Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

sciam.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 50 posts

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#21

Post by icky »

jcl wrote: post #20
dood wrote: post #16

The article's title is poorly chosen, it offers very little advice or insight into "how to kick the habit" beyond what most people already know.

To the article's credit, I didn't know that I might be able to cure my procrastination by using DNA antisense to partially shut down my rhinal cortex's dopamine receptors.

And all this time, I've been injecting it into the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Oh, what a fool I've been!

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#22

Post by paulgb »

silentbicycle wrote: post #13
dmpayton wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always override. I'm weak. :( We need a "disable override" function.

It's on the front of your computer (or by your laptop keyboard). Sometimes you need to hold it in for a couple seconds, just to show how focused you are.

Problem is most of us work on our computers, and many of us need the internet to work.

Personally, I use this:

echo "0.0.0.0 news.ycombinator.com" >> /etc/hosts

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#25

Post by robertk »

paulgb wrote: post #22
silentbicycle wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's on the front of your computer (or by your laptop keyboard). Sometimes you need to hold it in for a couple seconds, just to show how focused you are.

Problem is most of us work on our computers, and many of us need the internet to work. Personally, I use this: echo "0.0.0.0 news.ycombinator.com" >> /etc/hosts

Here is a snippet from my Windows hosts file...

   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
   127.0.0.1       news.ycombinator.com
   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
   # DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!!  DONT DO IT!!! [times 30]
The line in the middle changes from being commented to uncommmented several times in the day.

Sigh

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#26

Post by paulgb »

robertk wrote: post #25
paulgb wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is most of us work on our computers, and many of us need the internet to work. Personally, I use this: echo "0.0.0.0 news.ycombinator.com" >> /etc/hosts

Here is a snippet from my Windows hosts file... # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] The line in…

I find the same (hence this comment), but it does a great job to break this habit: http://xkcd.com/477/ .

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#27

Post by paulgb »

sh1mmer wrote: post #19

The most useful article I saw on HN about this subject was Structured Procrastination ( http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/ ). I've found that structured procrastination is extremely helpful in "just getting started" and once you are rolling you aren't procrastinating any more. The basic theory to sum up, is to have some that feels giant and important and impending to avoid which allows you to work on other stu…

Good read, thanks for posting.

His essay on perfectionism is great too http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/light/perfectionism...

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#28

Post by tdavis »

No due dates. That's something that helps me. If I give something a due date, I will procrastinate until the due date has arrived (or in the case of non-critical stuff, I might just not do it at all). It doesn't even matter what the task is, either. "Finish ticket #30 by Friday" and "drink a beer by 9pm" are essentially equivalent; I will avoid doing both until the last minute. And I love beer!

For instance, I make it a point to never tell myself "tomorrow when you wake up, go to the gym." I just wake up, think "hey, you should go to the gym, jackass" and I go. There's no time for excuses or rationalizations against the task. No, "There's no way it will take me 2 days to do this; I will wait until tomorrow!"

Having known I run on impulse for a long time, I've developed a few tricks. When it comes to work, I try to make vague plans for what I want to accomplish the next day, but I try not to think too much about them. This way when the time comes I can just start working and wait to get sucked in. The best tasks are things like "research X" or "learn more about Y" because they're easy to start and usually easy to get lost in and/or branch into other tasks. The key is not making any concrete plans. If I decide "tomorrow I will have X done by Y time" it's like there's another part of me who, just to be an asshole, decides to prove I won't accomplish that.

As for life, well, I just take 90% of the stuff I want to do/say and throw it out the window. The other 10% gets me in enough trouble as it is.

P.S. If you're really desperate, having to survive in the Army taught me another trick: Learn to turn off your brain. It helps.

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#29

Post by jmtame »

I think the article is missing two big ones. [1] Observing those around you that are very successful and entrepreneurial. I could name 5 people right now, I've seen all of their YouTube videos (probably more than once), read all their interviews. [2] Surrounding yourself with highly driven people. The same applies if you surround yourself with apathetic and lazy people. It probably sounds cliche by now, but that energy is contagious and will affect how you work, think, behave, etc.

Re: Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit.

#30

Post by bloch »

robertk wrote: post #25
paulgb wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is most of us work on our computers, and many of us need the internet to work. Personally, I use this: echo "0.0.0.0 news.ycombinator.com" >> /etc/hosts

Here is a snippet from my Windows hosts file... # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] 127.0.0.1 news.ycombinator.com # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] # DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! DONT DO IT!!! [times 30] The line in…

The paradox of anti-procrastination: You cannot outsmart yourself.
Post reply on HN