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Procrastination is Not Laziness

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Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#121

Post by shanusmagnus »

drivers99 wrote: post #117
Miserlou57 wrote: post #97

I'm reaching out here because I really need some advice. This is a great thread, but I think it only semi-applies to me. I am 24 years old, and I seriously struggle with motivation to do... just about anything. I have a midterm tomorrow in Dynamics (a mech engr course), and I have pretty much neglected the class entirely, and I am most certainly going to fail it, and I'll have to withdraw. This isn't surprising, beca…

I have felt exactly as you felt for a long time. The answer that's working for me is really short: look at the problem and look for something really small and say "I could [do x]," and then immediately do x. This gives you the freedom from thinking about the larger thing it is a part of, from thinking about the order of doing things / trying to optimize it. For example, let's say I want to clean up my place. If I loo…

This is the only thing that's ever worked for me; although even though it's worked, and is trivial to implement, even so it's often not been enough. How can one have a tool that successfully does the job, and yet so often ignore that tool? I don't know. Motivation is a strange beast.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#122

Post by speedyrev »

Aardwolf wrote: post #119

What does the following sentence in there mean? "but suffice it to say that I learned that the downsides of being imperfect are far greater than the upsides of being perfect" It looks odd in its context, because the text was about the downsides of being perfect. Thanks.

I think the author is saying that it is better (he is happier)to live with the downsides of being imperfect than to live under the pressure of trying to be perfect, never succeeding, and getting limited upsides.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#123

Post by ZoFreX »

calhoun137 wrote: post #79
bjeanes wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, that's not procrastination. That's just guilt-free play. The key is that you are still getting things done that you need/want to do. You're just aware of when you need a break and are comfortable letting yourself do so. That's not the procrastination that the OP is talking about...

You have a very valid point, and even though I call it procrastinating it's not the same. However, I am all too familiar with the procrastinating of the type described by the OP, as I have experienced it myself quite severely. I suppose the reason I made my comment is one day I realized that it was actually a positive thing to "procrastinate" for a non-trivial amount of time before I even start working; as long as I…

I do this and call it "constructive procrastination". I quite often wash the dishes because I'm putting off writing some code, for example.

In your specific case I think it's even healthier. I can't work well or think straight if my environment is cluttered, it feels like it's cluttering my head as well. Identifying things in your environment that affect your performance and taking control over them is KEY to productivity and happiness.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#124

Post by shanusmagnus »

mikeash wrote: post #20
nikatwork wrote: post #11

Interesting theory but I'm not sure it's the whole picture. Personally, while I definitely identify with the "fear of failure" personality trait, I find my procrastination is down to two things: depleted willpower and inertia. To help with willpower, I try to keep my home environment as tidy and organized as possible (which doesn't come naturally). There's not too much I can do about my dayjob other than minimize my…

Yes, some people may procrastinate due to fear of failure, but it seems clear that it's not universal. I know I'm not procrastinating on filing my taxes right now because I fear failure somehow. There's not much failure to be had, and I'm comfortable with the process and have a great accountant who helps me through it. I just don't feel like doing it right now, because the process itself is painful. I'd rather have s…

This is an interesting point, but I think it's important to take 'fear of failure' the right way, which is not [always] literally a fear of failing at task X; but instead as a trained predisposition to not attempt things. In the same way that a basketball player can habitually and automatically pull up for a jump shot every time he drives left; or a person can open the refrigerator every time he comes home and throws his keys on the counter, so one can habitually and automatically defer doing things because the consequences of poor performance have burned that delaying tactic into one's behavior.

Or so the theory goes -- as someone said up-thread, Piers Steel did an extremely thorough meta-analysis on the topic (gated article here, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886900...; he eventually turned this paper into a book) that denies this perfectionistic explanation and instead breaks the issue down in terms of utility theory and temporal discounting.

Which is fine; but I'm not convinced that the two may not be describing the same phenomenon from different levels of abstraction, in the same way that you can describe bird flocking behavior at the level of Newtonian mechanics, but describe it a lot more succinctly and meaningfully using Craig Reynolds's Boid model.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#125

Post by krcz »

drivers99 wrote: post #117
Miserlou57 wrote: post #97

I'm reaching out here because I really need some advice. This is a great thread, but I think it only semi-applies to me. I am 24 years old, and I seriously struggle with motivation to do... just about anything. I have a midterm tomorrow in Dynamics (a mech engr course), and I have pretty much neglected the class entirely, and I am most certainly going to fail it, and I'll have to withdraw. This isn't surprising, beca…

I have felt exactly as you felt for a long time. The answer that's working for me is really short: look at the problem and look for something really small and say "I could [do x]," and then immediately do x. This gives you the freedom from thinking about the larger thing it is a part of, from thinking about the order of doing things / trying to optimize it. For example, let's say I want to clean up my place. If I loo…

For me it rarely works. I know, what you mean, sometimes it does, doing one thing makes my body follow with others semi-automatically, without thinking about each one. But most often I just do this one thing and then stop. I can then do another, and another, but each with the same effort as the first one.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#126

Post by prawks »

sergiosgc wrote: post #108
Miserlou57 wrote: post #97

I'm reaching out here because I really need some advice. This is a great thread, but I think it only semi-applies to me. I am 24 years old, and I seriously struggle with motivation to do... just about anything. I have a midterm tomorrow in Dynamics (a mech engr course), and I have pretty much neglected the class entirely, and I am most certainly going to fail it, and I'll have to withdraw. This isn't surprising, beca…

Self motivation is an art. It's something everyone everywhere has had to learn, so don't feel down because you are struggling with it. As with all abilities, some people are naturals, some have to learn it. My personal opinion is that, as with most abilities, the "naturals" are just people who learned self motivation at a very young age. You have to learn it, as did I, and as did many more people than you can imagine…

I like this explanation the best, primarily the first few sentences. Motivating yourself is really as unique as you are, and as stated, if you're not naturally gifted at it, it takes significant trial and error to work at.

For me, my primary limiting factor is that I tend to burn out easily. Currently, I plan a couple or a few days a week that will be "productive days" where I run errands, tidy things up around my apartment, and generally tie up loose ends (bills, finance, make appointments, etc.). I used to work on trying to spread it out more evenly through the week, but I found the quality of my work really decreases the longer that I try and keep up the pace. I need a day, or two, or even longer sometimes to get back in the "productive mood".

I know these things, and being aware of them helps me plan accordingly, and set realistic goals. I've been doing this since college, and the quality of my work has really improved, because I tend to work best when I want to, and relax best when I need to. These cycles come about naturally, and I try to exploit them.

Everyone is different. And the important thing is to constantly try and improve, even in little ways, at even a seemingly glacial pace. Small goals for me snowball into larger ones. But it's all about really coming to know yourself.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#127

Post by Aardwolf »

speedyrev wrote: post #122
Aardwolf wrote: post #119

What does the following sentence in there mean? "but suffice it to say that I learned that the downsides of being imperfect are far greater than the upsides of being perfect" It looks odd in its context, because the text was about the downsides of being perfect. Thanks.

I think the author is saying that it is better (he is happier)to live with the downsides of being imperfect than to live under the pressure of trying to be perfect, never succeeding, and getting limited upsides.

Darn, reminds me of the drill in the movie "Pi" :/

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#128

Post by LatvjuAvs »

Isamu wrote: post #23

Let me second the OP and recommend Neil Fiore's book "The Now Habit". There are lots of good strategies in that book, such as: The Unschedule * a weekly calendar of committed recreational activities and breaks, meals, etc * productive periods of work are recorded after they are accomplished * encourages starting earlier on projects once you see how much time is already committed * 30 minute chunks of productive work…

So instead finding something you would like to do, we must commit to exercises, motivation(discipline), regulations, restrictions in hope that reward will outweigh something we really do not want commit to.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#129

Post by adrianmn »

Miserlou57 wrote: post #97

I'm reaching out here because I really need some advice. This is a great thread, but I think it only semi-applies to me. I am 24 years old, and I seriously struggle with motivation to do... just about anything. I have a midterm tomorrow in Dynamics (a mech engr course), and I have pretty much neglected the class entirely, and I am most certainly going to fail it, and I'll have to withdraw. This isn't surprising, beca…

I was like this many years ago and managed to fix it.

I am strongly considering developing an online course about this and to get some more hands on experience I am happy to help few people for free. If you would like my help please email me your Skype details. You can find my email in my profile.

Re: Procrastination is Not Laziness

#130

Post by LatvjuAvs »

Miserlou57 wrote: post #97

I'm reaching out here because I really need some advice. This is a great thread, but I think it only semi-applies to me. I am 24 years old, and I seriously struggle with motivation to do... just about anything. I have a midterm tomorrow in Dynamics (a mech engr course), and I have pretty much neglected the class entirely, and I am most certainly going to fail it, and I'll have to withdraw. This isn't surprising, beca…

You will move world if you want to.

Or when you are in fear from something, if you believe in fear.

Fear from not being successful :D. Fear from not reaching someone's else expectations. Fear from doing right/wrong things.

Motivation ultimately is carrot-stick mechanism. You should never be motivated to do something you like. Because it is natural.

And all I can tell you, you have not found what you would like, because you too have placed values in very very unbelievable(for you) place.

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