Seems like a new-age con reformulated for the HN crowd.
Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
31–40 of 225 posts
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#32I'm not comfortable taking advice on "deprocrastination" from someone who made procrastination their career (or side gig?), except for the advice "if you find yourself procrastinating, quit your job and make what you'd rather do your job". But that rarely pays the bills .
"Work is what you're doing when you'd rather be doing something else."
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the classic situation of someone without ADHD telling us "just focus!" or "you just need to write things down!" or "you're just lazy". I have ADHD, and I also do not have a sense of smell (lost it in a TBI when I was a teenager). I tell people, "you take for granted what it's like to have a sense of smell. It affects every moment of your day, catching your interest and directing your attention all the time. Imag…
I'm not a medical expert or anything but I guess there is a good chunk of population who just procrastinates or can struggle with focus without having ADHD? Or is there always a 1:1 relationship?
A lot of people (myself included) procrastinate on something because it's emotionally uncomfortable, without necessarily having ADHD. For example, when I was much younger, I'd procrastinate on math homework specifically, not because I struggled with focus, but because it was difficult to admit to myself that I didn't know how to do it and would need to practice. Subjects that came more naturally to me (English, science) didn't give me a "fear of failure" response in the same way.
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#34The oversimplification and promises that if you just buy their thing you'll have a distraction free life in 14 days really irks me. I struggled with this stuff for over 40 years. Only last year, after a disastrous crash, did I start learning about ADHD, which finally gave me the language and tools and access to support that I needed to start making a meaningful difference. Without the understanding that diagnosis gav…
What language and tools did you learn that helped you finally be able to cope?
This is something I also struggle with and as I get older it feels like I’m losing opportunities to do the things I want to do to ADHD
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not a medical expert or anything but I guess there is a good chunk of population who just procrastinates or can struggle with focus without having ADHD? Or is there always a 1:1 relationship?
A lot of people (myself included) procrastinate on something because it's emotionally uncomfortable, without necessarily having ADHD. For example, when I was much younger, I'd procrastinate on math homework specifically, not because I struggled with focus, but because it was difficult to admit to myself that I didn't know how to do it and would need to practice. Subjects that came more naturally to me (English, scien…
Yep, that's my experience as well. Or because it's just something I don't like to do that much or that doesn't give me some good hormone to my brain in exchange after doing it.
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#36Spot on argument. Especially valuable piece of advice is to find 25-30 minutes of uninterrupted time and aim to knock out one small task. Even if you didn't finish it, note down progress and next steps. Go at it again in the next slot. Taking notes will both help you track progress and give you a sense of movement. It will also make sure that you can easily regain context in the next attempt.
I agree wholeheartedly. I've been stuck in a rut of procrastination for the last several years, during which I hardly ever started side projects or experiments due to tired old excuses such as "I simply don't have enough time", "This would at least need x hours per day", etc. When I eventually tried to start something, it would inevitably be delayed by other daily things to carry out (work, family, other life related…
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Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#37https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=deprocrastination.co Interesting that pretty much all submissions on the first page of results from this domain is both by the same user and broadly seems to be about the same overarching theme of procrastination. Is OP the author of the site? (OP also posts links to other sites, so not saying OP is doing anything wrong though.)
Since 7 of the last 30 submissions by OP are that site and the pattern continues, I find it absolutely understandable and good-faith to become suspicious.
Other users have been accusing the same https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28894120
I don't want to participate in a witch hunt here, but HN needs to stay vigilant against spam and self-promotion that exceeds the reasonable intersection with honestly showing personal projects.
Discussions including "human interest" topics like this one are often of exceptional quality here. It would be bad to lose that.
So I think it is fair to dicuss this openly. Sorry if I am being coming across as rude towards a one man enterprise or something, but self-promotion on HN should follow strict rules and if this is indeed promotion, it is breaking the rules.
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s likely that a lot more people have ADHD than we think, but I don’t think everyone who procrastinates does so bc of ADHD
If you read the diagnostic criteria that is used, it’s so broad it could easily apply to most of the world’s population…as long as they declare they have trouble focusing.
Many people probably do have the same brain wiring, or maybe it's a low level of background dopamine, or whatever it turns out to be once science figures it out.
The reason most of the worlds population isn't diagnosed[0] is that second D: Disorder.
No disorder, no problem, no diagnosis.
[0] outside of lack of access to mental health resources, not knowing what they're looking for so never getting referred to a place to diagnose it, not believing in treating mental health issues, self-medicating, avoiding stigma, etc
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#39I wonder if anyone had success by handing control of their life to a higher power…like ChatGPT.
I wonder if you could prompt it to be a vicious task master boss who demands regular status updates and can adequately shame you.
Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the classic situation of someone without ADHD telling us "just focus!" or "you just need to write things down!" or "you're just lazy". I have ADHD, and I also do not have a sense of smell (lost it in a TBI when I was a teenager). I tell people, "you take for granted what it's like to have a sense of smell. It affects every moment of your day, catching your interest and directing your attention all the time. Imag…
I'm not a medical expert or anything but I guess there is a good chunk of population who just procrastinates or can struggle with focus without having ADHD? Or is there always a 1:1 relationship?
ADHD is a spectrum, so it can have different severities. Some people simply find it more difficult to function well whereas some people find it absolutely and utterly impossible.