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:15 PM UTC

This works for everything except one big case. Project with 90% of work done but the last 10% is the one holding the project to be released because it's a hard but core functionality of it and all previous programmers didn't touch it/knew how and the customer is adamant about it. So I get the ugliest part with the high expectation from the client to be finished fast. I usually avoid this type of projects as well, but in few cases where I did it I found the only working solution is the rubber duck one.

Usually I use my wife (non-technical person) as the rubber duck and I explain to her, while she is in the kitchen cooking, all the steps I need to do in order to complete the last 10%. After the 2 hours filling her head with technical details, to which she pays absolutely 0 attention to it, I can do it.

So, tldr; -> rubber duck technique.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#283

Post by aeturnum » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:15 PM UTC

JonathanFly wrote: post #3

>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…

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#284

Post by MetalGuru » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:20 PM UTC

kortex wrote: post #163

yodsanklai wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes I have a really hard time to start working on some tasks and I think it is linked to anxiety and stress, not mere laziness . As long as there are no big expectations (like when exercising), I have usually no procrastination issues.

There's a name for that phenomenon, the Wall of Awful: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg

Absolutely loved this (and the second part)

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#285

Post by shiftless » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #154

Mirioron wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gra…

I had the same insight. If I'm having trouble bringing myself to do something, there is usually a good reason for it. Often it's because there is more thinking needed, or some other fundamental underlying reason. It's smart to learn to trust one's instincts, and to examine things more deeply, instead of trying to forcibly overpower one's subconscious.

On a related note, some people say that smoking weed doesn't make you lazy, it just makes you realize that the thing you were about to do isn't worth the effort. Also true.

What I have learned from decades of smoking weed and observing things, is that this society has absolutely no idea what the hell it's doing. It's a bunch of kids who are desperately pretending to be adults. The "reasons" given for the things people do are mostly just rationalizations and excuses. At least 90% of these things people are trying to force themselves to do, they likely shouldn't be doing in the first place.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#286

Post by blaser-waffle » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:27 PM UTC

JshWright wrote: post #230

alexfoo wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couch to 5k (a.k.a. C25K) is a popular way to build up slowly and steadily. Once you're up to running 5k three times a week (which is roughly where the plan leaves you) you can limit both volume and max distance increases to 10% per week. I used to run 5-6 times a week with a usual volume of 50k/week so adding in another 1-2 gentle 5k recovery jogs to do a minimum of 5k every day wouldn't be difficult at all. But tha…

In my (totally unprofessional) opinion, C25K progresses too quickly for most people. It think the "None to Run" variant is better (and emphasizes that repeating weeks is normal, and even expected)

Agreed. I joined the military out of HS and got hurt in a car accident. Nothing serious but enough to keep my from PT-ing for a little. They had me do something like C25K as part of rehab -- lots of run a lap, walk a lap, repeat x 10, with increasing amounts of running as I progressed. Worked okay, got back to reasonably fit in a couple of months.

Few years later I'm a softbody IT guy looking to shape up, and decided to follow the reddit C25K sub -- it killed my shins. Bad splints, had to cut out running for a while. I got there eventually but I think 60 minutes of biking or eliptical + leg workouts did more for me than the C25K (as written) did.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#287

Post by NoodleIncident » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

cgriswald wrote: post #272

tripzilch wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same thing Valakas is describing. Which of the "you"'s is remembering the next time, "yeah but 30 minutes that's not how it went last time"? (also, I don't think body-you would say "we have a lot to do today"?)

Body-You will say anything to get what it wants, including “We don’t have time.” I’m calling it Body-You but, at least for me, it’s really a collection of parts of my mind that are against the action. As for the “lying”, Body-You knows it is not a lie but doesn’t care. If You believes You is lying, Body-You is more than happy to use that as yet another excuse.

Personally I call these two people the "Planner" and the "Doer". Neither of them start out with bad intentions, but only one of them has to actually do things in the present moment, so resentment can definitely build up between the two.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#288

Post by Ma8ee » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

bityard wrote: post #274

Ma8ee wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the point they are trying to make, but I still think the anecdote is harmful. It gives the impression that it is more important to put in the work than any real effort. The only thing you’ll be good at after producing 1000 crappy pots is producing crappy pots.

I think you are over-simplifying the situation. Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers popularized the notion that a person needs on average 10,000 hours of practice to truly master a given task. A lot of people took this to mean, "if you put in 10,000 hours of practice, you will become a master." This is not true. The 10,000 hours of practice is necessary, but not sufficient. The practice has to be _intentional_, guided, g…

That was exactly my point. It is harmful to believe that mindless practicing, or pottery, will make you a master just because you put in the time or prescribed number of pots. How am I oversimplifying?

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#289

Post by kbutler » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:38 PM UTC

Valakas_ wrote: post #160

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…

The grandparent didn't say, "I'll just walk", but rather "I'll at least walk."

Give yourself permission to only walk. That way, if you later feel like running, you can still get that extra benefit as well, without breaking some promise to yourself, and if you just feel like walking the whole time, no problem there, either.

Note that if this relationship of explicitly limited commitments with yourself is preeminent, your goal should be "go out exercising each day" rather than "run 5km each day".

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#290

Post by triceratops » Tue, Jan 21, 2020, 7:49 PM UTC

Valakas_ wrote: post #160

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…

> because then I learn that "yeah you say just walking but we both know it will end up in running."

And this doesn't motivate you? For me it's actually more motivating: I only have to muster enough willpower to start walking, not to run, but I'll end up having a good workout anyway.