One tip that I'm experimenting right now is to stay at the computer only when I know exactly what I'm going to do. Thinking and breaks have to be done out the computer with old pen and paper.
Fooling myself to work
21–30 of 81 posts
Re: Fooling myself to work
#22Can't fool myself. I'm too smart.
"If our own minds were simple enough for us to understand them, we'd be too dumb to understand them anyway."
Re: Fooling myself to work
#23A pretty good list of tips, however I've gotten more mileage over the years by digging deeper into my procrastination to understand its roots. Most often than not there is some fear or dissatisfaction tied to the procrastination that needs to be heard. Checking in with myself and becoming aware of these deeper feelings forms the foundation on which long term productivity is possible.
Yes, you are right. These tips are mainly for short-term productivity.
I've also summarized "The Now Habit", which is probably the best book on procrastination that I'm aware of: http://www.dextronet.com/blog/2011/03/the-now-habit-summary/
Re: Fooling myself to work
#24Linking once to something you use or something you made that you are proud of is awesome. Getting that spammy about it caused me not to finish the post.
Thanks for the advice! I've removed the extra links. For some reason, it has never occurred to me.
For some reason, it has never occurred to me.
Probably your software is so inextricably part of your life that the thought of a world (let alone a blog post) without it never occurs to you.
It's a good post. The reason you're getting criticized ("spammy", "self-promoting", etc.) is that it breaks the informal conventions that have evolved for such hybrid (good content plus product promotion) posts. One is to give the reader a clear heads-up that the post falls in both categories.
In the absence of that signal, the flow for me went like this: 1. A blog post about improving productivity? Cool. I like productivity. 2. Hmm, this guy isn't an idiot. Guess I'll keep reading. 3. Some of these points seem useful, I wonder how I could apply them? (In the meantime, completely missing the first mention/link to your product). 4. Further down, dimly noticing the product name, but not thinking about it. 5. Recognizing the third mention of the product - what's that? Seems vaguely familiar. 6. Finally: oh, I get it. This is software he's selling and the whole post has (also) been about this. 7. I feel like a bit of a dupe. No like. Bail.
The only reason why 7 occurred is that the post didn't set my expectation correctly at the start, so I read it with a wrong expectation, then had the unpleasant experience of reality contradicting it. It's actually the fact that the content was good enough to absorb my attention that led to this; otherwise I would have noticed the other details right away.
Re: Fooling myself to work
#25#9 is perhaps the best tip (start thinking about your most important task before you goto sleep). Particularly in combination with #3 (do a specific task first thing when you wake up and start at the computer). I find that 'working momentum' is highest beginning as soon as the computer turns on in the morning. For this reason, each day I will typically schedule 3 hours of focus on one specific task/project/vision; be…
I'm not so sure about that. Thinking about work before going to sleep is also a pretty good way to make it hard to fall asleep, especially if it's something stressful. And lack of sleep is my #1 cause of loss of work efficiency.
Exactly. I only fall asleep thinking about a problem if it's something that is "hard". For instance, coming up with an algorithm I haven't been able to get quite right during the day. If I do that, I usually don't sleep very well. My dreams are filled with odd representations of the problem (once, an old man yelling various time complexities at me). When I do wake up, I often have a good fresh new idea to try out.
But, it's taxing. Nothing good has come of sleeping on a stressful problem, or common work where I know more or less what to do.
Re: Fooling myself to work
#26This is fairly blatant self promotion. That said, these are really good ideas. Decomposing a task into what needs to be done to do it is really effective.
I think there becomes a point at which self-promotion becomes ok, providing that the magnitude of the self-promotion is commensurate with the contribution. I feel that the author met that in this case, and I did not feel spammed.
Edit: Judging by the other comments, it appears that the author may have edited the post already to be less spammy. In any case, the current version has a good balance.
Re: Fooling myself to work
#27So what todo list software do you use?
I've always liked Notational Velocity for OS X. It's minimal but functional. The latest version has some impressive todo features as described here:
http://scrodlog.notational.net/notational-velocity-204
Re: Fooling myself to work
#28Counter-experience to 2. Not eating at the computer: I used to take a break to eat food - I'd watch TV or read a magazine while eating. However, this context switch would be costly, and when I got back to the computer, I'd be starting to get tired from digesting the food. By coding while eating slowly, I was able to realise massive productivity gains. This only works if, like me, you don't mind eating luke warm food.…
You can also figure out what foods (and quantities) make you less sleepy. I recently found out that rice works better for me than wheat based carbs.
Re: Fooling myself to work
#29So what todo list software do you use?
I either use a rich text file (that supports strikethrough) or TaskPaper - which is basically a text editor - depending on the context. The added complexity of most existing to-do list software doesn't pay off, for me.
Re: Fooling myself to work
#30I actually like your advice but it's such an obvious sales pitch for your software. Your ulterior motives make me nauseous. P.S. I would probably try your software if it wasn't stuck in windows land. Why not make a WebApp?
Your ulterior motives make me nauseous.
FWIW: nauseous is to nauseated as poisonous is to poisoned.