I'll watch it later.
Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
131–140 of 163 posts
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#132Simple solution for me was to do a dopamine detox. This requires getting rid of things you enjoy, but that's somewhat the point. Instead of doing things you want, you are wasting time on things you don't. After giving up video games, programming was fun. Reading nonfiction was insanely fun. So much so, it became a new addiction. Maybe giving up things you enjoy is easier said than done.
It's also weird, because I believed that a good live is filled with doing things you enjoy.
But then they used psychology to make us addicted to scrolling feeds.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#133Simple solution for me was to do a dopamine detox. This requires getting rid of things you enjoy, but that's somewhat the point. Instead of doing things you want, you are wasting time on things you don't. After giving up video games, programming was fun. Reading nonfiction was insanely fun. So much so, it became a new addiction. Maybe giving up things you enjoy is easier said than done.
It's also weird, because I believed that a good live is filled with doing things you enjoy. But then they used psychology to make us addicted to scrolling feeds.
The thing about those addictive behaviours is (for me), like most addictions, you have a tenuous association with enjoyment and the behaviour but mostly it leaves you very dissatisfied.
Scrolling through feeds or watching videos actually causes me to become pretty sad, but sometimes I find myself feeling quite a compulsion to do it. It's usually when I'm stressed out or anxious, and the behaviour aligns perfectly with escapism. So there's very little enjoying involved.
I think it's important to consider what enjoyable means, and how we frame it. Instant gratification is only a small sliver of what could be considered enjoyable, in the scheme of things.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#134Simple solution for me was to do a dopamine detox. This requires getting rid of things you enjoy, but that's somewhat the point. Instead of doing things you want, you are wasting time on things you don't. After giving up video games, programming was fun. Reading nonfiction was insanely fun. So much so, it became a new addiction. Maybe giving up things you enjoy is easier said than done.
It's not about getting rid of what you like : It's getting rid of things designed to be addictive.
Modern gaming is incredibly addictive and I found myself addicted to dumb games in recent years. I deleted everything and play only old school games once in a while (rtype etc ).
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#135Simple solution for me was to do a dopamine detox. This requires getting rid of things you enjoy, but that's somewhat the point. Instead of doing things you want, you are wasting time on things you don't. After giving up video games, programming was fun. Reading nonfiction was insanely fun. So much so, it became a new addiction. Maybe giving up things you enjoy is easier said than done.
With gaming, I've started to allow myself play only during Friday evenings and Saturdays. It's like a reward after whole week. Also I play only on the computer, got rid of mobile games completely because of ads and in app purchases and a bad habit of playing in the bed. And interestingly, for a month I haven't played at all, although I could.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Give me practical example of this? What and how you did
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+ Leetcod…
> Make an irreversible decision where you are not the one to call off the deal.
How can you possibly enforce irreversibility? Tomorrow’s me is perfectly capable of reversing any decision whatsoever I make today.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#137Haven't watched the video. For me the only thing that works. The only hack that works is having a contract with a third party. You don't procrastinate on paying your mortgage right. You do it every month. You don't not show up for work right. Or for meetings right. You don't procrastinate on paying your cellphone bill/internet bill/paying rent etc. Why? Because you have contracts with another party and there are cons…
Sorry, but I don't buy this.
> You don't procrastinate on paying your mortgage right. You do it every month. You don't procrastinate on paying your cellphone bill/internet bill/paying rent etc.
Yes, because it is effortless and auto-pay does it for me. What you're really saying is that I don't procrastinate earning money to pay for those things, which is not the same thing as just paying for them.
> You don't not show up for work right. Or for meetings right.
Showing up for work and procrastinating on some tasks at work is not the same thing. You're doing your point a disservice by painting it in black and white.
> Why? Because you have contracts with another party and there are consequences if you miss them.
I've had tenants whose stay was conditional on fulfilling certain obligations specified in the rent agreement, aside from paying rent. Even though there were consequences for not doing so, none of them did it and 1 ended up being evicted.
> For me I resolved this issue by going into a contract with a third party with consequences if I miss my obligations.
This only works because you're already a high-consciety individual. Sure, consequences help in general, but only if you know exactly what the problem is AND if you actually have the flexibility and energy to complete the things you have been procrastinating on.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#138Sounds great. I'll try it later.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Creating accountability is definitely a solid strategy, but I've got to point out that I absolutely procrastinate all of the things you mentioned in your first several paragraphs.
This strategy doesn't eliminate procrastination. You still pay the price but it evens out the peaks and valleys of productivity/unproductivity. For ex: You need to spend 3 hours and write a 5 page report that is due on Monday at 9:00 AM. You spend the whole week not working but feeling guilty about not making progress. Then suddenly in the last minute i.e a few hours before the deadline i.e around 5:00 AM to 8:00 AM…
For me the monetary based strategy loses its luster because the introduction of money causes you to see the consequences in terms of finances. As in, you start to think that you can just pay the 25 dollars as a subscription fee to skip doing the work for that week, and so long as you don't raise the amount of money you lose, this continues indefinitely. And of course, without a third party, there is nothing obligating you to raise the price for failure. In the end, because the system eventually fails in its purpose of getting you to work, you start to wonder why you're paying a 25 dollar subscription to skip work instead of skipping work free of charge, so you simply cancel the obligation.
That's the major problem with setting up timers or schedules or other obligation mechanisms yourself. If they're in your control, you're given as much freedom to remove them as you have to set them up in the first place.
If no amount of self-restraint or anti-postcrastination systems can get me to do something I tell myself I want to do, then maybe I either need to have someone force me to do it or realize that what I say I want in life is wrong. Maybe this is because I've been trained so that about the only thing left that's 100% effective for getting intrinsically boring work done is someone else forcing me to do something.
Re: Show HN: I made an interactive anti-procrastination video course
#140hey awesome content dude, appreciate the daily tips for anti-procrastinating!!