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?
You know, in some countries you're still drawn into the service, no questions asked
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…
My version of procrastination is not as simple as 'I'm lazy, I'll do it later'. I think the whole problem is in starting.
Starting is key, reason many of use will procrastinate is because we know that we will enter a mode where our muscles (mental or physical) will not be idle anymore. Moving from idle to movement is very hard for our minds sometimes, its deceiving. For example, You are sitting down on our couch watching TV and your girlfriend asks you to get something from the kitchen, you know is super simple but you wont do it immediately, because just standing up puts you a little wall of effort that is impeding you from doing it quickly, but you know that if you where standing up it would be much easier. In terms of work, in many cases people don't start things because their environment is not setup, you have to open these files, close these other ones and enter that different mindset where you are not idling anymore. For me, if you beat the "starting" process you are on your way to getting lots done. So in other words, automating your starting environment to avoid that change of hot water to cold can be your key to beating procrastination.
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?
I totally forgot about this: This whole military thing itself was just the result of procrastination.
Getting in the military was not the problem. Not getting drawn and doing something alternative was just too much effort for me at that time.
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…
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. I can't speak to what's going on inside your head, but I think people trick themselves into playing those few extra minutes all the time. I know I do: - "I've got plenty of time. A few extra minutes won't hurt." - "I didn't really need to get that done today anyway." - "If I stay focused I ca…
I think this is exactly what he means. People make excuses to continue playing a video game.
I believe the type of "trick" he's referring to is exemplified by this statement: "just think of working out as a game and try to beat your old score." While I generally like the benefits of working out, it's not something I'm in the mood to do every day when I come home from work. I have to push myself through that invisible barrier sometimes, i.e. I have to 'trick' myself into doing it, even if just for a few minutes.
After a long day at work, the first thing I want to do is play a video game when I get home. I only time I've had to trick myself into playing video games was when training in a fighter game, trying to grind out my reaction times so I could beat my friends.
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…
I grew up having to pull my weight. I'm one of 6 - it was just not possible for us all to get the attention we "deserved" without helping out. I was cooking meals at the age of 9 and helping out with the laundry shortly after. I cleaned my room, helped look after the pets, babysat younger siblings, etc. And yet I STILL hate having to wash clothes and cook for my family. I know that they need doing, but I too will oft…
> Stop looking for a cause
Actually I stopped looking for the cause a few years ago because I found it ;)
For me, finding the cause was very important, because for years I only knew what I did wrong but not why. I read a lot of books and articles about procrastination and never felt any connection to the explanations given there. Am I afraid of failure? Certainly not. am I presured from the outside into doing stuff I do not like? Yeah, sometimes, but this only explains 10% of my procrastination. There are a lot of explanation but none of those I read about did fit my specific behaviour.
Only after I found the explanation I gave in my original post, everything felt in place and I understood why I am procrastinating. This was a very liberating moment since everythin suddenly made sense and enabled me to work on changing my self.
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…
Anything that we perceive as hard or boring is a task for procrastination. We simply don't want to do it because it isn't fun. I am not a games tester; therefore video games are still fun. But when I was first starting as a programmer, I did it because I was having a blast, and it made me successful. It has nothing to do with being told to do something, and it has everything to do with our brains - especially creativ…
Many times, my cause for procrastinating is usually due to a sense of fear. That if I start, I will not know what to do, or that the direction I must take on a task is too unclear for me to feel comfortable starting... Many times, the quickest way to fix this is just to write a todo list and do a few items. Every few hours I'll just compile a new list and keep going off that.
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. I can't speak to what's going on inside your head, but I think people trick themselves into playing those few extra minutes all the time. I know I do: - "I've got plenty of time. A few extra minutes won't hurt." - "I didn't really need to get that done today anyway." - "If I stay focused I ca…
Those are all rationalizations to allow us to do or continue to do what we really want.
This thread has devolved into semantics.
The OP had an original and insightful point about motivation and the process of getting things done. OTOH, you're contradicting him without, I feel, adding anything to the discussion.
I think you've dismissed his point without showing that you actually considered it. Your conclusion that you're lazy and need prodding is exactly the thing Edo is talking about. He laid out a passionate account of procrastination and self-talk, and compelled his readers to consider that it's not productive to berate one's self for failing to accomplish goals in a timely manner. That perhaps there are better ways to relate to yourself and your goals.
And your response is essentially, "Nope, I'm lazy -- period, full-stop."
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).
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…
Can you learn to do unpleasant stuff? What does that mean - that your will is broken? Unpleasant stuff is after all unpleasant. I managed to see some positive things, for example when I do the dishes I enjoy the clean state of the room afterwards. Or in general I try to see cleaning as a workout. But you can only trick the mind to a degree... If procrastination really is there to prevent us from doing stupid tasks, m…
Can you learn to do unpleasant stuff? What does that mean - that your will is broken?
I would say that it generally means the opposite, that your will is strong.
Getting yourself to do something unpleasant can be difficult, even if you know the long term benefits are there. It takes a strong will to make yourself do something unpleasant without the threat of an external punishment hanging over you in the short term.
> The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life. The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate.
The academic literature disagrees that procrastination is about rebelling, and 'efficacy' is only one factor; see http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/ and especially its reference section (Luke is great about jailbreaking PDFs and hosting them; I'm slowly reading through those specific PDFs).