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Procrastinatory Doom Loops

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Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#51

Post by gexla »

I'm convinced that procrastination is a rats nest of things which is constantly changing shape and that nobody can give you advice for your unique situation. Getting past procrastination is like hitting a plateau in a gym and everyone just gives general advice on how to get bigger. Maybe the answer is that you have to change things up to shock your body past the plateau.

Maybe getting past procrastination is shocking your brain with a frame which puts you in a situation where you're not settling towards some sort of rot. Seems like we get into this rut in most things in life.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#52

Post by eitland »

I have plenty to do but the last few years I've done a smart thing to avoid this for smaller tasks:

If someone comes with a small request that I want to help them with I do two things:

1. make sure following up on it is their responsibility. I'll do it, not be PM for it.

2. for really small things, bring it to my house at a time we agree on and wait until it is done. Nothing gets left here for me to look at "whenever I have time" because I never have. If it is important they come to my house and wait until it is done.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#53

Post by mlatu »

jaw wrote: post #18

Reminds me of the tale in this podcast [1] where the guy's desire to avoid a difficult conversation spiraled into totally ghosting his employer for two weeks. It's a really tough tendency to fight. One thing I think is helpful is to acknowledge failure as early as possible. If meeting the deadline would require me to work faster than normal or make some heroic last-minute effort, I've already failed, even if that dea…

in my experience, if you tell your boss you're not going to make a deadline, their reaction is not "dont worry" but "yes you will"

of course ymmv. had only 5/6 such bosses. the only one that wasnt like that, was not in software but a little shop selling custom built computers and i was a teenager back then, so that might have made it a little easier on me too

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#54

Post by periheli0n »

So many people suffer from this. I guess most of us had at least stretches in their career where procrastination dominated the work day. For some, this is just the standard mode of operation.

It is important to understand that this is a sign of exhaustion. Work is hard and if we don't have the energy to start then it doesn't get done. Personally I found the following to help:

1) Get enough sleep. Every day. Nothing drains your energy more than consistently not getting enough sleep.

2) Cultivate interaction with other people outside work, in person. This is particularly important now. Talking with others and listening to their little problems can help put your perceived misery in context. So does having a life outside work.

3) Say "No" more often. Focus on the tasks that need to be done to meet your life goals. Decline the tasks that look interesting or even fascinating when they don't help you move forward.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#55

Post by cttet »

I share the same problem for a very long time and the situation gets worse as I grow up.

But recently at least I have more understanding of my problem on this. The most important thing I want to share with you is that: Not most of things online are not useful to people like me, because the people are different. A lot of advices can be misleading too.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU) this one especially. Because for different people, the procrastination experience is very different.

If you have the same issue as me, the core problem is not actually about planning and decision making. It is about my ability to do things. It's a long essay but I will put the essence here: To some of the people (about half the population as I estimate), there are two way to obtain knowledge, one is learning, the other is training. People tends to acquired knowledge by learning and lack of training will be highly likely to have my kind of procrastination, especially on something we are not really trained on.

The common experience of me doing things is plan things, make time estimates and do it. This sounds familiar but it is extremely different experience among people. As a "learner" although I made the time estimates, I don't really know them well. But with something that I am more comfortable with, I have a special feeling about the time estimates, that will have a strong confidence on that I can finish in a certain time frame. I tend to have no decision hesitations on tasks like this. This is usually the reason that I can finish tasks at the last minute, because usually I will assemble the things I trained more often, and use less the things I learned.

The solution that now I am trying on, is to train more and learn less. Also I have done more things that I already familiar with(with I force myself to do because I need to resist myself considering it as waste of time), to at least know that I can get things done.

Hope this will help you. comment here if you need more clarifications or advices.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#56

Post by LorentzGauge »

Shared404 wrote: post #6

Oh hey, that's a picture of my life. Anyone have coping mechanisms they can suggest? This is really getting out of hand. So far the best I've been able to do is intake massive portions of caffeine and use the resultant high/numbing of emotion to allow myself to push through. Not the healthiest or most sustainable option.

I found that understanding the physiology behind the problem helped me best. Refer to this excellent podcast episode from Dr. Huberman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcs2PFz5q6g

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#57

Post by nefitty »

cipheredStones wrote: post #33

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 am…

A lot of my guilt around my job search is failing the trad "male provider" role and seemingly inherent status anxiety around being a man.

I would feel fine working at 711 and coming home to grind on code. I'm not an atom though. My wife can't pay the rent alone forever and my dog needs to seemingly eat every day. I've gone through this cycle previously before pursuing coding professionally, and this time I at least have the consolation of knowing my next salary will more than make up for my many strings of resigned couch tending.

I'm also now thoroughly convinced that our behavior can be chemically diverted. I don't feel like a piece of shit when I feel sad or unmotivated anymore, just more like a puzzle that's temporarily missing some neuromolecular pieces.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#58

Post by nicbou »

Usually, I solve this by making it the only thing on my list that day, and clearing as many hurdles as possible the day before. This can mean anything from preliminary googling to cleaning up my workspace and taking out the required tools.

This means that on the fateful morning, it’s the first thing I do after making coffee. No checking emails, no small chores, just a shower, coffee and getting to work.

I read somewhere that a lot of procrastination is fear of failure or fear of the unknown. Sometimes tackling the latter is the best way to start. I circle the problem late in the evening when there is no pressure to start working. I just read, take notes and draft plans. Making it easy to get started is sometimes the best first step to take.

Re: Procrastinatory Doom Loops

#59

Post by sanctified384 »

This is an oldie so many may already know it. But always relevant reading for my fellow procrastinators.

Part 1: https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrasti...

Part 2: https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.h...

Bonus: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-matrix.html

Highly recommended! While I still procrastinate this understanding has helped me control my urge tememdously. A true gem! (This is also available as a video in Tim Urban's TED talk on YouTube)

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