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Dear procrastinator

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Dear procrastinator

#21

Post by ThomPete »

I think you are replacing one extreme claim with another.

Becoming better at something means that either your body or your brain have to do do something that it's not used to and doesn't feel comfortable with. It doesn't matter how much you love what you do it's still going to feel harder and thus there are a million other things you would rather do.

When I were young I practiced the guitar 10 hours a day for a long period of time. I loved (and still love) music but it was hard even with this love for my field.

If I wanted to I could simply have been playing things that I already knew. Playing around and not getting any better.

But to become better at something you need to get the discipline to get on with it and that will "hurt".

There are no easy ways to become better.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#22

Post by silverbax88 »

I'm sorry to disagree, but I do. My own battle with procrastination is completely due to laziness. No one likes to do difficult things, and sometimes even things we kind of enjoy. The reality is that we, as humans, never procrastinate when we really, really want something. Not once in my life did I have to "trick" myself into playing a video game a few extra minutes or watch a big basketball game.

In short, we accomplish what we want to accomplish (meaning, the 'fun' stuff), unless we push ourselves.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#23

Post by personlurking »

janjan wrote: post #6

This is not true for myself at all! Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination: I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's…

Makes perfect sense to me. Those who have an inflated "Id" grew up either spoiled or neglected. Being spoiled, you get to do what you want. Being neglected, no one tells you what to do (or what not to do).

Re: Dear procrastinator

#24

Post by olh »

tldr: "The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life."

The other parts are contradictions.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#25

Post by janjan »

nametoremember wrote: post #18
janjan wrote: post #6

This is not true for myself at all! Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination: I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's…

Sorry but I don't see how you got through a degree (and a masters) without having to do unpleasant stuff.

I think there are some reasons for this:

- I am always very lucky. Even if I put almost no effort in any kind of project it always comes out at least ok.

- My bachelor course was more or less a joke. The description of the single classes always sounded totally impressive but in the end most it was just rubbish and very easy.

- The master course I attended was a pure joke. If I had put any effort in it it would have been possible to pass it with almost perfect grade.

- I got my PhD position through pure luck and some personal connections.

- I am VERY good at pretending that I am actually working

So all in all I just perfected the art of procrastination. For example, when I was in the military service (not US), I more or less had to smuggle myself into a local military base for a few weeks because I was just to lazy to get a new id card.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#26

Post by Jebdm »

makeramen wrote: post #12
Jebdm wrote: post #7

[citation needed]

It's self-signed... Even if the idea isn't completely original, I would assume the writing is. Or if you're doubting the factual evidence behind it, I don't think he's presenting this as fact, despite his tone. This is the same tone of many self-help books, even those backed by "real" evidence and data who cite sources. Still doesn't mean they work for everyone. If you disagree, then don't take his advice.

I don't take claims without evidence as a rule, and he didn't present any evidence. His case is especially problematic because he is making strong claims about a fairly well-studied field in which there is not a clearly dominant theory.

If he's not intending to present what he's saying as fact, he should say so.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#27

Post by edo »

silverbax88 wrote: post #22

I'm sorry to disagree, but I do. My own battle with procrastination is completely due to laziness. No one likes to do difficult things, and sometimes even things we kind of enjoy. The reality is that we, as humans, never procrastinate when we really, really want something. Not once in my life did I have to "trick" myself into playing a video game a few extra minutes or watch a big basketball game. In short, we accomp…

Silverbax, thanks for your comment.

What makes you really want to play a video game and dislike doing the dishes? Is it something objective about the thing to be done, or does it have to do with your mental framing of the task at hand? I feel it is the latter. A friend of mine reviews video games professionally, and he procrastinates on playing games. I think it's because he is told to play games. An authority figure is pushing him to do something and he rebels by putting off playing.

Pushing ourselves only leads to ourselves pushing back.

Cheers, Edo

Re: Dear procrastinator

#28

Post by sireat »

The OP's point is a good one but it is not the whole story. People procrastinate for various reasons, as others have already attested.

Personally, I found a simple habit cured me of 50% of HN and Reddit addiction and let me work on things I had procrastinated for a long time:

First thing when I do every morning when I sit down at a computer is e-mail a simple TODO list to myself and also send a report of what I did on yesterdays TODO list.

This e-mail is very simple, a few items and simple descriptions. Only caveat is making the items "actionable" that is something you can do, not something you can just try or consider.

Also, if I do not complete every item on the list, I do not beat myself over it.

This takes a few minutes of time and was very easy to make a habit of using a Don't Break a Chain technique. After a week or so, it doesn't feel forced at all anymore.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#29

Post by janjan »

Meai wrote: post #13
janjan wrote: post #6

This is not true for myself at all! Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination: I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's…

Yes, although I think procrastination (just like any psychological problem) is very complex, and I fear that we waste too much time trying to analyze these, therefore making the saying "just do it" or "suck it up" an appropiate response, which as you rightly discovered, got lost on modern parents. Sure, there may be some combination of emotional and logical constructs that will perfectly explain why I'm procrastinati…

"[...] therefore making the saying "just do it" or "suck it up" an appropiate response, which as you rightly discovered, got lost on modern parents"

I had a discussion with my mother about this. To make a long story short she raised me this way because her father was a very very strict person. She had to work all the time in the household and therefore did did not have a nice childhood at all.

When I was born she decided that i should have a much better childhood... The result: I had a perfect childhood (from the viewpoint of a child) but now I am plagued with some serious procrastination problem. In contrast my, my mother is one of the most organized and reliable persons I know.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#30

Post by TeMPOraL »

nametoremember wrote: post #18
janjan wrote: post #6

This is not true for myself at all! Actually I think in my case all the stuff you read about procrastination does not really aplly to my procrastination: I think I am one of the worlds worst procastinators and it took me about 10 years to figure out what might be the main reason for my behaviour. It has nothing to with all the stuff you read in all these procrastination books. It's not about the fear of failing, it's…

Sorry but I don't see how you got through a degree (and a masters) without having to do unpleasant stuff.

I'll second janjan's comment. I can completely believe that you can get through a degree being a total procrastinator.

Somehow during the course of my university I've perfected my skills of presenting projects. I recently realized that I can get even a totally half-baked, barely working project to get a good grade, just by talking and spending an hour more on design than everybody else[1]. It wasn't until recently that my friend pointed out that I've learned to subconsciously depend on this and thus not working hard on anything.

Also, I find doing presentations, talking, doing design touches, or implementing weird things (like animations in MATLAB[2]) - pretty much anything except what I'm supposed to be doing at the moment - much more pleasant, much more fun. And I see that you can get far this way at university...

[1] - it's not about faking things, etc. - it's that people really underestimate how much depends on the general 'look and feel' of software, and the way it's presented.

[2] - did you know that MATLAB plot can give you stable 60FPS? ;)

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