I still find the ticking of a pomodoro timer to be the best way to make me start cranking out work. There's just something about tik tik tik tik that springs me into action.
How to overcome resistance to work
11–20 of 54 posts
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#12Social media bar floating above the article's text on my Android phone. I cannot remember just how many articles I did not read because of this. Guessing one word per line lowers my reading enjoyment.
This is why I often browse (sites other than HN) with JS turned off in the Android browser.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#13I still find the ticking of a pomodoro timer to be the best way to make me start cranking out work. There's just something about tik tik tik tik that springs me into action.
I've just discovered Pomodoro (on Day 5) and I have to say it's completely revolutionised my productivity. I've gone from 3 or 4 hours of unfocused time a day, to 12 hours of laser like focus on stuff that matters.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#14Step 1: Realize that if you don't work, you'll fucking starve. Step 2: Close HN. Step 3: Work like fucking crazy, to put as much distance between yourself and starvation as you possibly can.
i think this concerns working on stuff beyond satisfying basic needs
that project you wish you'd get done in your spare time
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#15This reminded me of those long sales pages with an email list signup box at the bottom. This is what I got from the article. Break it down into small tasks. Work out what the next easiest actionable task is, like say "Opening an application". Set yourself a time limit on the task. Discover and remove any internal resistance you may have. Use you new found insight now. Maybe on this link to download our to-do list software.
Don't get me wrong the advice will no doubt help some of us, most likely more then the software would.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#16I wish a psychologist research all the suggestions and laid out the effectiveness of each approach. For now, I guess we goes with "whatever works for me".
I know what you mean. Most of the time such advice like this makes sense, and some of it is indeed backed up by psychological research, but it's hard to see that unless you know of the research yourself. A lot of the time what seems like common sense is actually contrary to findings in psychology research. The book 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman is a good starting point here and it offers lots of advice which is backed up with research and data. For example, the book talks about how smiling can make you feel happier, which I had discovered to be true for myself on my own accord.
One thing I'm looking into is using self-administered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to overcome various problems, such as procrastination. I have found this, which I posted on HN earlier:
http://www.threeminutetherapy.com/chapter6.html
This uses REBT, or Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, which is a form of CBT and, apparently, the most extensively researched form. See here for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_thera...
CBT has been proven effective for a number of psychological issues such as anxiety and depression and I'm really interested in its potential applications to other problems. There's more info here with a ton of citations:
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#17Social media bar floating above the article's text on my Android phone. I cannot remember just how many articles I did not read because of this. Guessing one word per line lowers my reading enjoyment.
It's all about breaking it down into manageable chunks - just one word at a time you'll be able to read a whole article.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#18Step 1: Realize that if you don't work, you'll fucking starve. Step 2: Close HN. Step 3: Work like fucking crazy, to put as much distance between yourself and starvation as you possibly can.
Step 1 is not really true for a large number of middle-class Westerners, though, and even less true for middle-class Westerners with tech skills. There are a lot of unpleasant things that would happen if I stopped making money tomorrow, but it would be a long time, if ever, before I starved. Between savings/friends/parents/foodstamps/etc., I would have to seriously run through about 20 fallback plans before literally not having food.
And in particular, it doesn't solve the independent-motivation problem. There are a lot of people who can work a regular job who have trouble, at least initially, getting into a productive self-directed work mode. If someone is trying to figure out how to transition from regular employment to self-directed productivity, telling them that their motivator should be money-making to eat misses the point, because they could do that via the "failure" option of just giving up and going back to a 9-5, too.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#19Step 1: Realize that if you don't work, you'll fucking starve. Step 2: Close HN. Step 3: Work like fucking crazy, to put as much distance between yourself and starvation as you possibly can.
Step 4: Burnout, depression, homelessness The above is the advice of an amateur who hasn't actually had to tackle work in a self-motivated manner whether the OP fits that mold or not. Moderation and focusing on what is actionable is how you keep rolling.
This is spot on. After four years as an independent, burnout is a huge issue. I'm 1/3 as productive as when I started down this path.
Re: How to overcome resistance to work
#20Some great suggestions here, but I find the best method for me is to just crank some music, down a couple swigs of coffee and dive in. About 95% of the time the issue isn't about getting stuck partway through, or approaching the problem wrong, it's about getting through the first ten minutes of work. Resistance crumbles after that and motivation and focus kick in to full gear.
I'm the same way, and once I've actually started working it's hard for me to shut it down and stop working.