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I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

wolfgang.gassler.org

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Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#71

Post by dghughes »

I am King Procrastinator. I've been off work since October 2019 and have done essentially nothing. I planned on doing a lot like getting my CCNA, practice programming, overall practice of an IT stuff.

But I deflate into a blob on a chair and argue with people on social media. It used to be gaming but now it's social media that fills hours of my day. I don't even like it.

My task to study networking to keep up my skills resulted in a single side of a page with basic subnetting practice.

I turn on all the lights to make me feel alert and it does but I always work better in the dark.

When I do start some task my head feels like it's going to explode and the only relief is a mindless task. I don't know if you call it procrastination or depression but it's resulting in zero results.

I see some common habits in the comments here only I do the opposite. Laundry? I'm going on two months wearing the same thing. Underwear? There's two sides to that coin. Exercise? Non-existent.

Procrastination seems to be the result of something that's much deeper. I don't think mopping the floor is the solution to the hole in the roof.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#72

Post by harpratap »

lowdest wrote: post #26
robmerki wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than meds, did you do anything else that was helpful?

Yes: Hydration is a little important. Sleep is very important (white noise machine, blackout curtains, melatonin when needed, regular schedule, no alcohol near bedtime on work nights.) Exercise is a little important, but too much is detrimental. Learning meditation, specifically body-scan, was really helpful for me though indirectly. It helped me better notice my internal states, which then helps me remove blockers t…

> Exercise is a little important, but too much is detrimental

Why?

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#73

Post by maximente »

non-entity wrote: post #21
dijit wrote: post #15

I'm a master procrastinator. Mostly because I have so many things I could do that I have this background feeling that I'm neglecting everything else if I focus on one thing. And I get distracted easily and I hate trying to come back in the middle of something. However, for some things, I have systems to cope. I make -very- simple unbreakable rules. I got fat, decided I needed to fix it, so now I set an alarm at 6am e…

See, I'm good at making "unbreakable" rules, but I'm much better at breaking them.

integrity issue IMO. you're OK with making commitments and not delivering on them.

controversial, perhaps, but fixing your integrity issues can go a long way. part of that means making commitments that matter, not role-playing about them.

most try to fix their integrity issues overnight by doing things like dieting, planning to go from 0 to insane exercise, or whatever else. that's tough, and probably won't work unless you've got the reserve capacity of someone who just took the cloth for like 12 months or something.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#74

Post by raindropm »

grawprog wrote: post #24
Tade0 wrote: post #3

I read the whole thing, but knew from the get go that these tricks wouldn't work on me. Mostly because I know the source of my procrastination and it boils down to two things: 1. I've gotten away with a lot of stupid shit in the past. 2. Because of that I think too highly of my skills. I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last…

>I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last minute. I tend to do this a lot and so far it's managed to work for things that actually have deadlines, though it always ends up being more stressful. I find though, with things that don't have deadlines it kind of falls apart and last minute just becomes never happens.

Yeah, I did that too, I can get away with most of the task with my skill, I'd say it's 'brute force' method. Though I found that it's not really sustainable and took toll on your overall health(both body & mind) if done frequently. TBH I hates how I operate.

I'm trying to create a system that move away to a more proactive mindset about task, the result is still hit or miss, but it's definitely better than pure last-minute-miracle style.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#75

Post by AlexCoventry »

seph-reed wrote: post #31

I don't understand the obsession with "fighting procrastination". It's like you have to be doing something always or else you've wasted time. There's no finish line here. You can't win. http://subgenius.com/ Go ahead and procrastinate, then don't feel guilty. Do nothing "useful" and enjoy it. Whoever/whatever it is that's making you feel like you have to do more, it's probably just abusive manipulation of labor force…

This kind of blackpilling gives left-wing ideologies a bad name.

From each according to his abilities, right?

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#76

Post by notenoughhorses »

pbrb wrote: post #65
Tade0 wrote: post #3

I read the whole thing, but knew from the get go that these tricks wouldn't work on me. Mostly because I know the source of my procrastination and it boils down to two things: 1. I've gotten away with a lot of stupid shit in the past. 2. Because of that I think too highly of my skills. I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last…

This hits really close to home. It's not that I enjoy the thrill... it's that I know I can do it, so that's what I do. A few years ago I had an incredible run of insane productivity in grad school and at a startup afterwards, but I think it's solely because I had so much to do that I was genuinely interested in that I was crushing through work without it being a last minute delivery (though, there were still a lot of…

I think I’ve got some similar experience. I always had underlying focus issues, but managed to excel at school and first job because I really cared.

First work experiences led me to become pretty cynical about office life, and I find that my motivation ultimately gets sapped because I don’t think what I do is that important.

I’ve been soul searching for months about this, including trying a different workplace, etc. The thing is, I know any job can be meaningful—finding meaning in it is something I need to work on.

But I’ve also been searching for a path that will better suit my values.

Some conclusions: I decided to go back to school, and I’m really good at focusing on school work now, it is much easier to do than making myself work.

I wonder if the school work is more motivating because there is the chance for graded feedback though. At work, you never get an A, just “good enough” or “not good enough” plus you don’t have the feeling of working towards a clear goal of the degree.

I wonder if your experience has some things in common with mine—maybe grad school was easier to focus on goal and progress, and start up you were fresh to work and excited.

I ultimately think I have to find some way to feel that what I do is important to the world. That by working on it, I’m creating something important. The question is how to get to that feeling!

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#77

Post by kls »

ppadron wrote: post #17
dijit wrote: post #15

I'm a master procrastinator. Mostly because I have so many things I could do that I have this background feeling that I'm neglecting everything else if I focus on one thing. And I get distracted easily and I hate trying to come back in the middle of something. However, for some things, I have systems to cope. I make -very- simple unbreakable rules. I got fat, decided I needed to fix it, so now I set an alarm at 6am e…

when you have ADHD these types of rules are really helpful. some people might find them weird and say "just change your schedule, do it later, whatever", but I know if I postpone it I'll forget it or screw up doing some other chore or a "previously allocated free-time".

I would second this having hard fast rules works, but for me, meds where the real night and day difference. It's literally like someone flips a switch in my brain when I am on, or off ADHD medication. I get so single task focused off the meds, but on the meds I can completely break in my mind and accomplish the 2 minute task that has needed to get done for a week now.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#78

Post by dognotdog »

dnh44 wrote: post #27

When I’ve done a great job of procrastinating, I normally have a lot anxious energy that I feel I need to get rid of so I go for a 30 minute walk or run. During this outing I repeat the Mentat Mantra from the Dune film to myself the entire time. "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alo…

That is the best possible 3rd paragraph. Thank you, I needed that chuckle/snort.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#79

Post by james_s_tayler »

kls wrote: post #77
ppadron wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when you have ADHD these types of rules are really helpful. some people might find them weird and say "just change your schedule, do it later, whatever", but I know if I postpone it I'll forget it or screw up doing some other chore or a "previously allocated free-time".

I would second this having hard fast rules works, but for me, meds where the real night and day difference. It's literally like someone flips a switch in my brain when I am on, or off ADHD medication. I get so single task focused off the meds, but on the meds I can completely break in my mind and accomplish the 2 minute task that has needed to get done for a week now.

Are the meds effective long-term? I'm kinda terrified of the idea of being able to just turn normal on, but then one day having to turn it off.

Re: I trick my well-developed procrastination skills

#80

Post by james_s_tayler »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #13
melvinroest wrote: post #2

I started my first workday today and I prepped for tricking my procrastination skills. I can't post on how it worked out yet (I might do 2 months from now), but here is what I did to trick myself: - When in the shower, do one yoga stretch to get acquainted with yoga. I do this one [1], but then really really badly. I keep asking myself the question: what do I find fun about this? And relentlessly focus on that. It to…

> I can't post on how it worked out yet (I might do 2 months from now) A wise choice. Over years of trying different productivity hacks, I've learned that most of them have a lifetime of about 3 weeks for me (which is about how long it takes for the novelty to wear off), after which I regress to the mean. However, the rare trick that survives longer becomes a slight but permanent improvement. Anyway, I wish you the b…

> I've learned that most of them have a lifetime of about 3 weeks for me (which is about how long it takes for the novelty to wear off), after which I regress to the mean.

Can relate to this extremely well.

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