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Dear procrastinator

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Re: Dear procrastinator

#91

Post by aaronf »

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…

We've built LazyMeter to help with procrastination. We think the main cause of procrastination is an overhwelming to-do list, and therefore a lack of focus. When people know what they're doing, and have a goal for the day that they're working towards, they get a lot more done. I left Microsoft to build LazyMeter because I was a procrastinator and I thought I was lazy; I've learned that I was wrong - I was just overwhelmed. The idea that people are inherently lazy is absolutely wrong. www.lazymeter.com

Re: Dear procrastinator

#92

Post by lionhearted »

Great post.

Relevant tactical point:

Replace "I have to" with "I choose to" and "I should" with "Would I like to?"

It really, really, really works.

Instead of, "I have to take out the garbage" - "I choose to take out the garbage." (Or alternatively, "I choose not to" - that's okay too, if you choose to do it that way.)

Re: Dear procrastinator

#93

Post by georgieporgie »

janjan wrote: post #25
nametoremember wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 b…

when I was in the military service (not US)

So, how did you make it into the military service without learning to do unpleasant things?

Re: Dear procrastinator

#94

Post by aterimperator »

munchhausen wrote: post #16

"The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life." Agree completely. Having said this, your suggested solution is incredibly hard to put into practice for many procrastinators out there. I have bills to pay and a family to support, and working for the Man seems like the only option, at the moment, to meet my financial obligations. I don't particularly enjoy my day job, and I wouldn't do…

I would argue that a portion of that is simply the way you view things. I would also argue that you could eek out control like the method by which you choose to meet your deadlines.

Still... I have this work I should be doing...

Re: Dear procrastinator

#95

Post by aterimperator »

I like how this meshes with Cal Newport's ideas on procrastination. As I understand it, he views procrastination as the mind's natural tendency to avoid things it doesn't trust: that crappy plan you came up with for getting that project done? Yeah, you don't trust it, so why would you actually try to implement it?

Re: Dear procrastinator

#96

Post by mc32 »

gexla wrote: post #40
edo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Going along with the thread that was started here. When I play a video game, it's the game I want to play at the time I want to play it and with the goal that I picked for that session. If I have to review a video game then I have all these choices largely made for me. The goal is to review the game rather than go for whatever I might want out of the game. The reality of our lives force us to do things which don't al…

I think, for me, procrastination has to do with projecting complication into things. So, if I want to cook something new, I imagine needing to find the perfect recipe with the perfect ingredients, for example.

But, then, there are times when I just decide to do it even if I'm missing ingredients or have not come across a recipe which makes sense to me. Powering thru.

I think for the video game tester, if I were them, I'd project difficulty onto it. Finding the bugs, etc. Feeling like I might not be up to finding anything interesting. It's a bit of a fear of failing, in a way, till I felt, "I'm up to the task now."

Re: Dear procrastinator

#97

Post by olalonde »

Reading all these comments, I'm starting to believe that something like Alcohol Anonymous would not be a bad idea for chronic procrastinators... Procrastinators Anonymous?

Re: Dear procrastinator

#98

Post by Jebdm »

hammock wrote: post #56
Jebdm wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the risk of repeating myself: the "opinion" he is expressing is actually a theory of procrastination. When you make broad statements like "the reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life", you are declaring your belief about why a widespread phenomena occurs of the type which is either right or wrong (or partially right). Making such statements without providing any evidence for them…

Humble suggestion: Instead of complaining, you could be constructive, posting an opposing point of view with appropriate support, as most of the other dissenters have done.

It's frustrating that you see me as complaining, because my original goals were to (constructively!) get people to 1) remember to check the evidence for a claim before accepting it and 2) remember to either present evidence for your claims or label them as hypotheses. Pointing these things out is definitely helpful because humans have a whole bunch of biases that make us fail to notice a lack of justification and believe things before they are justified. I've been saved from making this mistake a number of times by "[citation needed]".

(Perhaps "[citation needed]" came across as snarky? Next time I'll write "What's your evidence?".)

The rest of my posts weren't complaining, either; mainly, I was arguing for the importance of getting people to do 1 and 2 above, and against the notion that it wouldn't be better for opinions (of the "claims you believe to be true" variety, not preferences) to be either supported or marked as hypotheses when they are expressed (at least in this sort of context).

I was definitely not dissenting; my criticism would be exactly the same even if I agreed with the expressed claims 100%.

Re: Dear procrastinator

#100

Post by ahalan »

lionhearted wrote: post #92

Great post. Relevant tactical point: Replace "I have to" with "I choose to" and "I should" with "Would I like to?" It really, really, really works. Instead of, "I have to take out the garbage" - "I choose to take out the garbage." (Or alternatively, "I choose not to" - that's okay too, if you choose to do it that way.)

"I prefer not to" (Bartleby)
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