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No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

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Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#41

Post by loceng »

paulsutter wrote: post #8

Clocks vs alarms is a new insight. During hour-scale procrastination, I do check the clock often. An alarm near the deadline, instead of clock-checking, could force me to start the task immediately because of uncertainty. I'll try it right now. EDIT: I just tried it. Unable to check a clock, I felt a real urgency to get things done. Very interesting idea.

I find when I have something I want to go to that has a specific start time, that the anxiety created from it can be a double-edged sword - especially when I start feeling even more productive and feel I could keep working - though then I'll miss the time-sensitive event..

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#42

Post by rnernento »

This is cool and all but a lot easier said than done. The author is in college where free time is in abundance. I'm not disparaging the principles but working a full time job, getting 8 hours of sleep, and exercising an hour every day isn't always possible...

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#43

Post by chatmasta »

This is great, and honestly I've found the same. I'm actually taking this term off from school to work on my business while remaining on campus. I also need to follow a pretty rigorous exercise schedule as I'm on the varsity track team.

I've found that achieving a consistent sleep and exercise schedule has been extremely difficult without any real commitments in the morning. I think one of the best things you can do to stick to a schedule is to commit yourself to something at 9am every morning.

That said -- the evenings are hard not to indulge. Weed and alcohol are pretty hard to resist... got any tips for that? :)

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#44

Post by freyr »

rnernento wrote: post #42

This is cool and all but a lot easier said than done. The author is in college where free time is in abundance. I'm not disparaging the principles but working a full time job, getting 8 hours of sleep, and exercising an hour every day isn't always possible...

Why not?

If you work 9 hours a day, exercise for an hour, commute for an hour, and sleep 8 hours, you're left with 5 hours every day.

Real-world tasks that fill those remaining 5 hours - Showering and getting dressed - Working overtime - Eating meals - Random errands and appointments - Shopping for food and preparing meals (could be off-loaded to the weekend)

It seems like you should be able to cram that stuff into 5 hours a day.

I think another factor the OP doesn't factor is time spent with a significant other. This varies from relationship to relationship, or family to family, but the expectations to spend time together can be quite high, and that can cut into personal productivity.

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#45

Post by freyr »

chatmasta wrote: post #43

This is great, and honestly I've found the same. I'm actually taking this term off from school to work on my business while remaining on campus. I also need to follow a pretty rigorous exercise schedule as I'm on the varsity track team. I've found that achieving a consistent sleep and exercise schedule has been extremely difficult without any real commitments in the morning. I think one of the best things you can do…

> Weed and alcohol are pretty hard to resist... got any tips for that?

Get some self control.

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#46

Post by engtech »

One trick I've always tried to maintain is daily releases, namely that I'll always check in code at the end of the day so that it can run in the smoke tests overnight.

Running stats on our version control, I do about 4000 checkins a year, the next highest is 1000, and most team members average about 300.

That being said, my focus is horrible. Using the pomodoro technique has helped me in the past, there's something about not being allowed to multitask that means you can avoid context switching off of a difficult task to something easier (eg: the coding equivalent to cleaning off your desk).

My other problem is a willingness to work overtime. It's one thing to do it for deadlines, but because I internalize monthly deadlines I always have something that I think is so important that it Has To Be Done Now.

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#47

Post by willismichael »

freyr wrote: post #45
chatmasta wrote: post #43

This is great, and honestly I've found the same. I'm actually taking this term off from school to work on my business while remaining on campus. I also need to follow a pretty rigorous exercise schedule as I'm on the varsity track team. I've found that achieving a consistent sleep and exercise schedule has been extremely difficult without any real commitments in the morning. I think one of the best things you can do…

> Weed and alcohol are pretty hard to resist... got any tips for that? Get some self control.

That's easier said than done. There needs to be a mechanism to reinforce said "self control". It's not good enough to just repeatedly tell yourself "I'm going to do better" (Although that is a good first step). I don't have any magic answers here, but willpower alone is not enough to change habits.

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#48

Post by icebraining »

freyr wrote: post #44
rnernento wrote: post #42

This is cool and all but a lot easier said than done. The author is in college where free time is in abundance. I'm not disparaging the principles but working a full time job, getting 8 hours of sleep, and exercising an hour every day isn't always possible...

Why not? If you work 9 hours a day, exercise for an hour, commute for an hour, and sleep 8 hours, you're left with 5 hours every day. Real-world tasks that fill those remaining 5 hours - Showering and getting dressed - Working overtime - Eating meals - Random errands and appointments - Shopping for food and preparing meals (could be off-loaded to the weekend) It seems like you should be able to cram that stuff into 5…

So, no parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and others that may regularly need your help or just your company?

Re: No Studying After 5pm: Using Parkinson’s Law to Kick Procrastination’s Ass

#49

Post by [deleted] »

kayoone wrote: post #31

My problem with this is this: "I tell myself that everything has to be done by 5pm" Thing is, i cant tell myself anything if its simply not true. I cant force myself to get everything done by 5pm because i simply dont have to, i can do it later and i know it even if that means stress and doing it in the last hours.

[deleted]
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