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Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

deprocrastination.co

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Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#41

Post by nuancebydefault »

slingnow wrote: post #18
masto wrote: post #12

The 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…

This isn't at all what they claim. Can you point out where they say that "if you just buy their thing you'll have a distraction free life in 14 days" ? What it actually claims is to get you to "bearable levels of procrastination", which I find refreshing, since it seems like a very achievable and realistic goal for those of us that procrastinate. In fact, this claim is nearly the opposite of what you're railing again…

In fact my first reaction would tend to be the same as yours but then again,

- If you read the whole article you see that it is in fact a pretext to a subscription.

- There is in fact burried advice. The fact that reading articles like this is exciting and gives hope, but might turn out to be false hope in the end, especially if you have a severe form of ADHD. The advice is YMMV.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#42

Post by LoganDark »

lupire wrote: post #13

I'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 .

Gee, I wish I had something stable that I'd "rather do". The problem is that even though I've had hundreds of hobbies, once I get good at something, I stop being able to do it. Not a single one of those hobbies lasts long enough to be a job.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#43

Post by LoganDark »

sanderjd wrote: post #10
loneranger_11x wrote: post #2

Spot 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.

Honestly, I really don't relate to this. I don't have tasks I can do in 25 or 30 minutes, except for the exact kind of "marking messages read" tasks that leave me feeling empty at the end of the day. > Even if you didn't finish it, note down progress and next steps. Go at it again in the next slot. For me, these notes would mostly be "spent 25 minutes rebuilding context, got pulled away" over and over again. I think…

This is part of my issue, too. Not having no things to do in a short amount of time, but knowing that I don't have time, preventing me from starting. A lot of people have the ability to just dive in regardless of how much time they foresee having. I don't. I need to have time in order to feel safe starting anything.

In the hours preceding something like a doctor's appointment, I can't do anything. Anything I start will be interrupted by the appointment, so I can't even try.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#44

Post by dboreham »

sanderjd wrote: post #10
loneranger_11x wrote: post #2

Spot 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.

Honestly, I really don't relate to this. I don't have tasks I can do in 25 or 30 minutes, except for the exact kind of "marking messages read" tasks that leave me feeling empty at the end of the day. > Even if you didn't finish it, note down progress and next steps. Go at it again in the next slot. For me, these notes would mostly be "spent 25 minutes rebuilding context, got pulled away" over and over again. I think…

I didn't read it as embrace the chaos, rather to not fixate on the perfect non-chaotic day that's coming (it isn't). Instead adopt a "continuous improvement" stance where any little deviation from total chaos is a win. Iterate that process. Basically the same thing as continuous delivery: start delivering a crappy thing and progressively fix issues / add features until it's done.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#45

Post by WhitneyLand »

darkwater wrote: post #22
prometheus76 wrote: post #17

Earlier 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?

Extreme forms of procrastination do not mean that someone has ADHD by definition. It can be rooted in anxiety, stress, depression, other mental health conditions. It can be lack of motivation, or simply the habits and behaviors one has developed over time.

I’d really like to know in addition to personal anecdotes of successfully overcoming it, what on average turns out to be most effective?

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#46

Post by dboreham »

LoganDark wrote: post #43
sanderjd wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I really don't relate to this. I don't have tasks I can do in 25 or 30 minutes, except for the exact kind of "marking messages read" tasks that leave me feeling empty at the end of the day. > Even if you didn't finish it, note down progress and next steps. Go at it again in the next slot. For me, these notes would mostly be "spent 25 minutes rebuilding context, got pulled away" over and over again. I think…

This is part of my issue, too. Not having no things to do in a short amount of time, but knowing that I don't have time, preventing me from starting . A lot of people have the ability to just dive in regardless of how much time they foresee having. I don't. I need to have time in order to feel safe starting anything. In the hours preceding something like a doctor's appointment, I can't do anything. Anything I start w…

This is just how the brain works. People who claim they can do a hard focused task in 20 min chunks are faking it. The article is trying to say I think "don't worry about that, because on average you will have some uninterrupted stretches in which to do the hard task, but right now get some simple shit done because that needs done too".

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#47

Post by adadadadadad »

mingusrude wrote: post #8
__natty__ wrote: post #4

I like to think about discipline in terms of habits, either built in a perfect environment or real and messy, as described in the article. The perfect ones are what we aim to achieve, but they are flimsy because once we are in a different environment, the habits disappear. The latter are much more prone to changes but harder to initialize.

This is the conclusion that I've come to as well after trying for way too long to find inspiration to those things that I either want to do (on some level) or need to do. Habits are things you do that don't have a big hurdle. For years I've been able to run without feeling that there's a great resistance in doing it (I don't normally identify as a runner). But picking up some work that I want to do but don't feel it'…

I run every day but totally struggle with work consistency. I have always wanted to transfer that discipline I have for running to work life but never managed it.

I think the thing about running is I can’t just start watching YouTube and procrastinating along the way. And it’s much more straightforward - same every day with predictable and consistent reward. Plus there’s the adrenaline release.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#48

Post by rapnie »

lupire wrote: post #13

I'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 .

There's also the "Price goes up in" and a counter (4 hrs from now). So don't procrastinate, buy now! Geez.

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#49

Post by dboreham »

bru3s wrote: post #3
loneranger_11x wrote: post #2

Spot 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…

Try viewing this as "I'm so effective at doing things that other people want me to do way more things than I have time for".

Re: Stop postponing things by embracing the mess

#50

Post by criddell »

dartos wrote: post #25
LeafItAlone wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With your diagnoses, what are you now doing that is helping you?

It may be a little weird, but the from us music from brain.fm really helps me. I’ve measured the work I get done over sprints where I listen to brain.fm and where I don’t, and I usually get 2-3 more cards done of weeks that I do. Not a scientific measurement, but it is what it is.

I'm intrigued, but brain.fm requires a credit card for a free trial. Bummer.

Edit: I just checked my email and (in the spam folder) was an email from them with a link that works for 3 days. I'm trying it now.

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