I had to create another account just to reply. I had nocprocrast turned on for hacker news (the irony!)
Practical:
1. I lost 30 lbs from 200 lbs to 170 lbs
How I did it.
Step#1. Made an irreversible decision.
I pay $100 every week if I miss losing 2 lbs that week.
The deal was for 12 weeks.
I started Monday and the deal is every Monday. I have to stand on the scale and take a pic and send it.
2. I solved 200+ Leetcodes over a span of a year
Deal. I had to solve 10 problems a day on random days. Each missed problem costed me $25 per miss.
Here is another guy who became ripped i.e 6 packed within 6 months
https://nypost.com/2017/07/17/poker-player-goes-all-in-with-...
Now to the theory part.
See. The deal is this. The answer to procrastination is not more information. There is no magic info online that will change your brain and you stop procrastinating. You already know procrastinating is bad. You already know that you need to small chunk the work. You already know you need to be disciplined. You know you need to "just get started" or "just need to do it NOW!" that life is made up of choices and you need to make a choice.. You know this and yet...
YOU WON'T DO IT!
There is this movie called "Memento" where all these concepts are already discussed.
Here is the gist.
You are not ONE person. That's why nothing has worked so far and nothing will work in the future too. (likely)
You are a multitude of people living inside of you. The you that is going to nod your head or is going to be "inspired" is not the same person who is going to wake up tomorrow. You listen to a video and have an "aha" moment but the you two days from now will not follow through on your grand plan. This is like a relay race between different versions of YOU and the problem is that there is a version of YOU that is definitely going to drop the baton.
Now. You can hit rock bottom or want success as bad as you want to breathe air and then you will get what you want. This is what everyone already knows.
But what if you kind of want to be ripped or kind of want to be done writing a book or just not sufficiently determined. Is there a mechanism by which you can still do the things you don't normally have enough motivation to do?
The answer is a contract.
Beeminder is one such but the biggest flaw is that you are still in charge so you can easily renege on it.
Likewise for Stickk etc.
Instead do this:
1. Make an irreversible decision where you are not the one to call off the deal. Just like a mortgage, internet bills, rent, cell phone bills etc.
Watch yourself automatically, automagically achieve ridiculous stuff that previously you would Never have been able To do.
This is a 100% anti self help approach.
Note: I did lose a solid 30 lbs from 200 lbs to 170 lbs. But the problem is that once the contract expires I will likely go back to 185 lbs.. eventually.
Likewise, you will never develop natural self discipline with this approach but hey.. it works..