Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why I Procrastinate (2019)

invisibleup.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 166 posts

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#11

Post by InvisibleUp »

glofish wrote: post #3

I like these upvoted posts on procrastination. Feels like the HN community (like myself) struggles with this. Nowadays I embrace procrastination as necessary "evil". Unlike the cited post, I don't think one needs "help" with that - it might just backfire even more. I have come to believe that procrastination is a healthy and necessary condition for outstanding productivity. It is like REM sleep or something :-) I thi…

A certain level of procrastination is healthy. We're not meant to be machines, constantly productive 24/7. Downtime to enjoy your life, consume creative works, and unwind is good.

I'm not talking about that here. I'm talking about severe procrastination, when it's very difficult to do the work you need to do. The goal is to strike a healthy balance.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#12

Post by aequitas »

kleborp wrote: post #6

The post linked within this post was really illuminating for me: https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html The section on why notecards and todo lists have never worked for him (and for me) was particularly salient: "The problem with "systems" is that they are authorities. They have to be. If you decide "I'll prioritize things with a stack of notecards" then you are telling yourself the following: "The notecards replace m…

You can use this to your advantage to create peace of mind as I found out.

The mechanism you describe is what is the basis for the "Getting things done" framework. You learn your brain to "trust" the "authority" so it can let go of all loose ends that keep your brain busy (like stuff it needs to remember, like appointment, paying a bill, fixing something in the house, etc). But if you are able to trick your brain in not checking in with the authority (as GTD dictates) you are left with a lot of spare room in your brain to think creative, at least thats my theory.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#13

Post by keyanp »

"I find it extraordinarily difficult to just... relax. Sit on a bench and watch the clouds. [...] But even if I'm in that perfect scenario where there's nothing to do... my brain will just fill the void with absurd daydreams and rabbithole trains of thought."

This is the case for many (all?) people. I've found that you need to intentionally train your ability to not let your mind do this. I recommend this book for some exercises to help: https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Mindfulness-Thich-Nhat-Hanh...

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#14

Post by jraph »

cryptozeus wrote: post #9

Procrastination articles start to appear on HN as we get close to end of January. There is a lesson in there somewhere.

Possible explanation: one has appeared here by chance a few days ago, and then people read stuff about procratination on their own and some are submitting some of this stuff here.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#15

Post by 7777fps »

kleborp wrote: post #6

The post linked within this post was really illuminating for me: https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html The section on why notecards and todo lists have never worked for him (and for me) was particularly salient: "The problem with "systems" is that they are authorities. They have to be. If you decide "I'll prioritize things with a stack of notecards" then you are telling yourself the following: "The notecards replace m…

Spooky, that whole article relates so deeply even the examples feel as if they're lifted from my brain.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#16

Post by kleborp »

7777fps wrote: post #15
kleborp wrote: post #6

The post linked within this post was really illuminating for me: https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html The section on why notecards and todo lists have never worked for him (and for me) was particularly salient: "The problem with "systems" is that they are authorities. They have to be. If you decide "I'll prioritize things with a stack of notecards" then you are telling yourself the following: "The notecards replace m…

Spooky, that whole article relates so deeply even the examples feel as if they're lifted from my brain.

Yup. I'm gonna print this off and show it to my therapist.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#17

Post by fireontheroad »

aequitas wrote: post #12
kleborp wrote: post #6

The post linked within this post was really illuminating for me: https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html The section on why notecards and todo lists have never worked for him (and for me) was particularly salient: "The problem with "systems" is that they are authorities. They have to be. If you decide "I'll prioritize things with a stack of notecards" then you are telling yourself the following: "The notecards replace m…

You can use this to your advantage to create peace of mind as I found out. The mechanism you describe is what is the basis for the "Getting things done" framework. You learn your brain to "trust" the "authority" so it can let go of all loose ends that keep your brain busy (like stuff it needs to remember, like appointment, paying a bill, fixing something in the house, etc). But if you are able to trick your brain in…

I have ADD, and I can speak to the GTD framework being an extremely useful tool. In my case I use Trello to run what I call my "Digital Brain".

I use a typical kanban wip system (Backlog, Today, Blocked, Done) to organize pretty much all task-related things in my life and it works extremely well. Once I know its on the trello board, I know I don't have to worry about keeping it in my head anymore, and that gives me a lot more space to relax and not worry things are being missed/forgotten.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#18

Post by 3minus1 »

> I'm really prone to letting my thoughts get off on the worst tangents, and it will take a while to get myself back on track

Sometimes I'll be listening to an audiobook and I'll start thinking about something else. By rewinding the audiobook I can figure out how long the distraction was (could be over a minute). It also amazes me how I have no recollection of the portions of the audiobook that were playing while I was distracted.

Re: Why I Procrastinate (2019)

#19

Post by joshklein »

I recommend “Procrastination” by Burka & Yuen.

For the kind of person who frequents this site and endures suffering due to procrastination, even seeing their clinical definition of maladaptive perfectionism (and learning why procrastinating provides relief from it) could reduce your level of anxiety and self-flagellation, if not help you change your behavior.

The first section of their book provides a framework for understanding what is happening when you procrastinate, then orients your investigation into the underlying causes specific to you (or those not applicable to you). The book's second section offers self-directed cognitive behavioral therapies.

"Procrastination" is based on decades of the authors’ clinical experience. The 25th anniversary edition pulls in updated academic research from as far afield as behavioral economics (future discounting) that didn't exist when the book was first published.

[This comment is a reposted version of one of my own previous comments]

Post reply on HN