At the End of a Procrastinated Day • Hacker News Board

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#101

Post by bmajz » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 8:25 AM UTC

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

Agreed, this works like a charm. Interesting that this topic comes up today since the Wall Street Journal addressed the Hemingway trick (among other great tips) just yesterday: "How to Save an Unproductive Day" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020477040457708...

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#102

Post by mbeswetherick » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 8:32 AM UTC

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

Great advice, Alf.

I find this quite interesting because it deviates from what I thought Hemingway's Trick would have been: be a ruthless bastard.

The real Hemingway Trick definitely has its benefits because it lets your algorithm/design/idea develop in your head over time. Brute force coding, even if it works, can lead to sloppy and less efficient code. This leads to an important question: at what point does one trade "beast mode" for rest?

I read an article on HN about how the difference between great and mediocre musicians is the amount of time spent on focused practicing. Total hours mean nothing, only the amount of time spent on meaningful practice matters.

With this being said, it's important to develop a plan of action, and then stay incredibly focused on that for a few short hours. Once that roadblock is hit hit, take a break, let your brain do some processing, and then go back to a focused hack a little later and walk away with substantial progress.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#103

Post by happyfeet » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 10:02 AM UTC

fl3tch wrote: post #47

kapitalx wrote: post #6

For 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…

This sounds a lot like the advice given in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on how to overcome writer's block. In the book, the narrator is teaching a writing course, and a student says she doesn't know what to write about. So he suggests that she pick a building, but not just a building, start with a single brick and describe that, then the next one and so on. She ends up writing voluminously. This advice o…

Thanks. Yes, that was a very interesting passage in the book.

When asked to write about something the tendency is to think: "oh, everything about that topic has already been written." Or "There is nothing original or new to write about".

Instead focussing on the smallest of objects & start with it, brings along a flood of original thoughts to write about.

Very interesting perspective indeed.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#104

Post by epo » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 12:28 PM UTC

Sukotto wrote: post #10

I 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.

The difference between those who do and those who bemoan not doing is motivation. The Hemingway Trick is a simple way to give yourself the initial motivation. Then again, you might just be lazy.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#105

Post by keithpeter » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 12:39 PM UTC

ugh wrote: post #57

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

Finding a way to start work without immediately hitting barriers was so important while writing my bachelor thesis. I now sort of whish I had known about your tip earlier, that seems easier than having to actively search for a simple way to start while procrastinating. That said, sometimes it seems it was necessary for me to stop work and just do nothing for a while in order to find that important insight.

See Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field Jacques Hadamard, published around 1900. Once you have immersed yourself in a problem, going about normal daily tasks not related to the problem allows your mind to churn and make connections. Sudden (Gestalt like) insight may occur.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#106

Post by ed209 » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 2:57 PM UTC

This question: Why do humans procrastinate, and how can it be beat? prompted an excellent reply from Sneering.

"People overestimate the value of the reward if the reward is imminent, and increasingly discount the value of the reward, the further away it is in time."

Worth a read if are interested in neuroeconomics [who knew?].

http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/mkwf2/why_do_hum...

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#107

Post by matwood » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 4:07 PM UTC

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

The problem is that I can't stop like that. If I try to stop in the middle the problem just haunts me until I come back and finish it.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#108

Post by cdmoyer » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

I love this idea. Do you have a source where Hemingway describes it? I wonder if others have suggested this under other names (I see the Red Test Pattern below.)

I know when life forces me to do this, it works very well. The trick is doing it on purpose.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#109

Post by Cushman » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 4:37 PM UTC

matwood wrote: post #107

alf wrote: post #44

The Hemingway Trick: Stop in the middle. Never stop working at the natural barriers. They next time you start working, the barrier will be the first thing you encounter, and you won't have the momentum to overcome it. Try to stop writing mid-chapter, or mid-sentence (or mid function). Know how to finish, but stop working. The next time you start, you know exactly what needs to be done. There will even be the urge to…

The problem is that I can't stop like that. If I try to stop in the middle the problem just haunts me until I come back and finish it.

I believe that is the point.

Re: At the End of a Procrastinated Day

#110

Post by goblin89 » Sat, Dec 10, 2011, 6:16 PM UTC

At least one post I've read here on HN while ‘procrastinating’ influenced my life quite significantly (in a measurable way). More than pretty much any number of hours spent working instead would. That made me reconsider my classification of activities as useful and useless. What matters more is probably willingness to take action or something along these lines (haven't thought this through yet).