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

Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

deprocrastination.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 378 posts

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#321

Post by yomly »

randomsearch wrote: post #319

I’m generally good at avoiding procrastination. I have bad periods but months go by without me reading news or social media during work periods. OTOH, a friend is the opposite. He’s the biggest procrastinator I know. Between us I don’t see an obvious explanatory factor. I would guess therefore that it’s something innate, perhaps a genetic factor. He just doesn’t seem to have the same discipline as me. The only thing…

I procrastinate extremely hard over things I don't want to do, and maybe things I am intimidated by their difficulty.

And yet, I am capable of steady self learning and can quite comfortably find the motivation to exercise 10+ hours a week.

I don't think it's very black and white because along certain dimensions I am hyper disciplined but others heaven and hell would struggle to get me moving. I do respond to external pressure tho.

So sample size of one, YMMV

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#322

Post by chpmrc »

randomsearch wrote: post #319

I’m generally good at avoiding procrastination. I have bad periods but months go by without me reading news or social media during work periods. OTOH, a friend is the opposite. He’s the biggest procrastinator I know. Between us I don’t see an obvious explanatory factor. I would guess therefore that it’s something innate, perhaps a genetic factor. He just doesn’t seem to have the same discipline as me. The only thing…

There's enough evidence to believe laziness is, at least partly, a consequence of bad genetics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd7wAithl7I, with sources in the description), similarly to what differentiates early risers and night owls.

Not saying one should use this as an excuse but being aware of it will at least make you stop obsessing about why you're so damn lazy. Just embrace it and (ironically enough) take it easy.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#323

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

e19293001 wrote: post #29

I'd like to share this post[0]: The last two weeks I made it a goal to run 5km every morning. A few times, particularly today, I felt lazy and run down, but I got out of bed anyway and told myself that I'll at least walk. The next thing I know I'm running and feeling amazing and on to set one of my better times. The point: When you tell yourself "just one more game" or "just one more post", or "just one more video" a…

Crucially, when you tell yourself "at least walk" or "at least one more X" you have to allow yourself to sometimes just walk and not have it have to turn into a secret run.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#324

Post by chpmrc »

yomly wrote: post #321
randomsearch wrote: post #319

I’m generally good at avoiding procrastination. I have bad periods but months go by without me reading news or social media during work periods. OTOH, a friend is the opposite. He’s the biggest procrastinator I know. Between us I don’t see an obvious explanatory factor. I would guess therefore that it’s something innate, perhaps a genetic factor. He just doesn’t seem to have the same discipline as me. The only thing…

I procrastinate extremely hard over things I don't want to do, and maybe things I am intimidated by their difficulty. And yet, I am capable of steady self learning and can quite comfortably find the motivation to exercise 10+ hours a week. I don't think it's very black and white because along certain dimensions I am hyper disciplined but others heaven and hell would struggle to get me moving. I do respond to external…

I think most of the time we overlap lack of scheduling/discipline with laziness (being a couch potato). I'm a disaster at scheduling things, unless they involve other people. But when it comes to putting in the effort and the hours to get something done before a deadline, man, you can bet it's gonna get done.

Similarly I've had periods of 3-4 months at a time where I was super disciplined about nutrition and exercise followed by a period of extreme disregard for anything related to my health. As in eating pizza 3-4 times a week. What I noticed is that it all starts with going to the gym 1-2 times and not interrupting the routine. A trip abroad, a week long illness, they all pretty much end any kind of virtuous cycle that was forming. Maybe the trick is just to be consistent for X time? I don't know.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#325

Post by yomly »

chpmrc wrote: post #324
yomly wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I procrastinate extremely hard over things I don't want to do, and maybe things I am intimidated by their difficulty. And yet, I am capable of steady self learning and can quite comfortably find the motivation to exercise 10+ hours a week. I don't think it's very black and white because along certain dimensions I am hyper disciplined but others heaven and hell would struggle to get me moving. I do respond to external…

I think most of the time we overlap lack of scheduling/discipline with laziness (being a couch potato). I'm a disaster at scheduling things, unless they involve other people. But when it comes to putting in the effort and the hours to get something done before a deadline, man, you can bet it's gonna get done. Similarly I've had periods of 3-4 months at a time where I was super disciplined about nutrition and exercise…

Routine is definitely helpful for things involving habitual tasks (like going to the gym).

Humans are loss averse and at some point, breaking routine becomes taps into the loss aversion and there actually is a friction to not going to the gym.

I suppose when you're starting out to go to the gym you are averse to breaking your existing routine (which could be bingeing netflix every night after work)

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#327

Post by pas »

Mirioron wrote: post #140
pas wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but. It helps, because eventually people will start to call you and inquire about the thing you promised them. This of course causes anxiety. Eventually, after spending enormous amounts of energy on riding that guilt wave some work gets done, typically at night.

This does have a downside. Sometimes you associate that anxiety and negative feelings with the person that would inquire about it. This can make you just want to avoid them as much as possible, even if it costs you elsewhere.

Very important insight, yes that happens.

Basically all things ADHD has are downsides.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#328

Post by spodek »

charlieflowers wrote: post #214
spodek wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People ask me why I take cold showers regularly, post to my blog daily, and never miss my burpee-based twice-daily calisthenics over more than a decade (approaching 150,000 cumulative burpees). Among many reasons, developing the skill to do what I said I would is tremendously valuable. Without these habits, I lacked discipline and thought to avoid tricks, which I thought of as short-term cheats. The habits developed…

Interesting. Can you elaborate? What kind of tricks?

Things like if I want to run but am feeling lazy, I put on my running shoes and clothes, which means I'll eventually run. To put on the shoes is trivial, but it works to get me on a run, however long.

Before I lift weights, I mop the floor since some of my exercises put me on the ground. Mopping is easy and makes lifting automatic. For some reason, once I mop, I automatically transition to lifting.

Starting my burpees took years of experimenting on what would avoid my standing there intending to start, but not starting. Counting down or up didn't work. What worked was committing to starting on the next breath. Now I pace all my calisthenics by breath.

These are examples of little things I found that if I do them, I do the big things. As far as I can tell, the way to find tricks that work is to keep doing the activity until a trick that works emerges.

Re: Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it

#330

Post by lloydde »

aazaa wrote: post #139

> Every small win is motivating. Every small win builds momentum. Momentum energizes. Starting small is an unreasonably good way to hack your brain. A book called "Tiny Habits" describes a system of behavior modification based on the idea: https://www.tinyhabits.com It gives the example of flossing. Instead of resolving to floss every night, resolve to floss one single tooth every night. It takes less than five secon…

Flossing seems like an example concept for a different concept. The tiny task is a trick to get you to start. Once started you’ll floss them all.
Post reply on HN