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Structured Procrastination (1995)

structuredprocrastination.com

131–140 of 167 posts

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on LLMs as assistants for ADHD? What are you automating with them?

They have helped me a lot with chunking tasks, and guiding me through tasks that I can't hold in focus. There's a prompt I used while moving out, where I had claude ask me questions, what is in each room. And then once we had this item list, organizing it.

> where I had claude ask me questions

That's a powerful pattern also for engineering. Can recommend.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#133

How do we know it's from 1995? > Site designed by the author's granddaughter, who did the work while avoiding the far more weighty assignment of her literature test. Impressive for 1995, he must've thought her HTML and how to use a computer first HTML 2.0 came out in 1995

update: the HTML doctype string is > http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd "> that's HTML 1.0

XHTML 1.0, the attempt to write HTML in XML. It came out in ~2000 and was a thing for some time while HTML 4 was also around.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

two of my friends at different times called me and spoke for an hour each, how they suddenly realized that they have ADHD, got diagnosed, got meds, and how their life is completely different now. Sounded almost like they joined a cult or something, but I've been happy for them. In half a year initial joy subsided. I guess they got their new normalcy or something, it doesn't sound like they're having any adverse side-…

I've heard that a lot, to the point where the advice was not to listen to the advice of people who have been on their ADHD medication for less than a year due to the initial boost.

It's usually more helpful to base decisions on actual studies instead of random anecdotes where you have zero verifiable background information about the patient cases.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#135

How do we know it's from 1995? > Site designed by the author's granddaughter, who did the work while avoiding the far more weighty assignment of her literature test. Impressive for 1995, he must've thought her HTML and how to use a computer first HTML 2.0 came out in 1995

Heh, that's my daughter - mostly self-taught with just enough misdirection from me to keep her guessing. The essay was from 1995, but was just in a listserv. The webpage was done in the early 2000s.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#136

I'm doing the same, or at least trying to do it. Worst periods for me were when I had one clear, important goal, not particularly hard but hairy, and nothing else to do, sometimes because I myself cleared it up. I could spend months doing nothing useful , and end up very, very tired and burnt up. I also several times had a conversation with managers, whom I told that I'd rather work on something very urgent, or other…

i've always wondered why I eagerly jump in to some big tasks whereas others fill me with anxiety and trigger procrastination, and recently I've come up with a working theory:

if the task requires requires leaving a stable equilibrium and moving to another, I will procrastinate. So things like "fixing these bugs" or "build a prototype" are fine, but "migrate this system from X to Y" are a problem.

It's because these are the tasks where you know things are going to get worse before they get better.

When I work, I want to fix things and shrink my to-do list (why yes, I am an inbox-zero kind of guy). These big migration tasks are the type of work where once you start, your to-do list gets bigger.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#138

I'm doing the same, or at least trying to do it. Worst periods for me were when I had one clear, important goal, not particularly hard but hairy, and nothing else to do, sometimes because I myself cleared it up. I could spend months doing nothing useful , and end up very, very tired and burnt up. I also several times had a conversation with managers, whom I told that I'd rather work on something very urgent, or other…

i've always wondered why I eagerly jump in to some big tasks whereas others fill me with anxiety and trigger procrastination, and recently I've come up with a working theory: if the task requires requires leaving a stable equilibrium and moving to another, I will procrastinate. So things like "fixing these bugs" or "build a prototype" are fine, but "migrate this system from X to Y" are a problem. It's because these a…

I tend to like "make the line go down to zero" type tasks (not burndown charts but like "# of integrators with old API"). IMO it feels good to have a solid definition of done and realistically most tasks don't.

Re: Structured Procrastination (1995)

#140

I swear this is how I've gotten good at most of my hobbies. Playing guitar for 20 years has gotten me to a great level for a hobbyist, but not at all because of any virtues like discipline, self control, or routine. Rather, every day whenever other more important chores or duties loomed, I'd notice one of my guitars laying around, in my couch or my bed or leaning next to my desk. And most times, I'd give in. There's…

I did this for many years, but pretty much just got worse. There's probably a threshold of skill you need to reach on an instrument. I decided that if I pick up guitar again, I'll be sure to do a few months of structured lessons, because I'm tired of noodling around on the same two scales!
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