Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

Technical solutions, like the one you explained never worked for me.

I'd second some other commenters here that accepting oneself is the first step. And learning to look objectivly on yourself and accept that you fuck things up from time to time. Don't say that's why I'm lazy or that is because of X. Just note that you are doing something you know it is bad. And try to accept that. It's easier to deal with it.

Things that helped me (that you could try before going down the military route):

Heavy exercise (running 10km a day, martial arts training 2-3x a week). This is probably related to fear - without that level of exercise I'm feeling unable to even start with other habit forming activities. As others noted it's tough to keep sticking to it.

Meditation/Relaxation: Medition is pretty hard for me. But doing relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation or even yoga and then vipassana makes a difference for me. Never works without the heavy exercise for me through.

As far as I remember when I was able to implement these 2 habits for a longer period of time everything else worked quite well or at least I was able to work on the issues. E.g. facing long worn in fears, structering your day. Learning to plan. Actually long term planning.

If the level of stress or fear rises, everything breaks apart for me through. It's been a pattern for some years now.

Also: Get some real friends, not people that talk only about their great ideas for apps with you but that are honest to themselves and also struggle with life. I'm always feeling that a lot of my issues are superficial when I'm around other people that are working on their problems. It keeps you grounded and gives you motivation. Maybe.

Actually I don't have a solution. But if you want to feel better about yourself exercise and meditation worked for me.

The key element, in my opinion, is to cognitively transform tasks into achievements. the latter are far more appealing to smart(er) people.

adding to that the premise : No matter how smart you are you wont be able to bullshit your way out of PAYING salaries at the end of the month.

My advice: Start your own company doing what do now, just as a service instead, and i bet the paradigm shift alone is enough to "motivate you". That said, this will not "cure" you from procrastination. It will just drive you to overcome it as your brain starts to link "tasks" to actual milestones which pave the way to achievements.

As for procrastinating life stuff: outsource everything. Get a maid, etc.

For example, like you, I was procrastinating far too much at work. This was driven mainly by two problems: 1) I'm somewhat addicted to the Internet, and 2) there are many things with my job that I'm either bored with or just uncomfortable doing. The result was that I would procrastinate by going on the Internet.

I finally decided to make a rule: "No non-work-related Internet at work." Or in the "if-then" format: "If I am at work, then I will not use the Internet for non-work purposes."

This rule has worked for me. It forced me to confront the discomfort that I was having with the task at hand. I also try to focus on completing only one particularly challenging or distasteful task that I have been procrastinating on per day, and I try to do it first thing in the morning. The positive feeling that it generates is amazing.

I have adopted other rules as well, such as to lose fat. I have a rule to only eat during an 8-hour feeding window from 12PM to 8PM (intermittent fasting). While I am at work, I also only eat a huge mixed salad (with grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and tuna salad) every single day. I don't allow myself to use the vending machine or to eat goodies that people bring in or eat pizza on Fridays (pizza day). When I'm not at work, I'm a little more flexible.

I try not to design rules that expect me to be perfect all day every day. My rules are designed in a way that help me to be perfect only during specific contexts.

I think the reason that setting rules for ourselves is so often successful is because it eliminates the need to make decisions. Every time you allow yourself to make a decision, you give yourself the opportunity to make a bad decision, which you will do at times of low willpower, which pretty much everyone goes through (willpower is an exhaustible resource).

So my recommendation is to try to design some context-sensitive rules (i.e. rules that you will follow at certain times or certain places) and adapt them as necessary so that they work for you. Remind of yourself that your rules will make your life better and that you are free to change them if you find that they don't serve you, or else your brain might rebel at the perception of the pain of discipline.

If your rules take a lot of willpower, they will eventually fail guaranteed.