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Hack your motivation
11–20 of 46 posts
Re: Hack your motivation
#12I've been working on a side project which falls into the category of hacking motivation. Streakflow[1] is based on Jerry Seinfeld's "don't break the chain"[1] mentality that I've seen mentioned here before. It really helps when you don't want to do something because the thought of having to start over is worse than just doing it.
[1] http://www.streakflow.com [2] http://lifehacker.com/5886128/how-seinfelds-productivity-sec...
Re: Hack your motivation
#13Is there any good advice on overcoming procrastination due to social anxiety? Things like phone calls, dealing with unknown people, etc. I have a fear that I am not very knowledgeable about something (like law, or buying some stuff or service) and that others will cheat me, and it causes me problems. Interestingly, if I schedule a meeting, I am willing to handle it, but if I won't, I will try to postpone a lot. And e…
I have two: if your issue is related to your business I would add a "commercial person" to manage the meetings and the conversations. Even if this person is just a decoration. The other typical recommendation about improving yourself is good but will take time.
Regarding your fears about your knowledge you can always say in the meeting: "I need to talk to my lawyer about this" and think in background.
Re: Hack your motivation
#14I think the core of the motivation issue is the NOW vs longer term achievements, so my suggestion is to push longer term achievements to the "now court". How?
Well, think in byproducts of your current work: are you working on an algorithm that is complex? write an article explaining it after you understand it. Did you find an unknown development library that was very useful to your work, share it! So I see small branches of your current work that produce many deliveries.
Another way to solve the motivation issue is working with someone. This is the core idea on pair-programming.
If someone is interested I have concrete examples about delivering byproducts.
Re: Hack your motivation
#15One thing which I can highly recommend to anyone with motivation problems and help beat the procrastination is pomodoro technique [1]. When I'm stuck or can't make the first move to get into the work mood, I just hit the pomodoro timer. Somehow the ticking clock gives me boost and puts me into hours of productive work. Always! It's the only technique which works 100% in my case. Try it out for yourself. [1] http://ww…
I started using it when I started doing freelance work and it saved my life as working at home is much more distraction prone than working at office.
I also built Tomatoes[1] a tool that I suggest to track working time effectively.
[1] http://tomato.es
Re: Hack your motivation
#16A really nice read. I'd also suggest treating one's life as a debugging session once in a while… A few choice `printf` insertions and re-running can sometimes make a world of difference. :)
Can you give more details and maybe examples of this?
It's really nothing sophisticated. It's just stepping back once in a while and looking at what's not working, trying again while changing something small and noting what does work. Surely, you already do this at some level.
Re: Hack your motivation
#17A great hack which I use (still not very good at it though) is the 2 minute technique in the GTD book. Although in the book, the author advocates it in a different manner, I prefer to use it to stop my procrastination.
So I say to myself, let me just work on the code for 2 minutes, not more. And believe me, 2 minutes is a long time! By the time the 2 mins is over I don't even notice and continue coding. This also really helps me in guitar practice. Learning a new song, or a a lick is pleasant. It's the mundane repetitive exercises one needs to do to increase the strength and endurance of your fingers. So again I say to myself, let me just do it for 2 minutes. Believe me, on certain days, that 2 minutes ends up to 4-5 hours of practice.
Re: Hack your motivation
#18Is there any good advice on overcoming procrastination due to social anxiety? Things like phone calls, dealing with unknown people, etc. I have a fear that I am not very knowledgeable about something (like law, or buying some stuff or service) and that others will cheat me, and it causes me problems. Interestingly, if I schedule a meeting, I am willing to handle it, but if I won't, I will try to postpone a lot. And e…
This may be unrelated, but if your social anxiety is caused by fear that your social skills are inadequate, it could be helpful to recognize that the content of what you say matters much more than your presentation. When I'm nervous about my delivery in an upcoming, important conversation, it helps me to remember that some of the most fascinating and accomplished people do not always speak fluently or present well. These people include Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Paul Graham, and they certainly have not been held back by any supposed weakness in speaking style. See pg's essay, "Writing and Speaking." http://www.paulgraham.com/speak.html
Re: Hack your motivation
#19I also like to leave a very small task undone from the previous day to help me get jump-started the next day. So if I'm finishing programming a function and the last line needs to return something, I'll just not write that last line and put a //TODO instead. The next day it helps me get in the groove of writing code after the long break.
As favored by Ernest Hemmingway:
When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there.
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4825/the-art-of-fic...
Re: Hack your motivation
#20I also like to leave a very small task undone from the previous day to help me get jump-started the next day. So if I'm finishing programming a function and the last line needs to return something, I'll just not write that last line and put a //TODO instead. The next day it helps me get in the groove of writing code after the long break.
I've heard this phrased as always stop after some sudden progress that makes you eager to do more - as opposed to stopping when you're stuck and giving up: if you're stuck, then when you think of the task it will be in your mind as a bete noire, as opposed to stopping where you've just made some progress and are eager to continue - then it will always be in your mind as something great to return to and make more prog…
I always feel like I get stuck way more than I make progress. :(