At the End of a Procrastinated Day
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At the End of a Procrastinated Day
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Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#2my tactic: if you are burned out on coding, stop and do something else positive:
* go for a run * do an errand that has to be done anyway * balance your checkbook
This gets your mind on something else which is probably the problem - we aren't meant to stare at a screen doing exactly the same things over and over for 8 hours.
And remember, you are not alone in this. No depression allowed - you are not weak, you are human.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#3Just start. Usually the problem is that you unnecessarily look up to your tasks. You think it's boring, difficult, or you don't know where to start. Just start. Once you start, you get into a positive flow and become motivated to finish it.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#4Reading that was pretty eery since I just ate a banana, got a glass of water from the kitchen, have Chrome open with 20 tabs (including, obviously, Hacker News) and have a Pomodoro Android app within reach. The only thing that snapped me out of it was that my app was free.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#5I have this exact same problem and I just have to get started. I don't start because I know a task is going to be a lot of work but that work will go away if I just get started. It's difficult and I think all coders deal with it.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#6For me, procrastination always come from a lack of having a digestible plan of attack.
When you find yourself procrastinating, figure out a single next step for your project, one single feature, or one single task in that feature that needs to be done. If you know what your next step in the project is, you'll have this urge to jump back in and do that task.
If you can't find that task, then you need to step back and look at your project from a higher level and analyze it to see if you have a clear picture of what you're trying to achieve.
Try it, it works wonders.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#7I don't understand why some people beat themselves up so much over procrastinating. Sure, it becomes a problem when you can't get anything done because you're so busy procrastinating. But everyone has a day here and there where they just can't be bothered to work on anything. Usually, it's a sign that your brain needs a break. Listen to it! Take a break.
If it happens so often it interferes with your work, you need to address the underlying issues. Do you enjoy what you're doing? Are you stressed out about something outside of work? Your problem procrastinating won't go away until you resolve those issues.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#8I feel you. I've been procrastinating a project for 3 years already (yes 3 years). I write code maybe half of one day each week. The rest of the time I do as you describe. I'm so ashamed of it I tell no one. Glad to have quite a bit of savings.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#9How I kicked the same problem:
Spend a day procrastinating. Contemplate how unpleasantly wasteful it was (even if it felt superficially 'fun' at the time.)
Spend time being productive. Contemplate how I enjoyed doing it, and how I enjoyed having done it.
Consider the contrast between a day spent (in my case) learning C++ versus a day messing around on Reddit.
I don't have to make an effort any more. After my allotted procrastination time is up, I lose interest, and start to feel drawn towards my studies. It's like an internal productivity timer that automatically dampens my enthusiasm for wasteful activities and makes me keen to return to my books. I guess this is what it feels like to be hypnotized into disliking chocolate and into preferring healthier snacks.
Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day
#10I find procrastination is a symptom, not the actual problem.
The very root of the problem is that I'm either faced with something I just don't want to do or can see that the NEXT thing is something I really don't want to face.
It usually means I need to do some introspection.