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Procrastinatory Doom Loops

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Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#31

Post by TechBro8615 »

katmannthree wrote: post #22
TechBro8615 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pills help but motivation is not some emergent property of normality. You first need to care about, and genuinely want to do, the task required to accomplish your goals. I’m a fan of this quote from Steve Jobs – (paraphrasing) “every day you wake up and look in the mirror, do you like what you’re doing that day? If not, it’s time to do something else.” The other quote I like is Jeff Bezos and his “picturing mysel…

In your experience does the medication get more effective if you can find ways to work with it? I've been trying to make it work for a while now and it seems like it either does nothing or makes me lock on to some random tangential (usually useless) task I'm near when it kicks in. Really not getting a quieting like with caffeine, which has been disappointing.

I’ve gone multiple years on medication, followed by years off it and then back on again. In aggregate I’d say it’s a wash, but the benefits of each phase are different.

In terms of raw productivity, it can definitely make things worse (like the comment I replied to). Or at least, it can replace one problem with another – suddenly your creativity is gone and your hyperfocus is completely misdirected.

Personally I’ve sought out the (re-)diagnosis at times when I felt creativity was less of a priority than execution. If you know exactly what you need to do and can commit to it, the pills can help keep you on track. But they are not the original source of the commitment.

I’m honestly not sure whether it’s worth it, but the dopamine it releases sure does its best to convince me that it is.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#32

Post by schappim »

WHA8m wrote: post #30
TechBro8615 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pills help but motivation is not some emergent property of normality. You first need to care about, and genuinely want to do, the task required to accomplish your goals. I’m a fan of this quote from Steve Jobs – (paraphrasing) “every day you wake up and look in the mirror, do you like what you’re doing that day? If not, it’s time to do something else.” The other quote I like is Jeff Bezos and his “picturing mysel…

ADHD is not a motivation thing. Generally speaking. You might struggle with motivation and that's okay, but framing it as a ADHD trait might harm others. Be cautious about that. I was burned out and got into depression because I was going hard on myself for years. Blaming my motivation and asking myself if I even "genuinely want to do the task required to accomplish your[my] goals". Getting my diagnosis was a huge re…

>> ADHD is not a motivation thing

It would depend on the individual.

A lack of focus from ADHD can translate to a lack of motivation due to a lack of progress.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#33

Post by cipheredStones »

I spent about a third of 2021 more or less consumed by this phenomenon. In my case it was triggered by job searching: I quit my existing position, intending to do a leisurely search over a few months... and then avoided nearly everything related to the job search for over four months. (While still experiencing a ton of stress as a result of constant anxiety and guilt about it.) Once I actually started, I landed an amazing new position within two months.

The thing that made the difference for me was directly and consistently involving my girlfriend. All she did most of the time was sit in the same room as me, working on her own stuff, but some combination of being unable to completely avoid working while she was there, having her there to vent anxiety to, and being able to make commitments to her rather than myself made an enormous amount of difference.

I'm not thrilled with myself for the procrastination I did in the first place, but I'm taking it as a hard-won lesson: doing difficult things can be vastly easier if you have someone you trust as support and confidant.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#35

Post by Tepix »

Pair programming can be a solution. Your employer may fear you are slower than on your own but in reality it will vastly increase your productivity and make you feel better at the same time. Also the result will often be better than what you would have eventually achieved by yourself.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#36

Post by dathinab »

copperx wrote: post #2

That's me. And still in the same loop after several ADHD medications; this makes me think that it's not something that can be solved by a pill. I hope I can solve this someday. My coping mechanism is to never commit to anything (outside work obligations).

> be solved by a pill

Most likely, especially that if it's exactly like described in the article it's more like a anxiety and/or long-term-miss-conditioning problem then one caused by a short attention span.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#37

Post by dathinab »

rlt wrote: post #19

I suffer from anxiety and procrastinate a lot. I wonder if that’s a common link.

> I can hardly bear to think about it

> to avoid cognitive dissonance

> promptly shunt thought of the painful topic back to my deepest mental recesses.

> ...

This sounds a lot like an anxiety disorder causing more then natural procrastination.

I.e. it doesn't sound like "I'm not motivated" but like "I'm too anxious to do it even if I'm motivated".

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#38

Post by jack_pp »

dathinab wrote: post #36
copperx wrote: post #2

That's me. And still in the same loop after several ADHD medications; this makes me think that it's not something that can be solved by a pill. I hope I can solve this someday. My coping mechanism is to never commit to anything (outside work obligations).

> be solved by a pill Most likely, especially that if it's exactly like described in the article it's more like a anxiety and/or long-term-miss-conditioning problem then one caused by a short attention span.

I've only tried xanax once but if anyone thinks that will solve this.. it probably won't, because once on xanax you lose the anxiety but also you won't care about the thing that's causing anxiety, in my case I didn't care about anything, said "stupid" (things I wouldn't normally say so casually that hurt them) shit to people I knew because I didn't care about the consequences. This likely stems from me usually just doing stuff that feels or doesn't feel right instead of actually thinking about things rationally so if you think you're a rational person this might not apply to you. All I'm saying is be careful.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#39

Post by intruder »

throwawayboise wrote: post #29
intruder wrote: post #10

I relate 100%. On work commitments I can usually get it done, or when the stakes are high enough that failing would burn me hard in some way or another. Awful, maybe one way to deal with this is to just admit that's how it is with commitments and just don't do them. I often fear that leads to a life of dullness and regret tho. The alternative is a struggle until the end of our days.

I don't think it's bad to admit that you are "not a burning furnace of ambition" as Norm Macdonald would say, if you really aren't. Most people just go to work and consume entertainment in their spare time. As long as you're not burdening anyone else, who cares?

Yea, it's just hard to come to terms with that. Ambition and success are drilled into us on a daily basis. It's hard to come to terms with maybe not fitting in and how that is okay.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#40

Post by argc »

Tepix wrote: post #35

Pair programming can be a solution. Your employer may fear you are slower than on your own but in reality it will vastly increase your productivity and make you feel better at the same time. Also the result will often be better than what you would have eventually achieved by yourself.

I have found this works insanely well for me.
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