Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

cbc.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 324 posts

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#131

Post by ehnto »

hirundo wrote: post #55

Time boxing is the best treatment I've found. A project may feel overwelming, but usually I can bring myself to bite off one tomato (25 minutes) of it. I can generally make a noticeable amount of progress in that time, and more importantly, clarify the next actions whose ambiguities have been leading me to procrastinate. In one such session I actually completed a project I had put off for years

I use a similar trick, but focused on that last part where you search for ambiguities. I will spend 10 minutes just understanding the scope better, and not doing any work. It lets me start without actually starting, and then I'm usually much more comfortable getting to work once I've cleared some things up.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#133

Post by mellosouls »

nisa wrote: post #73

Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your 7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload, information overload amplify the effects b…

Thank you for saying that. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#135

Post by edraferi »

mywacaday wrote: post #90

I have had a weird relationship with procrastination, I find I get more appropriate work done when I'm exhausted. When I have no energy it will take all my concentration to stick to the job at hand but I do stick to it, when I have plenty of energy my monkey brain gets distracted easier. I've also found the the GTD technique of breaking items into smaller tasks, setting a next action and make sure the action starts w…

That's a really interesting point. For years I got my best work done between 11pm and 2am. Maybe this is why.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#136

Post by ehnto »

londons_explore wrote: post #12

People wouldnt procrastinate if there wasn't some evolutionary advantage... Personally, I have found that if I get on with certain tasks in a team environment with too much vigor, I start to get other team members feeling left out or feeling their input isn't adding value. Keep doing it and the team will fall apart. Sitting around and being lazy for a bit helps keep the team together and has more forward progress ove…

Similar angle, I leave so many things to the last minute but tend to deliver on time. If it was harmful to me to leave things to the last minute, I would have more incentive not to do it, but it's never been consequential. Alternatively, delivering early has rarely been profitable or positive.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#137

Post by TrackerFF »

bserge wrote: post #118
TrackerFF wrote: post #3

Just want to say that if someone here truly has tried to overcome procrastination, but still fails, try to get screened for ADD/ADHD. Even though it's a condition that is also quite over diagnosed, it's simultaneously a condition that's underdiagnosed IMO - it really depends on where you're looking / sampling. A lot of kids fly under the radar, because they don't show any obvious signs, even more so those with ADD /…

It also gets progressively worse, adult AD(spectrum) can be life ruining. I wish it was more recognized and I wish it was easier to get medication/treatment. The side effects are nothing compared to half a life wasted.

Yes, it's quite sad. For a lot of adults, their lives don't really start until they've been diagnosed, and gotten on some treatment - usually a medication that works for them. Lots of these people have tried and failed school, tried and failed jobs, etc.

But then the bricks fall in their place, and they can try to redo all that. Unfortunately, by that time, a lot of doors have been closed - especially if you want to work in tech or professional industries.

Now, I'm not trying to scare posters, but it's much better to get that stuff figured out before you've gone too long to make lasting damage, both to your own health, and to your professional life.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#138

Post by Bedon292 »

Its interesting, I never really thought about it like this. In high school I was an extreme procrastinator. Avoiding the boredom of doing the task is certainly part of it, everything was too easy. But when I know I can finish an assignment in two hours the night before its due, why would I ever start it early? There was no benefit to completing things early. But, there was always a high from getting away with procrastinating to the last minute. Just like that rush from solving a hard programming problem. Essentially I experienced a reward for procrastinating, and was always chasing that. At least that is how it felt to me.

But eventually, after some time not doing so well at college because of this, I ended up joining the Marine Corps. Since then, I have been much less of a procrastinator. Not really because my motivation or anything changed, its entirely because my tolerance for uncomfortable situations and tasks went way way up. So this explanation actually makes sense to me once I really consider it.

Re: Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert

#139

Post by fsociety »

A lot of people talking about their struggles. I’m going to plug HealthyGamerGG and suggest people take a watch of this https://youtu.be/WQ5bkdFuFhg because it might help them.

Basically he explains an equation that goes on in our head when we procrastinate and how to change that equation. This is done through a live therapy session with a Twitch streamer who struggles with laziness.

I think this will help more than one person here.

Post reply on HN