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Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

bbc.com

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Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#81

Post by neuronic »

graphpapa wrote: post #70
mettamage wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea but ultimately no. Too much of anything screws you over. Too much HN feels like hoarding huge piles of clothes in your house. Except, the clothes are knowledge. The problem is that you’re not structuring the knowledge inside your mind. This can be fine when reading an article but not when you read 20 to a 100 per day. I’ve been there, I wouldn’t be able to remember what I read. With that said, you do learn someth…

the antidote presumably being whatever a capsule wardrobe is for information

It's also the discipline to clean up, keep it ordered and throw things out that aren't useful anymore.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#82

Post by rl3 »

pgt wrote: post #54
rl3 wrote: post #38

> Chronic procrastination is linked with mental and physical health costs, from depression and anxiety ... I would argue that anxiety can actually be a cause of procrastination. It turns into a nasty feedback loop that can go something like this: Anxious -> Procrastination -> [Depression] -> More anxious -> Repeat Depression of course depending on the circumstances, but it stands to reason if you're a chronic procras…

Fascinating point about caffeine as a methylxanthine. My experience with caffeine is that it can help kickstart me into doing something I have been putting off, but easily overcompensates by making me start too many things at once and thereby worsening symptoms of ADD. I suspect this is related to caffeine's dopaminergic action (dopamine regulates anticipatory training): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#Effects…

Yeah, that's the same story with me. Normally I don't even consume caffeine for that reason.

On the occasions I do have it and attempt to accomplish something that requires focus, it elevates energy but worsens focus considerably, even in minute amounts. It's at best a fun way to spin my tires, and at worst the harbinger of productivity destruction.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#83

Post by psv1 »

I was incredibly unproductive during the first half of my 20s and procrastinated to the point of setting my career back a few years. Around the time I turned 26 I was suddenly able to actually do what I said I would, get stuff done, and in fact be extremely productive.

So even though I've overcome it myself, I have no idea what advice to give to someone who's struggling with procrastination.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#84

Post by TeMPOraL »

elfexec wrote: post #68

Isn't this like the 3rd or 4th post about procrastination on the frontpage the past few days? People seem to love to procrastinate by reading about procrastination. Haiku time. "Procrastinate by Reading articles about Procrastination"

Perhaps. HN has had a steady stream of procrastination articles ever since I remembered. They're of interest to those of us that come here to procrastinate :).

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#86

Post by TeMPOraL »

idclip wrote: post #14
adamnemecek wrote: post #2

Procrastination is a signal that you hate what you are supposed to be doing. Don't ignore it.

Not sure why youre being downvoted. There us alot of truth to that. Not all cases, but i believe many

Because GP phrased it as being absolute. Yeah, perhaps it's true for some. Frankly, those have it easy - there's a clear path to solving the problem: stop doing what you hate, perhaps first resolving the issue that forces you to do the things you hate.

For me and many others here, procrastination is completely orthogonal to whether you hate something or not. That complicates things, because you can't just switch tasks, or jobs, to solve the problem or even to recover your mental strength.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#87

Post by tarruda »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #80
tarruda wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I need to get good at generating my own feelings. This is why I play games and watch videos. I do it to feel something. I'm also videogame addict. I've found that listening to game music/soundtracks (mostly instrumental) while programming really helps me achieve the similar feelings and even motivates me to get stuff done.

Are you listening to music just from games you've played, or game music in general? I do listen a lot to music from games, movies and series for that emotional boost, but it always has to be something I've already played/watched and engaged with emotionally in the past. The music doesn't generate new emotions in me, it pulls on the past experiences. Listening to arbitrary soundtracks wouldn't work on me.

I also listen to music from games/movies I've never played/seen.

Sometimes I do get the emotional boost from music I've never heard before, but most of the times it is from games I played a long time ago.

I'm guessing that music plays a large role in the emotions passed when playing games or watching movies.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#89

Post by toyg »

rl3 wrote: post #38

> Chronic procrastination is linked with mental and physical health costs, from depression and anxiety ... I would argue that anxiety can actually be a cause of procrastination. It turns into a nasty feedback loop that can go something like this: Anxious -> Procrastination -> [Depression] -> More anxious -> Repeat Depression of course depending on the circumstances, but it stands to reason if you're a chronic procras…

> anxiety can actually be a cause of procrastination. It turns into a nasty feedback loop

That matches my experience. I've not been diagnosed with anything (I'm way too working-class for that), but the worst times of my life were due to this self-reinforcing loop of doom.

The worst part is that the first instinct is to address the procrastination, assuming that "doing" will reduce the causes of anxiety and the latter will just disappear by itself. That's not the case, or at least it wasn't for me - I had to take anxiety under control first.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#90

Post by OnACoffeeBreak »

gexla wrote: post #59

I have been remote working for many years. And I have done a handful of office working. I would have considered myself (probably wrongly) the worst procrastinator. It seemed like most of the people I worked with were able to get things done better than I could. And I have been on the "overwork" part of the spectrum where I'm all about working until burnout. It's about emotions, yes. But that's not very specific. This…

>Fixing a procrastination problem probably takes more of a gut feel than an attempt to understand it.

The article mentions mindfulness and I think it can replace the gut feel as a way to understand the root cause of procrastination. One can literally observe what is happening in your mind and body and what is happening around you before, during and after procrastination events and work from there to address anything you want to change. Learning about and practicing self-compassion [1] should, IMHO, help deal with it as well.

1: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b357/87b9b21486d00458e85f8b...

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