1–10 of 60 posts
The task is so boring that I just can't put any effort into it. I've never wrote any documentation before, and always struggled with writing descriptive content. The last time I did it was for my internship report and it was so daunting.
Any tips? Thanks.
* What is this?
* How do I install it?
* How do I use it?
* Is there a change log?
* What license is it released under?
etc
At some point when doing that, the content starts to flow and it gets easy to just naturally edit the whole thing into a doc that makes sense.
- I make a list of things I need to get done.
- I risk and priority rank the list.
I then entirely ignore the risk and priority for each item on the list and instead do an extra 10 pushups, leg lifts, kegels and sit-ups for each item every day.
Documentation is a big part of the "definition of done" for most projects, I've seen it make the difference between an open source project that gets users and one that doesn't. Probably the work that you want to do to finish a small project is 1/3 of the work that it takes to make it into something that connects with other people.
When I wrote my masters thesis I auto-generated 50 pages of Lorem Ipsum, properly formatted, and started editing it.
“The title is clearly wrong, I’ll change that. Oh look, the first heading is also wrong, let’s put something else in here. Now the paragraph doesn’t match the heading, better fix that”
By the time I get to the paragraph I’m mentally invested and continuing is easy
But here is what I would say: pick the smallest of tasks that is part of the larger work and convince yourself it's okay to only get that part done today. Also convince yourself that it's okay to do a 'Mad Dash' on it - focus on making progress, not making perfect. Save the edits and polishing for when you are in the zone.
This is how I get myself to the gym a few times a week. So many times I've told myself it's okay to just go for 10 minutes (and then sit in the hot tub :-). But once I'm there I almost always do my full regimen (which is only 45 mins).
So maybe that is my strategy: only focus on 'getting started', not on getting done.
Usually once I’m working on it I’ll keep going.
It also helps me to change my scenery, e.g. spend the afternoon at a cafe while working on it.
Many people think I'm a work-a-holic. My dirty little secret is that I'm actually very lazy (my wife knows :-). I can't say I have a good strategy, it's just that when I do get into a rare flow state (a few times a week) I can stay there for quite a while and little can distract me (thank you ADD!). But here is what I would say: pick the smallest of tasks that is part of the larger work and convince yourself it's oka…
Many people think I'm a work-a-holic. My dirty little secret is that I'm actually very lazy (my wife knows :-). I can't say I have a good strategy, it's just that when I do get into a rare flow state (a few times a week) I can stay there for quite a while and little can distract me (thank you ADD!). But here is what I would say: pick the smallest of tasks that is part of the larger work and convince yourself it's oka…
I don't have a gym membership, but maybe that is a price I should consider paying, as I might be more motivated to not waste money I've paid.
While I am able to go outside for long, brisk walks fairly often, I completely neglect the equally important stretching and resistance training (weights) exercises because I find them so boring. Even if I keep it going for a few weeks, I inevitably stop because at home, there is always something I find more appealing to do than even 20 minutes of boring stretches and weights.
- break things down into smaller tasks
- just try to get one of those smaller tasks done, dont worry about the rest
- if the smaller task is still too big, keep breaking it down
— start things like documentation with outlines of what you want to communicate
- after you’ve got an outline, you don’t need to write it linearly. it’s ok to jump around and follow where your attention brings you
- create a slow distraction environment so you’re less likely to go off task
- see if there’s a buddy that you can pair with to get it done
- it’s better to just get something done than nothing, don’t worry about being perfect, you can come back and update it later
- ask around for what people struggle with understanding, this will help you prioritize what documentation to write
- pictures say a thousand words. try making some diagrams, and annotating them