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How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

deprocrastination.co

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Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#181

Post by james_s_tayler »

georgespencer wrote: post #144
james_s_tayler wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting diagnosed this year changed my life too. I'm sure at some level the standard science and advice still applies but it's truly as those mechanisms aren't likely missing in our brains, but it's truly remarkable how the developmental delays change your brain such that things really are different for you and it's not just a matter of "trying harder" or "applying yourself". I was absolutely stunned at the profound…

> Getting diagnosed this year changed my life too. This is awesome! > following what works specifically for ADHD e.g externalize information, externalize decision making etc. I bet everyone would love to hear a little more context around what this is, and how it impacted you, if you have the energy to share. (Me most of all!)

Don't leave it up to yourself to decide what to do and when. Find a way to put the environment in control.

Pre-diagnosis I would try this and it wouldn't work that well or it would work for a short time then after the novelty wore off it'd stop working. Things like set an alarm/reminder for throwing out the rubbish. But then eventually you ignore it and swipe it away or you're dealing with something urgent that day etc.

Getting diagnosed allowed me to commit my being 100% to that strategy. I reexamined it and found that it works reliably if you're able to layer systems several layers deep, so that they reinforce one another and act as failsafes.

Alarmy plus the barcode mission has been an absolute revelation in my household. I'm now able to throw out the trash, do the washing, use a calendar and mark things off on my to-do list.

I finally became able to use a calendar as I have a whiteboard in my kitchen that I put a barcode on that alarmy makes me scan once at night. That kicks off an hour dedicated to maintenance tasks. It starts with a habit stack of basic self maintenance tasks one of which is "check the calendar for the entire week".

Things like that aye. The difference is huge. I'm getting healthier physically, and my marriage has improved a lot as I'm not constantly getting yelled at for letting my wife down or putting too much of the housework/parenting on her.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#182

Post by vitabenes »

hnick wrote: post #169
vitabenes wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Pychil's work is incorporated in our materials. This is the recipe for procrastination (according to us): 1. Think about a task - "I have to do _____." 2. Have an automatic negative reaction 2a. Negative thoughts - "I hate doing this,"... 2b Negative feelings - Feeling stressed, afraid,... 3. Procrastinate - Do something else to feel better. Procrastination is all about escaping negative emotions. Something make…

Sometimes when I am very emotionally upset or have a very negative task I want to avoid like studying, I will get the sudden urge to clean or work on a similar low-brainpower project (which is not something that comes naturally to me in normal times). If I were merely trying to feel better I'd just go for video games or something like I normally do, but there must be something else going on that directs me to focus o…

Procrastination is an escape from stress, unease, and discomfort.

Cleaning provides that escape. It gives you a boost of dopamine as well since you're accomplishing something. In addition to that, it's a visual activity - you immediately see progress. It's a super common procrastination activity.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#183

Post by vitabenes »

mickduprez wrote: post #176
reidjs wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for posting this video, I found it really helpful. For people who don't have the time to watch this is a strategy I learned from it that I might try out with my TODOS: "In situation X I will do behavior Y to achieve subgoal Z" His example was "When this workshop ends today, I'm going straight to the library to read 4 pages of that paper that I'm struggling to read to achieve the subgoal of finishing this parag…

>> "In situation X I will do behavior Y to achieve subgoal Z" I was pondering something very similar to this about 10 minutes before he talked about it only I was thinking about changing perspective for the given task, that is: "what 'mode' do I have to be in to get this done?" in place of 'Y'. His short sentence is much more elegant than what I was trying to think but I think 'mode' also fits just as well. Basically…

I always recommend clients to get familiar with the task. A lot of the stress comes from facing the unknown (unknown codebase, report, process).

Your "study hat" is just that - you get familiar with the complex underlying mechanism and then much of the resistance disappears.

Get familiar, get started.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#184

Post by vitabenes »

DelightOne wrote: post #118
reidjs wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for posting this video, I found it really helpful. For people who don't have the time to watch this is a strategy I learned from it that I might try out with my TODOS: "In situation X I will do behavior Y to achieve subgoal Z" His example was "When this workshop ends today, I'm going straight to the library to read 4 pages of that paper that I'm struggling to read to achieve the subgoal of finishing this parag…

If you don't have the steps to achieve X and you can't come up with the steps on the fly (or the steps you know do not work) then you will not be able to do X when you want to.

I think this has to with the unknowns of modern work.

In knowledge work, we need to:

1. Define the work

2. Do the work

Can't do what's not defined.

In general, the simple advice I give our clients is to take a piece of paper and a pen, and put all the ideas about the task out there. Take 5-15 minutes and try to define it.

Basecamp's Shape Up book is a lot about managing the unknowns.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#185

Post by vitabenes »

edcrfv wrote: post #151
vitabenes wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the browser extension on our site! That might help, if an article won't. I used to check Twitter 100-150 times a day, but with the use of the extension, I got it under 20 times. Try the Focus Zones feature. Try it, let me know if it works. I'll give you 3 months of Pro features for free if you shoot me an email.

What's your site?

The one with the article linked in the original post.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#186

Post by vitabenes »

marta_morena_25 wrote: post #107

Oh cool, so basically this is about finding a way to cheat your brain into doing things it doesn't want to do. Maybe a good approach would be to find something you actually like to do instead and reflect on your choices and priorities in life? It's amusing that you need a professor to tell you how to convince yourself that your life doesn't suck. A more natural approach might be to change what you are trying to do in…

With any job, there's a part of work that we enjoy and a part that we don't. This article and others on our site are meant to help people with the latter.

In the long term, we always advice people to look for work that is naturally engaging for them.

But in the meantime, a couple behavioral adjustments can turn "I hate doing this, I don't want to do this" into "Okay, let's do this one small bit".

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#187

Post by Aerroon »

georgespencer wrote: post #25

It’s clearly not the case for everyone, but I struggled for an extended period of time with a few things in my personal and professional life: 1. Remarkable focus in topics which interest me and remarkable lack of focus in topics which do not. 2. Leaving “must do” tasks in areas of little interest until the very last moment, resulting in a predictable lack of excellence in execution. 3. Periodic deep dives into topic…

I think #2 is actually great. Without this trigger things never got done for me. University taught me that failure is okay, which removed the trigger for me. End result was that things got even worse.

I hope one day I'll be able to find a replacement for it.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#188

Post by vitabenes »

interfixus wrote: post #180

Clicked through fully expecting a treatment of the Plileas Fogg model, i.e. place your bet, then without further ado set off on your journey around the globe that very same evening, i.e. Just Do It. Which is propably, all told, more useful advise than any number of overthought musings and bullet lists and schematics to bury myself in before actually, you know, doing it.

That might also be a fun short article.

Imo, the Fogg Behavior Model is not overthought. It can be explained in 2 minutes and yield immediately applicable insights ("Oh, I need a trigger"), I recommend reading Tiny Habits for more nuance on this.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#189

Post by Aerroon »

When I break problems down into smaller pieces I seem to often not finish the work. Then I'll be frustrated, because I put in all that work with nothing to show for it. If I had procrastinated instead, I could've at least done something more enjoyable. Are there any solutions for that?

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#190

Post by vitabenes »

ctur wrote: post #69

This post just seems to be to draw semi-sensational attention to a self-help book. The site isn't generally referencing primary sources or otherwise giving signals of why it should be trusted. It also doesn't identify the authors. It's hard to take the site seriously when it equates gaming to being an alcoholic (while later in the same post backpedaling it): https://www.deprocrastination.co/blog/should-i-quit-video-g…

We'll you got a point. We could link to primary sources more often and add our faces to more places.

Also: we equate gaming addiction (addiction being the key word) to alcoholism, not gaming as such.

Have a great day!

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