Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time • Hacker News Board

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#241

Post by anthonypasq » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #231

I wonder how much procrastination is due to people doing things they dont really want to do. Ie people doing a course and University not because its their dream its because everyone expects then to go there and that course is a route to a good career. Combined with hot housed kids that were given lots of homework but no time to play. Its a recipe for office blocks full of people doing respectable jobs they don't real…

Well of course thats the case. The issue is that most people giving the choice would just relax all day.

You'll have a hard time convincing me successful people arent just born lucky enough to really enjoy something that the capitalist system values.

They don't view their work as a grueling exercise in self-motivation and discipline. They genuinely enjoy it and couldnt picture themselves doing something different.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#242

Post by newqer » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:45 PM UTC

hathym wrote: post #108

here I am procrastinating by reading about procrastination instead of working on my dream project...

Same here! I've read so much about it, I think i could write a thesis about the subject. But you know.. Before a project is finished, it needs to start first :)

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#243

Post by NegatioN » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

swiley wrote: post #227

noodle_face_ wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide a little elaboration on "the worst to be around"? What makes it like that for you?

I don’t know, they’re less self aware and extremely assertive? They’re usually way louder.

I've recently started treatment with lisdexamphetamine and I feel like sometimes there's certainly a sense of being less restricted than when I'm not using it. And sometimes I feel a sense of (maybe unsubstantiated) confidence that I don't have without it.

Sometimes that's for the better, and sometimes it might be for the worse. I also feel very interested in doing good work, and learning more. Which means I'm not the most social person on our team, although I think I'm well enough liked, I'm not after-work friends with that many of them.

The social aspect is probably the most important aspect of success at work (moving up, political support, getting that money etc), but for now I'm really enjoying being able to focus my energy on a task and not get distracted by every little sound,thought or movement happening around me.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#244

Post by moron4hire » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

When I first started Escitalopram (Lexapro), I noticed a marked improvement in my ability to get things done. I was a big exploiter of "productive procrastination", where I would work on smaller jobs to procrastinate bigger ones. With the anti-anxiety medication, that stopped completely, and it became pretty clear that it was feelings of anxiety towards that big/unknown/unbounded/boring/detestable job that was fueling the procrastination.

Unfortunately, after about a year and a half, that all went away. Those baseless feelings of doom towards nebulously defined work creeped back. I found myself getting irritated at little things again. And on top of that, my work life had gotten significantly better, so it wasn't like I could blame stress anymore. The drugs just seemed to stop fulfilling their beneficial purpose, leaving me only with the side-effects (insomnia, teeth-grinding, anorgasmia). So I weaned myself off.

Still irritable, but at least I can get to sleep at night, which is having a bigger effect on the irritability than the drugs did.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#245

Post by blaser-waffle » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

simongr3dal wrote: post #200

neuronic wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is a bit odd if you are human, but let me explain this in short terms. Modern lifestyle has stripped many of us of essential, real problems. By far not all, of course, but definitely the generally well-paid IT crowd on HN. So instead of hustling to survive like a maid in 1929 Berlin (I am watching Babylon Berlin right now) what's left over are luxury problems, especially if you're in the double income no…

I like to think that Maslov's Hierachy of Needs has a deeper meaning than just describing that you shouldn't buy an iPhone before you have food in the fridge or whatever. The sort of emotions and problems being felt at the higher levels of the hierachy are just as important to the psyche as the emotions and problems being felt at the lower levels of the hierachy. Even if it is "first world problems", not being fulfil…

When examined and compared, Maslow's Self-Actualization -- the top of his pyramid of needs -- and Nietzsche's Will To Power are practically the same thing. Both exist to, in some part, address the emotional problems at the top levels of the hierarchy, as well as the more practical implications of personal growth.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#246

Post by jmcqk6 » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #231

I wonder how much procrastination is due to people doing things they dont really want to do. Ie people doing a course and University not because its their dream its because everyone expects then to go there and that course is a route to a good career. Combined with hot housed kids that were given lots of homework but no time to play. Its a recipe for office blocks full of people doing respectable jobs they don't real…

I can't speak generally, but specifically for me, procrastination is more about perfectionism than avoiding something I don't want to do.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#247

Post by RookyNumbas » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:52 PM UTC

wtetzner wrote: post #204

INGELRII wrote: post #124

As the society advances and problems are solved for us, we are left with the most central core problem, ourselves. Related to concepts like 'agency', 'impulse control', 'willpower', 'restraint', 'free will', 'delayed gratification' are connected to our status and self image. If you think humans as AI systems, we are facing issues with our reward function. Short term reward seems to overrule long term planning and goa…

Part of the problem is that making the "right" decision requires knowing the future. Sometimes procrastination is actually valuable. I've had many situations where I've been putting something off for a long time, and then eventually it turns out I didn't need to do that thing after all. Doing it would have ended up being a waste of time. The problem is that you can't predict which things are important to do early and…

What you're describing is more like general uncertainty of the future. Procrastination is when those uncertainties have collapsed into pressing realities that need to be handled. And then you don't do them anyways.

Putting off learning a new framework because you're not sure if it will be useful isn't really procrastination. Not preparing for your interview tomorrow is.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#248

Post by newqer » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:53 PM UTC

kuerbel wrote: post #20

temporaryvector wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not always true. I frequently procrastinate on things that I actively enjoy doing and want to do. There are times when I want nothing more than to be doing something and I still procrastinate doing it. This applies to things that aren't work or aren't productive just the same, things that take little effort like watching a series or playing a video game. Medication does make it a lot better and I don't procrastinate…

I don't take medication even though I'm diagnosed with ADD. I guess there is the procrastination from ADD and the one talked about in the article. The one from ADD makes me do... nothing. I feel paralyzed somehow. I scream at myself in my mind to finally start the task, I know I have to but my body won't move. It's hard to explain. Then there is the procrastination as described in the article. I think it makes me do…

I was diagnosed with ADD later in life. I started medication and it helped the first year. After that it went down hill quite fast. The thing is you can laser focus with medication. This means that if you are a procrastinator for the lack of attention, it helps you quite well. But if you are a procrastinator because of emotional walls (difficult, confronting, boring, etc.), it helps you laser focus on your procrastination tasks and you forget about the main task. YouTube, Gaming & P*rnhub and no other worries in the world.

So medication can help with ADD, but those emotions need to be addressed. I stopped mine after 4 years.

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#249

Post by ben_w » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:57 PM UTC

platz wrote: post #230

ben_w wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you even add them.. it's like asking what is the utility of the statue of liberty plus the utility of NAFTA? You add them by asking how much each part of the utility function makes you want to do a thing. As TeMPOraL says, for your specific example you could do that in dollars, but perhaps a more emotionally affective example than USA icons would be asking how many oranges someone would need to offer you to…

If you start by assuming a utility function exists, you can have it do anything you want. But we haven't quite solved every problem in the world by creating a utility function, have we? Why is that? Could it be that some domains resist mathematization because the objects are incommensurate? Why don't we just create utility functions to solve politics? We cant, because politics is unsolvable in terms of well-defined m…

If you agree that starting from the assumption that a utility function exists leads to being always able to define one, then you can’t simultaneously take the position that there can’t be two incommensurate things.

You could argue that utility functions are “too powerful” on the grounds that being able to explain anything is equivalent to being able to explain nothing.

> Why don't we just create utility functions to solve politics?

What do you mean by “solve”? I reckon the utility function of politics is approximately “democracy” in many cases.

> it could very well be that human intelligence is [unsolvable in terms of well-defined mathematization] too

That’s equivalent to saying “whatever human intelligence depends on isn’t limited to the laws of physics” as the laws of physics are written in maths, and as we invent new maths for new understanding of physics, that new understanding is also available for modelling our own minds, as they are physical objects. A similar argument also applies if we have an immortal soul. ;)

Re: Procrastination is about managing emotions, not time

#250

Post by 0xcde4c3db » Thu, Jan 23, 2020, 2:59 PM UTC

rv-de wrote: post #210

Brave-Steak wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ADHD (particularly the attention side, as an adult) I take it that means hyperactivity wasn't one of your symptoms? I have the suspicion that I suffer from ADD (you basically described the same life I've had), but the hyperactivity part makes me unsure of myself.

For further reflection I highly recommend "Scattered Minds" by Gabor Maté. Exceptional book by an exceptional physician.

NB for anyone considering this: Maté's hobby horse is that mental illness comes primarily from emotional trauma. If that's what you need to hear, great, but nowhere near being an explanation of the scientific consensus.