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Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

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Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#301

Post by modo_mario »

partyboat1586 wrote: post #119
battery423 wrote: post #107

Ritalin. Yepp went from a very bad grade to a very good grade. You can't tell me its about 'avoiding negative emotions' if i have prepared my learning desk with everything i need, cleaned it, etc. then i open the book and i literlay can't learn. That wall is much easier to break with ritalin. Is that shitty? Probably. Is it healthy? Probably not. But it brought me much further then before and i'm pretty sure that thr…

Ritalin suppresses some of those deeper emotions. It also gives you additional rewarding feelings for completing tasks here and now. Unless you have ADHD due to genetic factors then imo it's just a mask over the real emotional issue. A very effective and useful one but still a temporary measure.

>Ritalin suppresses some of those deeper emotions.

How would that be?

>Unless you have ADHD due to genetic factors then imo it's just a mask over the real emotional issue. A very effective and useful one but still a temporary measure.

If it's not a neurodevelopmental issue it wouldn't be ADHD to begin with since it doesn't fit the description, no?

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#303

Post by sosuke »

bluntfang wrote: post #300
sosuke wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't been able to find a "final" solution. Most recently I've been writing things down with pen and paper to keep me on task. To make the ethereal physical and break it down into steps and checklists. Again totally recommend this video on the wall of awful for ADHD procrastination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution

Thanks I guess. Whenever I think Final I automatically think Fantasy. In this case "final" in quotes was to imply that there isn't really a final ... uhh, what is another word for solution that really fits the definition? I looked up synonyms but nothing sounds quite right. Any idea how I might re-word it?

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#304

Post by JGM_io »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #196
nisa wrote: post #73

Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your 7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, information overload amplify the effects b…

Pomodoro is magic and should be worshipped. It's the only thing that seems to consistently work for me. When I was so emotionally overwhelmed I couldn't focus and it took me half a day to begin working, I would switch to doing pomodoros and rewarding myself for achieving a certain amount any given day. I tried punishing myself through not achieving too (via Beeminder), but that ended up worsening my emotional negativ…

> I'd say the key thing here is getting rid of the guilt: I've agreed with myself that as long as I never exceed the accumulated pomodoro budget, I can spend it without feeling bad about not working.

I found this to be a key factor. I can enjoy myself as long as there are no matters unresolved.

>(EDIT: Well, the third big trick, one which lets me keep anxiety down, is that I keep running journals - both personal and work - and I dump my train of thoughts straight into them whenever I start feeling even slightly anxious or confused. I almost never read them again, but the act of going through my thoughts in writing calms me down, and lets me pinpoint the sources of anxiety.)

Reminds me of "getting things done"

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#305

Post by _t2kx »

sosuke wrote: post #303
bluntfang wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution

Thanks I guess. Whenever I think Final I automatically think Fantasy. In this case "final" in quotes was to imply that there isn't really a final ... uhh, what is another word for solution that really fits the definition? I looked up synonyms but nothing sounds quite right. Any idea how I might re-word it?

You could've just said you haven't been able to find a solution.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#306

Post by nefitty »

leadingthenet wrote: post #173
seebetter wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I view Ritalin and Adderall as a performance enhancer. I have never seen a biological study proving ADHD except perhaps some EEG. Virtually everyone I have known prescribed amphetamines abused them. (Anecdotal warning) And my ex roommate was a large prescriber of Adderall. He would see patients for 3 minutes. He had 3 homes (one an $8m condo) and drove a matte black Lamborghini Aventador. He was way overweight and dr…

That view is actually both extremely common, and very dangerous for the people genuinely suffering from ADHD symptoms, like myself. Many years of misery could’ve been avoided had I not met people that thought this way, earlier in life.

Yeah, I’m still struggling with taking this seriously for myself. Not only am I contending with the inevitable procrastination of setting an appointment with a doctor, but there’s also a chunk of my brain screaming, “don’t tell anyone, everyone will think you’re a druggy, adhd is bullshit!”

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#307

Post by jakebaker »

This service is magic (disclosure: started by a friend) -- Focusmate [1] -- it is basically productivity as a service. The service does video co-working sessions and it honestly works like magic. Incredibly helpful for procrastination -- it just instantly gets you in the zone.

[1] https://www.focusmate.com/

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#309

Post by joshspankit »

sjm-lbm wrote: post #149
mywacaday wrote: post #90

I have had a weird relationship with procrastination, I find I get more appropriate work done when I'm exhausted. When I have no energy it will take all my concentration to stick to the job at hand but I do stick to it, when I have plenty of energy my monkey brain gets distracted easier. I've also found the the GTD technique of breaking items into smaller tasks, setting a next action and make sure the action starts w…

Same. My interpretation is a little different, though: I think that a lot of my emotional struggle with procrastination is some fear of creating something less than perfect (or, for that matter, at least less than what I'm capable of). When exhaustion and/or stress over a very near deadline override that, I end up tossing something together.. and in the clear light of the next day, I usually find what whatever I did…

Perfectionism (which is what I feel like you’re describing) is usually covering something deeper. Might be worth looking inside yourself, past the various layers.

Hint: big or small, it’s always a fear

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#310

Post by joshspankit »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #196
nisa wrote: post #73

Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your 7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, information overload amplify the effects b…

Pomodoro is magic and should be worshipped. It's the only thing that seems to consistently work for me. When I was so emotionally overwhelmed I couldn't focus and it took me half a day to begin working, I would switch to doing pomodoros and rewarding myself for achieving a certain amount any given day. I tried punishing myself through not achieving too (via Beeminder), but that ended up worsening my emotional negativ…

“Spending” the work on hobbies is a masterful insight. Thank you for that.
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