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Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

visakanv.com

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Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#61

Post by pauletienney »

visakanv wrote: post #22
pauletienney wrote: post #19

I guess the key point is "I would pay 100$ a month for a helping app". I think you might not have enough constraints. A financiel constraint is a great motivation. I have been a freelancer for 4 years. The first year, the excitment of this new activity was enough to motivate me. After this time I slowly became lazy (syn. for procrastinator). I was losing money and felt to a point where my bank account was almost at z…

I'm not rich or anything, I'm married with a stay-at-home wife, I'm paying for a house, I'm building my savings, etc. But I do think $100/month is worth it because I don't think I'm using even 10-20% of my max potential, and the value I could create if I were more productive would be more than that. I do have an interesting challenge at work that I think I'm about to really break open... god I realize how cheesy this…

I am sorry if i missed the point. Maybe try a mixed approach.

- Baby steps : define a realistic goal for a day (even it needs only 30 min. to achieve) and just make it. The next day take a bit more important goal. One goal a day. Just one. But every * day.

- Leverage the shame : make sure your screen is visible by everybody in your office. That way you will feel a bit ashamed if you spend too much time on FB. That "shame" will drive you to work.

- Disconnect : if your job does not require Internet, simply disconnect your computer. Or edit your host file to redirect facebook.com to 127.0.0.1 during daytime

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#62

Post by crististm »

boldpanda wrote: post #25

Hey visakanv, If I can show you a viable solution today will you pay me $100 as you claim in your blog post? I have a viable solution for you, but I bet you won't pay. 1 - Sign up for Gmail. It's free. 2 - Open Google Calendar. 3 - Click Create 4 - Add your motivational prompt in the 'Untitle event' field. For example, the one I'm using is "Ryan, you will die someday. Are you doing exactly what you should be doing ri…

The questions should be specific - how do you get more specific, and, also important, how do you get the timing right? What's necessary for the prompt to fire when you can do something about it?

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#63

Post by bentcorner »

ithkuil wrote: post #57
derefr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An AI-complete motivational prompter... I think, for writers, these are known as "agents" ;)

Some people are unlucky enough to have such AI-complete entities, usually they call them "boss".

Maybe some sort of motivational person to talk to? Someone with whom you don't mind sharing your personal failings and who knows how to get you to do better.

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#65

Post by nyan_sandwich »

Leepic wrote: post #33
jasonlotito wrote: post #11

This is just a friendly reminder that if you would describe yourself as a procrastinator, it might be something more. If you've always been one, if you want to do things, but can never do it, it could be a sign. ADHD is a real problem, and has real solutions (and those solutions aren't all addictive). If you feel like you are always running behind, always trying to catch up. If anyone says you are a great developer,…

The moment I finished reading OP's blog post I felt like I wrote it. However, for my case, I have some doubts about the ADHD claim. For starters, I managed to play a new videogame for unhealthy amounts of time the last 2 weeks with such dedication. We're talking about waking up to turn on the PC and look what I have to achieve in the game for today then get it done. I never felt like something would make me get up ot…

As an ADHDer, that's what it's like for me; it's not a lack of focus, it's a lack of executive control over focus. I can go head down for sixteen hours on a really interesting problem, but if I'm not feeling it, it just doesn't happen.

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#66

Post by GFischer »

pauletienney wrote: post #19

I guess the key point is "I would pay 100$ a month for a helping app". I think you might not have enough constraints. A financiel constraint is a great motivation. I have been a freelancer for 4 years. The first year, the excitment of this new activity was enough to motivate me. After this time I slowly became lazy (syn. for procrastinator). I was losing money and felt to a point where my bank account was almost at z…

I've been in the red for a while, and I still procrastinate a lot :( .

I do have a 9 hour work, and I'm trying to do stuff on the side, but I end up not using the time after work productively.

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#67

Post by Leepic »

robmclarty wrote: post #59
Leepic wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say "wow, this is totally my case" if it weren't for the 5-10 minute breaks every hour to stretch. Then again, the game has a clock on the UI to check frequently (right above the map) so there's that.

A new game with a map and clock in the top right... Are you addicted to FFXIV like I am? lol I struggle with attention issues myself, and have tried medication, but have noticed a difference in creativity when medicated (although much more productive). I'm an illustrator as well as a programmer and find those two interests not always working the same way. Maybe I just need to try something different (I was trying Rit…

Yes, ARR! I might try medication as last resolve but the whole "solution" sounds like something short-term (I don't feel comfortable taking medication for the rest of my life).

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#68

Post by kaybe »

moron4hire wrote: post #6

I have found all of my procrastination to stem from lacking a certain degree of knowledge of how to perform the task that I'm procrastinating. When I don't know how to do something or I don't know how long it will take, then I don't know where it fits into my schedule, so I never fit it into my schedule. Most of the time, I grossly over estimate how long something will take, i.e. "all day" when it's probably only a 1…

I don't try to find out how long it will take but how to do it. So the first time the item is on the list is 'How can I do this?', and it will transform from there. Each time it counts as a full-blown task. Usually there are some older items as well where no further overhead is needed and which are well-known. And I feel ok if I get 3-5 in total done. (Simple ones are 'Do the laundry', 'write this email where you know exactly what to write'.)

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#69

Post by visakanv »

Several people have been asking me if I'm serious about the $100! Wasn't expecting this to catch on, but here's what I'm going to do- I'm going to try out every solution that people send or suggest, and I'll document it in my blog, and I'll paypal the $100 to whomever's solution works best for me. :-)

Re: Procrastination should be solved by lighting fires, not filling buckets

#70

Post by reddit_clone »

ithkuil wrote: post #57
derefr wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An AI-complete motivational prompter... I think, for writers, these are known as "agents" ;)

Some people are unlucky enough to have such AI-complete entities, usually they call them "boss".

Sometimes they call them 'spouse' :-)
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