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Getting Past Procrastination

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Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#161

Post by dugmartin »

jraph wrote: post #24
rented_mule wrote: post #6

> Action leads to motivation, not the other way around. I've found this to be very true. A trick I found that made this easier for me is to leave a trivial task to start tomorrow with, often with notes to remind myself what to do. Ideally the trivial task is on the way to something bigger, not finishing something. That gets me into my editor, gets me running the code / tests / etc., and gives me a trivially easy way…

Yep. When there are no clear tasks, I sometime leave a syntax error at the place work should continue tomorrow. This is quite effective. It can make the answer to the "Where was I?" question immediate instead of taking a few seconds and this is one fewer barrier.

I do this also. My tweak is to make the syntax error just a sentence of what tiny step needs to be done next. Then the next day I turn that sentence into a comment, do what needs to be done next and then delete the comment. It me the dual endorphin hit of completing a task and deleting code.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#162

Post by hippari2 »

tmoertel wrote: post #30
rented_mule wrote: post #6

> Action leads to motivation, not the other way around. I've found this to be very true. A trick I found that made this easier for me is to leave a trivial task to start tomorrow with, often with notes to remind myself what to do. Ideally the trivial task is on the way to something bigger, not finishing something. That gets me into my editor, gets me running the code / tests / etc., and gives me a trivially easy way…

That's Hemingway’s trick: “You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again.” https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4825/the-art-of-fi...

Yeah, on the other side went I really pushed to finish a PR in today I am completely lost next morning.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#163

Post by etcimon »

xorcist wrote: post #54
imjonse wrote: post #25

"Across a decade working at hypergrowth tech companies like Meta and Pinterest, I constantly struggled with procrastination [...] I was not making progress on the things that mattered." Maybe unless one can really convince themselves that their daily work matters (really matters and not just for their team/company metrics) one is bound to procrastinate as a symptom of some subconscious sense of pointlessness.

Relentlessly trying to lock up as much of the world's information as possible behind your login wall, I'd be struggling with procrastination as well. Maybe the answer isn't so much finding new tricks to play on your mind, but finding something to do that doesn't involve codifying more power in the strong leader, to increase his masculinity in the worklace or whatever the political issue du jour is.

Power and control over people's lives and public image is what they get off on, how can anyone feel like they have purpose working on that is beyond me, so it's true that innovation would be thwarted by procrastination - if they give them the "next big thing" it'll be monopolized and weaponized rather than given to the people like tcp/ip initially was. The key term is decentralization, and it's being blown up in favor of locked up datacenters behind layers of digital policing.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#164

Post by kcoddington »

HappMacDonald wrote: post #148
tejohnso wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your brain is telling you that it is not interested in the current task. The question is: Why? I think for a lot of us it's something like: Because it's nonsense busywork that I don't care about. Procrastinating isn't going to help, and it is absolutely bad because it leads to uncompleted tasks and that leads to financial distress. I need to get it done regardless of whether it's going to provide a dopamine hit or…

I find that shutting off one's brain and just slogging through a task leads to work quality on a par with AI slop. So if one really is as uninterested in the quality of the output as you suggest, perhaps it might actually be better to dump the problem into Claude/Gemini/Cleverbot and just copy/paste/act upon the results verbatim and then mark the checkbox as "done" and move on. For me personally, the pain of such eff…

While I don't disagree with this approach, it only works for some digital tasks. AI won't clean my house or exercise my body or engage in obligatory social interactions. In these cases, just getting it done by shutting off your brain is often the best way to get it going.

Also, it's not all or nothing. You can decide to engage more in the task as it's ongoing, which could contribute to higher quality output. The hard part is usually starting.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#165

Post by selcuka »

nine_k wrote: post #133
CharlieDigital wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I procrastinate a lot on hard tasks and usually it's because I don't yet fully understand the risks with each decision that goes into the design. I think for younger engineers "fail fast" makes a lot of sense; there's not enough of a foundation of experience to tell right from wrong so the only way to learn is to fail. For more experienced engineers, there's a greater sense of "I have a sense where this can fail; how…

This is a solid observation. I'd say that procrastination is bad when it drives you into some unproductive but addictive behavior, like watching silly tiktok videos, etc. It can be actually good if you do "structured procrastination": can't force myself to do task X, but find solace in solving problem Y really neatly. Another approach is to take a walk, do push-ups, etc, anything that changes your focus away from men…

> It can be actually good if you do "structured procrastination"

This is actually what John Perry, an emeritus professor of philosophy at Stanford calls it. There is even an essay (and a whole website) called "Structured Procrastination" [1]:

> Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact. The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered by importance. Tasks that seem most urgent and important are on top. But there are also worthwhile tasks to perform lower down on the list. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.

[1] https://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#166

Post by gcarvalho »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #158
diggan wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index How does git help you find certain texts in files? `grep` should do the trick just fine, unless I misunderstand what "chuck Todo comments in the code" mean, the code lives on your disk no?

To get your bearings regarding where you got to with your uncommitted work, you might do something like: git status && git diff HEAD That will tell you which files you've touched and will show you their diffs. If necessary you can search within the diff: press '/' to bring up the search feature (assuming you're using the default less pager). To search for all mentions of 'TODO' in the repo, ignoring untracked files:…

I have a very involved `gq` alias that helps me find and finish pending work. It works either in the current repository or a folder containing multiple repositories.

Basically, my assumption is that `gq` should return empty, which means I have a clean slate, and can start taking on new work. Otherwise, there is ongoing work that needs attention.

It just lists:

  * modified/untracked files
  * stashed changes
  * local-only branches (not tracking a remote branch)
  * branches out-of-sync with their upstream (either ahead or behind)
  * branches that aren't the main branch (even if tracking and in-sync with a remote upstream)
Getting this command to return empty is a surprisingly effective way to stay productive, especially when losing focus due to too much work.

It's basically inbox-zero for git.

But it only works if you like working with a clean worktree.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#167

Post by Existenceblinks »

kriro wrote: post #91

I disagree with the idea that getting past procrastination should (always) be the target. Mostly because I don't think procrastination is inherently bad. There's a lot of stigma attached to procrastination as it's seen as being "unproductive". But I think procrastination can lead to great insights. Your brain is telling you that it is not interested in the current task. The question is: Why? Overworked and needs a br…

many such as cases, it's clear why. People hate doing task x, because it's not fun nor valuable to them, but need to do because of duty.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#168

Post by snozolli »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #112
parpfish wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If somebody had “lifelong procrastination” and was routinely overwhelmed by simple tasks, my first thought would be to see if they are actually dealing with depression because it sounds like something bigger.

Yes, when I struggled with motivation, procrastination, whatever you want to call it, I was diagnosed as depressed for years Turns out, unmedicated ADHD, procrastination, and depression are all comorbid

I've recently learned that Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD) can result from ADHD, too.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#169

Post by aaron695 »

kriro wrote: post #91

I disagree with the idea that getting past procrastination should (always) be the target. Mostly because I don't think procrastination is inherently bad. There's a lot of stigma attached to procrastination as it's seen as being "unproductive". But I think procrastination can lead to great insights. Your brain is telling you that it is not interested in the current task. The question is: Why? Overworked and needs a br…

[dead]

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#170

Post by andoando »

Kiro wrote: post #116
kriro wrote: post #91

I disagree with the idea that getting past procrastination should (always) be the target. Mostly because I don't think procrastination is inherently bad. There's a lot of stigma attached to procrastination as it's seen as being "unproductive". But I think procrastination can lead to great insights. Your brain is telling you that it is not interested in the current task. The question is: Why? Overworked and needs a br…

That's nice and all but when your procrastination prevents you from doing anything at all for months it doesn't really feel like it's a good thing.

I think the same thing applies. Have you been procrastinating for months for example, perhaps because you utterly hate your job? Perhaps you should switch jobs.
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