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

Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 308 posts

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#201

Post by Samuel_Michon »

skue wrote: post #194

The fact that this has been going on for years, and that you feel the procrastination is holding you back from your full potential does sound like it could be ADHD, as others have mentioned. Also, ADHD tends to run in families. So if your dad is the same way... Most people associate ADHD with kids who struggle in school. But highly intelligent people can have it too. It still holds them back from reaching their poten…

It could fit a number of disorders. The reason we’re looking at it as a disorder is because he indicates it’s a problem for him. I’d say that most people could be pegged in a DSM box some way or another, what matters is whether you view it as a problem and if you can deal with it on your own or need ‘professional help’.

I recognize a lot of what OP wrote and I’ve been working on it myself. I wasn't diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but I was diagnosed with Asperger's (later in life, it wasn't even in the DSM when I was growing up). That diagnosis alone hasn't done much for me, psychologists don't have any clear-cut solutions for it, you have to work on it yourself. I don't think it's much different for people with ADD/ADHD, unless you like taking all kinds of medication with uncertain (side)effects.

Merlin Mann is taking meds for his ADD nowadays, but from what I can tell, he was working at it like a champ before that. 43folders probably couldn't have been made by anyone else, and personally, I love Merlin’s fast-talking meandering ways. Roderick on the Line and You Look Nice Today are my favorite podcasts of all time.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#202

Post by danenania »

Millennium wrote: post #141
mduerksen wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your work-life is only one area where self-discipline comes into play. If you are content with just earning enough money for living, that's fine. I agree with you on that. But a lack of self-discipline might hurt you in areas which are much more serious. If you keep avoiding hard talks with your spouse, eventually you will have a problem. If you do projects or activities with friends and always shy away from the unpl…

There is another thing to consider: if he's putting so little time at work actually doing work, odds are his employers will not be so keen on continuing to pay him that much money. "Just being who he is" is not an excuse they will accept, nor, really, should they. That's the ruthlessly-pragmatic reason to not "accept this side of who he is": nobody else is going to, especially not the people who pay him.

It depends. A gifted and creative programmer may be able to accomplish in 3 hours what takes an average programmer 10, or by coming up with a creative approach to a problem, may be able to accomplish in 3 hours what an average programmer simply cannot do at all.

So while a manager may dislike that they perceive someone to be slacking off, it doesn't necessarily mean the person isn't providing a lot of value to the company. Value produced and hours worked are fairly loosely correlated for knowledge workers.

If you were running a startup, would you rather have 12 focused hours per day from a mediocre programmer or 2 from Linus Torvalds?

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#205

Post by eatitraw »

The "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy" book by David Burns is really good. Here is the link: http://amzn.com/B009UW5X4C

Chances are that you're depressed, OP. And even if you're not, the book is related anyway: there is a chapter specifically on practical methods to beat procrastination. I personally get mixed results: sometimes these methods work, sometimes they don't -- though mostly because I fail to apply them consistenly. I recommend this book because other(not related to procrastination) cognitive techniques described in this book works great for me.

10 days ago I invented my own personal method to beat procrastination(this book influenced me btw). I am aware of the following things about myself:

- Motivation comes after action: I don't particularly feel doing something(hence procrastination), but once I start, it gets more enjoyable after a short time

- I like score-keeping in games(as many other people - no wonder game designers employ scores!)

- I am motivated if there is a reward.

So here is my method. I give myself one score point if either I stop procrastinating(and proceed to do something meaningful) or if I feel an urge to start procrastinating during some activity. I use a simple app on my smartphone to keep total score(which is 113 as of now). I've set up the following reward for myself: each 10 points = 1 visit to a restaurant(I enjoy dining at restaurants but usually I am too lazy to go to one).

I've used this method only for everyday stuff like washing dishes, cleaning up my apartment(which was complete mess), doing laundry, etc. Sometimes I award myself 5 points washing particularly nasty dish, and sometimes I get only 2 points doing 30 minutes of cleanup. I was really surprised to see that my invention works, and now I hope to use it for my job(like OP I am not fully productive at it, there is room for improvement).

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#206

Post by skue »

jmagoon wrote: post #197
skue wrote: post #194

The fact that this has been going on for years, and that you feel the procrastination is holding you back from your full potential does sound like it could be ADHD, as others have mentioned. Also, ADHD tends to run in families. So if your dad is the same way... Most people associate ADHD with kids who struggle in school. But highly intelligent people can have it too. It still holds them back from reaching their poten…

Is it odd that this sounds like normal human behavior to me?

It depends on the degree. I think the more compelling factors for the OP are that (a) this has been going on for years, (b) he has a very strong feeling that this is holding him back, and (c) his dad is the same way.

It's possible that he's so incredibly smart that he finds many things boring, and that's not ADHD. ADHD tends to lead to a lot of disorganization (across different settings: home, work, school), plus attempts at compensation (self-medication, self-stimulation, etc.)

But just to be clear: This is a random list, it's not meant to be diagnostic. If these resonate with the OP or someone similar then it might be worth learning more about ADHD and talking with a professional. Please don't assume you have ADHD just because these things hold true.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#207

Post by procastatron »

klahnako_cell wrote: post #155

don't worry! as long as your job is not negatively impacted, you are good to continue on your path of procrastination. yes, you could do more with less procrastination, but there will be more waste: Procrastination serves a useful purpose, by allowing you to get the most information before taking action. you are young, so have fun, find a life partner. one day you will find a project or purpose that will give you pas…

This might be related. I have horrible approach anxiety when it comes to girls. When I'm in a convo, I usually do pretty well and multiple people have told me I'm good with girls. Once again it feels like I'm cheating the system, I use a few PUA tricks once in a while but in reality I've never gone on a date which would surprise most people I know

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#208

Post by TheZenPsycho »

procastatron wrote: post #196
danso wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're projecting. The OP does not merely desire to work harder at his job, but at better using his gifts to help change the world and better himself in non-professional ways. I agree he's too young to be fretting about this like a mid-life crisis...but nothing wrong with desiring to move faster while young. It takes some foresight to realize that it's easier to change bad habits (and learn new good ones) at a young…

This is my biggest fear. Having the same problems now at 40. I look at my dad and as much as I swore I'd never let myself have his same work ethic (push hard, than go at 1/4 pace for 90% of the time). Reality is that I'm worse than I've ever seen him right now. I can go for a few days without doing a single git commit. I have a team under me that makes it look to my superiors as if shit is getting done. And when I ne…

A therapist can be a great help. There's lots of other things that can help. You'll get a lot of advice in this thread. Just to throw this out there, in case nobody has mentioned it, I cannot emphasise enough the importance of sleep for mental health, anxiety, and procrastination. You can do a lot of stuff, and mostly it will be ineffective unless you have the solid 8 hours every day as your foundation.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#209

Post by procastatron »

gprasanth wrote: post #79

I remember awhile back here on hn, a guy did an experiment: hire somebody on craigslist to watch him while he works. That's all. It turned out to be pretty productive. It's even more awesome if you can get someone who understands your work. So find & _pair_ with a programmer you are compatible with.

Unfortunately, this usually results in a slower pace than I can stand. The guys on my team are all young too 19-26, and frankly I'm more knowledgeable than most of them. I really have had some good pair programming sessions but usually it's just me teaching best practices the whole time which can get pretty draining. I also think I don't like it because I can't go off and get that procrastinator dopamine rush

Re: Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

#210

Post by jmagoon »

ideonexus wrote: post #185
tehwalrus wrote: post #91

Willpower is a muscle, which uses the same resource as brain tasks (programming, arguing)[1] - let's call it "cognitive energy". 1) don't waste cognitive energy on silly tasks (games, arguing in comment threads, etc.) 2) practice exercising willpower - it's a muscle, you can train it to be better. Start by forcing yourself to complete a routine every morning (the trick with habit forming is to not give up after you m…

Just want to second the mindfulness meditation suggestion. On it's face, it sounds like new age nonsense, but it's really a mental discipline where you practice keeping your attention in the present. Not thinking about anything is very difficult to do: http://ideonexus.com/2012/08/27/the-science-of-mindfulness-m... I also recommend adopting an exercise routine in the morning. I find myself much more productive and fo…

Third for meditation practice. On a subtle level, the mind when distracted is attempting to be somewhere else, and training in coming back to exactly where it is now is a good way to work with your habitual behaviors (procrastination).

Meditation changed everything about my life -- similar to the OP I also slid by on smarts and not hard work, but started practicing meditation in college due to general anxiety and went from a B- to A+ student--I didn't even work longer, but just had more focus and mental stability on the task that I was performing at hand, which ultimately allowed me to get more done.

Plus, once you're in the habit of applying some type of discipline that's not about the end result (e.g. I always gave up on projects because I wanted them to be amazing right off the bat) it becomes much, much easier to be willing to put in non-grandiose, day by day drive necessary to accomplish /real/ things. Put another way, when you pay attention to the details, suddenly that overwhelming urge toward "greatness" or "brilliance" fades away, and you can actually get things finished.

Agreed, don't beat yourself up about this. It's a very human problem, and even recognition of your current circumstances is far and away above what many people ever accomplish.

Post reply on HN