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Getting Past Procrastination

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Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#41

Post by veunes »

rented_mule wrote: post #6

> Action leads to motivation, not the other way around. I've found this to be very true. A trick I found that made this easier for me is to leave a trivial task to start tomorrow with, often with notes to remind myself what to do. Ideally the trivial task is on the way to something bigger, not finishing something. That gets me into my editor, gets me running the code / tests / etc., and gives me a trivially easy way…

It's way easier to ride the momentum of "just one quick thing" than to start cold and stare into the void of a blank screen or a big to-do list

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#42

Post by veunes »

imjonse wrote: post #25

"Across a decade working at hypergrowth tech companies like Meta and Pinterest, I constantly struggled with procrastination [...] I was not making progress on the things that mattered." Maybe unless one can really convince themselves that their daily work matters (really matters and not just for their team/company metrics) one is bound to procrastinate as a symptom of some subconscious sense of pointlessness.

Yep, it's hard to summon genuine motivation when, deep down, something feels meaningless. You can build all the productivity systems in the world, but if the work itself feels hollow...

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#43

Post by veunes »

nilirl wrote: post #29

The warrant for this claim: The smaller the action you ask from yourself, the easier it is to choose it over inaction. But sometimes it's not inaction we're choosing against; it's discomfort. In that case, this becomes simplistic.

Breaking things down can still help, but it doesn't magically erase the discomfort. It's more like easing into cold water

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#44

Post by veunes »

baxtr wrote: post #11

> Action leads to motivation, not the other way around. For me, this sounds a bit tautological. Of course the opposite of procrastination is action. It’s similar to saying, “If you want to lose weight, just eat less.” It’s certainly true on a meta level, but very difficult for some people to implement.

But in a way that can still be useful. Like, "just do something" isn't deep wisdom, but when you're stuck, even a cliché can break the mental loop.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#45

Post by jventura »

madduci wrote: post #37
rkachowski wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, its the same concept. what are you procrastinating on?

Sometimes on house chores or small repairs to do.

Everyday I have to prepare dinner and put the plates, glasses, forks and knifes in the table, and, I don't know why, get that feeling that I'd rather do anything else (or, most times, nothing at all). So I always start everything by putting the towel in the table (don't know if it's called like that in EN, not a native speaker). It seems to click something and the rest follows.

Maybe the idea can help you starting things?

It also helps that, sometimes, when the tasks are big, I convince myself that I can finish it later. Many times I do not have to finish it later..

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#46

Post by diggan »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #32
euroderf wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It's funny how this kind of trick can instantly snap the entire working context back into your mind. Essentially leaving you free to forget about the context during your free time and overnight. Truly a useful "hack". It's also useful to jot down a quick list of (say) three items that are at the top of your mind when you leave work for the day, and they too will help with a context restore.

Also just chuck Todo comments in the code The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index and get back on to it. Just remember to remove them before the commit.

> The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index

How does git help you find certain texts in files? `grep` should do the trick just fine, unless I misunderstand what "chuck Todo comments in the code" mean, the code lives on your disk no?

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#47

Post by nasretdinov »

anal_reactor wrote: post #20

The older I get, the more I realize there's no point. I'll never be rich. I'll never have a family. I'll never go to space. I'll never take part in Olympics. Best I can do is beating a video game on medium. So I try to focus on that, instead of spending 80% of my life trying to make myself 20% more productive.

On a serious note, you never actually _know_ that e.g. you'll never be rich. E.g. KFC founder was ~62 years old when they founded the company. The median age of (successful) founders is also roughly 40, if not more.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#48

Post by cjbillington »

diggan wrote: post #46
bravesoul2 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also just chuck Todo comments in the code The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index and get back on to it. Just remember to remove them before the commit.

> The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index How does git help you find certain texts in files? `grep` should do the trick just fine, unless I misunderstand what "chuck Todo comments in the code" mean, the code lives on your disk no?

They'll show up in the diff.

Grep will find them too, but any in the diff you'll know for sure were added by you.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#49

Post by bravesoul2 »

diggan wrote: post #46
bravesoul2 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also just chuck Todo comments in the code The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index and get back on to it. Just remember to remove them before the commit.

> The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index How does git help you find certain texts in files? `grep` should do the trick just fine, unless I misunderstand what "chuck Todo comments in the code" mean, the code lives on your disk no?

Grep works too. I just spend a lot of time in git or tools that wrap it. It's an unconscious habit to check the status and diffs when I open my editor.

Re: Getting Past Procrastination

#50

Post by diggan »

cjbillington wrote: post #48
diggan wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The magic of Git means you can immediately find them in the working index How does git help you find certain texts in files? `grep` should do the trick just fine, unless I misunderstand what "chuck Todo comments in the code" mean, the code lives on your disk no?

They'll show up in the diff. Grep will find them too, but any in the diff you'll know for sure were added by you.

Parent mentioned specifically finding them from the index, so they've been added but not committed, so they're not even remote nor have an author associated with it, yet.

And why it matters to get them from the diff if they're on disk already? Literally one command to find all of them, rather than going through git?

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