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The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

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Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#121

Post by sandworm101 »

hinkley wrote: post #104
_9omd wrote: post #92

Everyone is talking about shifting time around by doing things like getting up earlier, but that doesn't get around a fundamental problem of not enjoying the working part of your day. You still have the same amount of time, just shifted to a different end, and maybe you're a bit better off that way, but it's still the minority of the day. The real solution is to figure out how to love a larger percentage of your day.…

Part of this is establishing a narrative that you will be less productive when burnt out than you are now, where you disappear an extra 20 minutes a day to be outside. There was a point where I was worried about my fitness, which reached its apex when I had a long commute and a stressful job. Some research was published that changed my life. Cardio improvement can be seen with 3x7 minute intervals, rather than the pr…

Ever see the BBC series "The IT Crowd"? There is a great scene that illustrates the class differences when it comes to work and fitness. The boss is giving a speech about stress. He is head-to-toe in spandex having just commuted in on a bike. Everyone else is in office attire. Only certain people in certain jobs enjoy the luxury of mixing work and fitness. Even something as simple as having some free weights at work draws class lines. It means you have an office or a desk. A driver, or care worker, or food service worker doesn't enjoy the stability of having their own workspace.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#122

Post by mattalbie »

robbyking wrote: post #113
_9omd wrote: post #92

Everyone is talking about shifting time around by doing things like getting up earlier, but that doesn't get around a fundamental problem of not enjoying the working part of your day. You still have the same amount of time, just shifted to a different end, and maybe you're a bit better off that way, but it's still the minority of the day. The real solution is to figure out how to love a larger percentage of your day.…

> I've lived the majority of my life (mid 30s now) waiting for "my time". As expected, becoming a father cost me a lot of free time, but when I started working from home I lost my commute (usually walking, sometimes biking) and that was the one that really stung. It was only a half hour or so each way, but I used that time to catch up with friends, listen to podcasts or music, or just let my mind wander. Now I have t…

Totally in the same boat. I’ve taken to sometimes doing a fake commute walking around the block before I start work.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#123

Post by ska »

graeme wrote: post #116
robbyking wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've lived the majority of my life (mid 30s now) waiting for "my time". As expected, becoming a father cost me a lot of free time, but when I started working from home I lost my commute (usually walking, sometimes biking) and that was the one that really stung. It was only a half hour or so each way, but I used that time to catch up with friends, listen to podcasts or music, or just let my mind wander. Now I have t…

This may seem overly simple, but is it possble for you to start and end the workday with a 30 min walk? I’ve worked from home for a decade and that’s part of my routine. I go through a local park. You’d have to negotiate this with your spouse, but you were already using that time before, so in theory it ought to be reasonable. Unless your kid was born this tear that’s a but trickier. Burning out does nobody any good…

I did something like this once; i had a 30 min walking commute to my office which was perfect (and was lucky enough this was a pleasant waterfront walk). Then I moved cities and went remote - no commute. After about a month I missed it enough that I set up a few 30-60ish minute "loops" and walked one or two of them every day (i.e. 2 short ones or 1 long one) and this worked pretty well.

If I found myself making excuses not to go, I'd mix in an errand that was about a 30 min walk away. Other people I know use a dog as an excuse for this sort of pattern too.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#124

Post by sosilkj »

hinkley wrote: post #104
_9omd wrote: post #92

Everyone is talking about shifting time around by doing things like getting up earlier, but that doesn't get around a fundamental problem of not enjoying the working part of your day. You still have the same amount of time, just shifted to a different end, and maybe you're a bit better off that way, but it's still the minority of the day. The real solution is to figure out how to love a larger percentage of your day.…

Part of this is establishing a narrative that you will be less productive when burnt out than you are now, where you disappear an extra 20 minutes a day to be outside. There was a point where I was worried about my fitness, which reached its apex when I had a long commute and a stressful job. Some research was published that changed my life. Cardio improvement can be seen with 3x7 minute intervals, rather than the pr…

Thank you for this suggestion!

What sort of cardio activity would you recommend for these short intervals?

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#125

Post by toyg »

gnulinux wrote: post #26
otikik wrote: post #5

No mention of how to get out of this unhealthy habit. I'm struggling with this myself. Some of my conclusions so far: * When I am sleep-deprived I am less productive. So I spend more time doing "work". Then I have less time for everything else I want to do (family, cooking, sport). So I take more time away from sleep. And the cycle repeats. Sleep deprivation is self-perpetuating. * What I do at night, when I am exhau…

I'm the absolute opposite. Mornings are for endless procrastination, what can be done in 10 minutes before sleep can be done in an hour in the morning, even if I drink a lot of coffee. This is a really unhealthy habit as sometimes if the activity proves engaging, it keeps me from sleeping, obviously. What's weird is psychoactive substance rarely seem to change this productivity dynamic. Even if I'm well rested and dr…

I do the same. It’s typically a symptom that I don’t really care for the job I’m supposed to do. When I do care, I can barely brush my teeth and I’m right at work. When I don’t care, the morning is full-on procrastination; the boring but necessary stuff gets done mid-afternoon, often out of restlessness.

I reckon something happens at the physical level that triggers a tiny bit of adrenaline in the afternoon, so I get sharper. If I skip lunch, for example, I get sharper sooner - the body is actually slightly starved of resources, why am I feeling better? There must be something in me that goes “body tired -> let’s power it up”, probably some sort of small-scale adrenaline deployment.

Note that coffee can take 2 hours to actually work its magic, depending on one’s metabolism and tolerance, so drinking more of that won’t necessarily help your mornings. The only thing that helps me is doing something I actually care about.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#126

Post by toyg »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #52
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank fuck some countries have had workers' revolutions that limit working hours and days - and make employers pay dearly for overtime. I mean there's workarounds like the gig economy, but for most people things are still pretty good.

Except for all the demanding jobs where you need to unofficially work outside your working hours... I live in one of those countries with a reasonable working hours limit, but I'm an academic, my partner is a doctor, both of us work "voluntarily" outside working hours. I need to prepare clases, request grants, and do research in a hypercompetitive environment where you need better CV than competitors. She needs to be…

You both are well-compensated for that, though. You could choose to be a mediocre academic and she could choose to be a mediocre doctor. It’s a trade-off.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#127

Post by boatsie »

umvi wrote: post #63
throwawayyipyip wrote: post #57

It may raise eyebrows, but with the current WFH culture, I simply take naps during work time. If I feel tired, then it's in my and my employers' best interest for me to nap since I will be much more productive for the next few hours. I've tested this also by not sleeping, and my code becomes worse and I need to rewrite a lot of it anyway. In fairness, I do try to go to bed on time, but my issue is that I sometimes on…

I'm not sure I completely agree with this logic because you are saying "if I neglect in personal time, then it is in my and my employer's best interests for me to address during work time (because otherwise I will be less productive)" However, X could be a wide range of things. To use an extreme example, I could neglect fixing my furnace during personal time, and thus I can do it on my employer's dime so that I don't…

Doctors and dentists typically only work during “work time”, so are you saying you would schedule a vacation day in order to visit one?

As non hourly, exempt workers, it’s generally assumed the time is flexible, in the same way you aren’t paid for overtime.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#128

Post by nend »

_9omd wrote: post #92

Everyone is talking about shifting time around by doing things like getting up earlier, but that doesn't get around a fundamental problem of not enjoying the working part of your day. You still have the same amount of time, just shifted to a different end, and maybe you're a bit better off that way, but it's still the minority of the day. The real solution is to figure out how to love a larger percentage of your day.…

This same phenomenon is seen not just with work/leisure (with time being the limiting factor), but also with food/leisure (with money being the limiting factor). Studies show that people who are malnourished due to living in poverty, still spend money on leisure activities despite not having enough food to eat. Leisure time is important for people.

Even if you enjoy your work, it's still work, and you're still going to need leisure time. The cause is probably different from person to person, but the solution isn't going to be just "work less", but prioritizing, scheduling, and getting the most out of your "leisure time", which also means different things for different people.

Re: The psychology behind ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’

#129

Post by toyg »

anonymousDan wrote: post #25

As a way of breaking this cycle, I've recently been considering going to bed earlier (e.g. 9-10pm), and then getting up at 5-6am, BUT with the proviso I can do whatever I want between 5 and 8, with no pressure to be productive (e.g. binge on Netflix for 3 hours). I just need to convince my wife to do the same :) Has anyone tried something like this?

Done it for a while and was pretty cool, but killed any wish to work the rest of the day.
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