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

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

#251

Post by tehwalrus »

procastatron wrote: post #199
tehwalrus wrote: post #91

Willpower is a muscle, which uses the same resource as brain tasks (programming, arguing)[1] - let's call it "cognitive energy". 1) don't waste cognitive energy on silly tasks (games, arguing in comment threads, etc.) 2) practice exercising willpower - it's a muscle, you can train it to be better. Start by forcing yourself to complete a routine every morning (the trick with habit forming is to not give up after you m…

Has any of this shit actually worked for people and made a huge difference? I look at people like Kevin Systrom or Mark Cuban and from what it looks like they never had these issues.

It worked for me, and it has an evidence base.

Regular exercise stimulates the production of new neurons in the brain, which is a normal process found to be slowed in depressed brains. (the research was presented at a conference, but not yet published as far as I know.)

Mindfullness training has clinical evidence as a treatment for depression, anxiety and other psychological illnesses, as well as having been shown to increase concentration span and effectiveness.

Not everyone has these issues; perhaps I said it wrong. All "normal humans" are subject to depression and anxiety cycles, and have brains that use the same "cognitive energy" for both thinking problems and willpower. Assuming you don't have an abnormality in your brain structure (would be highly unlikely), these techniques will (most likely) help with the problem you describe. Of course, it's only medical science, so it's sometimes wrong for one individual.

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

#252

Post by yungchin »

procastatron wrote: post #217
danenania wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. A gifted and creative programmer may be able to accomplish in 3 hours what takes an average programmer 10, or by coming up with a creative approach to a problem, may be able to accomplish in 3 hours what an average programmer simply cannot do at all. So while a manager may dislike that they perceive someone to be slacking off, it doesn't necessarily mean the person isn't providing a lot of value to the co…

But at the same time, it seems unless there's a physiological difference in people like me, we should be able to condition ourselves into working more. What I'm doing with my extra time is not productive by any measure and although it makes me really good at producing random facts at dinner parties....I can't see much else gained by the time I waste.

> unless there's a physiological difference in people like me

I think there is: different people have differently tuned reward-centres in the brain.

The book "the procrastination equation" by Piers Steel tries to capture those differences in equation form. Although it's probably faux-math, the key idea seems good to me: procrastinators are more sensitive to the time-until-reward dimension of a given rational choice.

And of course, being physiologically different is not an excuse to procrastinate away. Once we understand the nature of the beast, we can game our brain (as the book describes), and (I hope) we can then maybe benefit from brain plasticity to get better at this stuff over time.

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

#253

Post by procastatron »

TheZenPsycho wrote: post #228
procastatron wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have more sex is easier said than done... Also, I'm definitely going to get a therapist after this. Looked around and found some area ones. I'll make an appointment "later" :)

you make 130k, you have a whole team working under you, and you are 21 years old, and you have trouble getting laid. That's it, this guy is a troll.

I don't see why that's hard to believe.

I'm very good at selling myself and my skillset but I'm deathly afraid of girls.

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

#254

Post by kstenerud »

ww520 wrote: post #24
kstenerud wrote: post #7

I had the same problem. The standard school program was easy enough to just coast through, as were my first few jobs. At one point I was working on Monday and goofing off the rest of the week. What changed it? Probably some of it was age. Your outlook on life and what's important changes as you get older. I spent a fair bit of time talking to people 10, 20, 30, and 40 years older than me, and while I usually didn't a…

What were some of the stuff people 10, 20, 30, and 40 years older said? It would be really interesting to see what the elder wisdom are.

A few stuck out in particular:

- Don't be in such a goddam rush.

- You'll look back at the risks you took when you were younger and wonder what the hell possessed you to take them. On the other hand, they make for great stories that you'll treasure forever.

- Losing everything isn't so bad. You move on.

- You'll always think you have the world figured out, but you won't.

- What you think is important today will probably seem trivial in 10 years.

- The older you get, the more you tend to treasure relationships over status. This becomes doubly true when you're a father, and quadrupally true when you're a grandfather.

- Your circle of friends will shrink. Keep close friends close.

- Your family, no matter how fucked up, is still your family.

- A life without adversity makes you weak.

- Don't start a fight, but don't shy away from one either.

- You're not forever young.

- Stay in shape. The older you get, the harder it is to maintain your body (and the harder it is to START getting into shape!). It sucks needing assistance just to move around.

- People don't want to hear your complaints, but when you're old enough, they'll have no choice but to listen to your crap.

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

#255

Post by rdouble »

TheZenPsycho wrote: post #228
procastatron wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have more sex is easier said than done... Also, I'm definitely going to get a therapist after this. Looked around and found some area ones. I'll make an appointment "later" :)

you make 130k, you have a whole team working under you, and you are 21 years old, and you have trouble getting laid. That's it, this guy is a troll.

you make 130k, you have a whole team working under you, and you are 21 years old, and you have trouble getting laid.

That is the description of the entire SF tech industry.

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

#256

Post by new_test »

dreeves wrote: post #63

My startup is all about solving this problem! http://beeminder.com It's specifically for lifehacking data nerds (so probably most people here on HN) and the idea is to combine a quantified self tool with a commitment contract. Specifically, you pledge (actual money) that you'll keep all your datapoints on a "yellow brick road" to your goal and if you don't, we charge you. We integrate with various gadgets and apps li…

Wow, that must be the least professional promotion video I've ever seen

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

#258

Post by netcan »

Oculus wrote: post #212
netcan wrote: post #170

Me too. Paraphrasing pg, going in to work and wasting 90% of your time is like getting uncontrollably drunk at lunch. It's very bad habit/behavior/addiction. So first of all, take it seriously. Here's some things that work/have worked for me, in no particular order. They all interact and work best in bunches. None have cured me. All have helped. 1. meditation - many meditation practices develop your ability to preven…

+1 For being able to admit the 'hippy dippy bullshit'. Sometimes that stuff works best, even thought we hate to say so.

Strange how embarrassed I feel writing it down. Even weirder is that I feel like recommending ADD medication legitimizes me recommending meditation and breathing rituals. I actually find them complimentary.

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

#259

Post by skue »

TheZenPsycho wrote: post #200
jmagoon wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it odd that this sounds like normal human behavior to me?

Nope. Pathologising the normal range of human behavior is a popular activity of neurotic western privileged people. Or whatever the mental illness that's trending at the moment.

Before I went to med school, I was similarly skeptical about the med/pharma industry. But like the global warming debate, once you understand the science, you begin to realize how facile the conspiracy theories are.

Here's the science behind ADHD: Functional MRI allows us to image actual brain activity. And there are clear differences between the brains of those diagnosed with ADHD and those diagnosed without (and yes, they do these studies blind, so researchers can't be biased).

And more recently they have found that stimulants such as methylphenidate (aka Ritalin) and others actually reverse these changes. Here is a recent study, plus a metareview (which compared several such studies):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23247506 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23660970

Of course, we could still have an interesting philosophical discussion about what we label a medical condition and what are variations of normal that nevertheless have a biological basis. Clearly, ADHD is not on par with debilitating psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or a bipolar manic episode.

But ADHD can cause functional impairment in school, jobs, and personal relationships; it can lead to decreased happiness and satisfaction in life (and not only for the person affected, but also their families, partners, and colleagues); there are clear neurophysiological differences underlying it; and we have treatments that can make an important difference. So why not use them?

And as for the big drug companies? Most of the ADHD drugs are generic these days, so they don't profit.

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