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Productive Procrastination

maxvanijsselmuiden.nl

21–30 of 57 posts

Re: Productive Procrastination

#22

I get it but I still believe that the most efficient answer to productivity is discipline, all the tricks to trick (sorry for the word play) are just effort taken away from our work

I still believe the most efficient answer to productivity is not working and lots of resting, never do I reach higher productivity than after being idle for a while.

Re: Productive Procrastination

#24
post #12

Great article, especially appreciated the graphs. The idea of "keep adding novelty" is probably what separated my successful long term projects from the unsuccessful ones. I previously attributed that to having lots of variety and freedom, but the consequence of those factors was indeed novelty. I want to mention Neil Fiore's excellent book The Now Habit, which is a practical manual on overcoming procrastination. The…

Interesting to effectively see Jean Paul Sartre being brought up here. As verbose as he was, though, I do agree with the framing. Putting aside the fundamental physical paradoxes and incoherence of free will, at the level of subjective experience, every action ever taken is a choice, possibly between extremely shitty options, but a choice nonetheless, and owning that is the only way I've ever found to stay sane about life.

That said, I'm not sure about the novelty thing. I'd rate the greatest long term project in my life as being staying fit, athletic, and healthy as I near 50, in spite of some horrible injuries and setbacks, and remaining thus far in a reasonably happy marriage. In both of those pursuits, novelty is almost the anthesis to success. People program hop and never improve, and substitute one-night stands and serial cheating for any form of lifelong relationship. To me, it is just habit-formation and basic discipline, trying to always remind myself what truly matters. Heck, it's probably even fear as much as anything else. I know I'm going to be hurting terribly in my 60s and 70s if I'm alone and unhealthy, regardless of what else I may have achieved, and if I wait until then to try and cram lifetime pursuits into a single decade, it'll be a lot harder than simply starting in my 20s, doing a little bit every week, and sticking with it in spite of how much of a grind it might be at times, because I know how much it will mean to future me and I have to make the choice that future me matters just as much as present me.

In contrast, I'm not convinced that consistently uploading a lot of videos to YouTube is all that important, but of course this guy is free to have his own priorities.

Re: Productive Procrastination

#25
post #8
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the purpose of having this at all?

It’s meant to be a fun reference to Figma, since it’s my design portfolio. I gather you’re not a fan. Noted!

We mostly use figma for brainstorming and RICE-scoring, which can be hard work. Hence my lukewarm reaction. My other reaction was "cool, how’d he do that".

Re: Productive Procrastination

#26

If you struggle with procrastination please get assessed for ADHD. A positive diagnosis is life changing.

Only if you are okay with the idea of taking stimulant medication.

There is non-stimulant medication as well for ADHD. If you're really struggling, it might be worthwhile to suspend judgement and actually try these out for a while. In the worst case you go back to how you were without medication. For many people the potential upside is worth the experiment.

Re: Productive Procrastination

#27

I get it but I still believe that the most efficient answer to productivity is discipline, all the tricks to trick (sorry for the word play) are just effort taken away from our work

I still believe the most efficient answer to productivity is not working and lots of resting, never do I reach higher productivity than after being idle for a while.

Yes, I agree, but if you have work to do and a deadline you can't afford resting until you deliver right?

Re: Productive Procrastination

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still believe the most efficient answer to productivity is not working and lots of resting, never do I reach higher productivity than after being idle for a while.

Yes, I agree, but if you have work to do and a deadline you can't afford resting until you deliver right?

Well, sometimes a 15minute walk will do wonders and you are fresh and can achieve more in the following 15min.

Re: Productive Procrastination

#29

I have a few tricks for handling procrastination that are in this ballpark: 1. When I see myself wanting to procrastinate, I ask myself 'If I follow this feeling, will it increase my power (i.e. capacity/agency/utility) or decrease it?'. Then I have a dialogue with myself: Nope, let's refocus, maybe try reading things out loud or draw a diagram or some other perspective change OR Yeah, I should stop for now, do somet…

But how much have you learned about the Origin of Species?

Re: Productive Procrastination

#30

If you struggle with procrastination please get assessed for ADHD. A positive diagnosis is life changing.

Only if you are okay with the idea of taking stimulant medication.

Note that not being okay with that idea is a symptom of ADHD. Talk about it with your psychiatrist.
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