A receipt printer cured my procrastination • Hacker News Board

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#491

Post by small_scombrus » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:25 AM UTC

SamPatt wrote: post #465

heygarrett wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it is important, you will remember it at some point during the day. As someone with ADHD I’ve never found this to be true. I often forget to eat. I’d forget to file my taxes without reminders.

Serious question: in those scenarios, do you never have awareness about your need to eat? Or does it occur at some point, but then you decide not to eat at the moment, and after making that decision then you never revisit it? I ask because I often realize I'm hungry or it's time to eat, but I'm too engaged in the task I'm doing and I think "I'll eat a bit later" and then once I've done that the first time I often nev…

Not the person you asked, but in my experience one or multiple of the following happen:

- I just don't notice I'm hungry (this one happens most to me)

- I notice I'm hungry but get distracted and forget

- I notice I'm hungry but I don't have the energy to devote to making/finding food

- I notice I'm hungry and I straight up don't care even though I'm aware I should

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#492

Post by small_scombrus » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:28 AM UTC

kamaal wrote: post #454

turtlebits wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't generalize. Everyone has things that work for them. Taking a few minutes to recreate that todo list for the day from a blank slate helps my brain get ready for the day and makes me more productive. (akin to stretching before exercise). I don't need a checklist for eating, cleaning, etc, but maybe some do.

A recipe has a great chance of success, there are few such recipes. If you think you will try out a new recipe from scratch everyday it shouldn't be surprising if most of your days don't add up to much, or even add up to a negative.

> A recipe has a great chance of success, there are few such recipes.

My partner vibe-cooks and it's almost always great.

I follow recipes I know will work because if I deviate the food will be BAD

This sort of thing seriously is dependent on the person

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#493

Post by VGHN7XDuOXPAzol » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:31 AM UTC

oleganza wrote: post #251

Get married, make a couple of children and a lot of life issues go away — you'll always have something to actually get done ASAP instead of just staring at a todo list and wandering around.

then you have more life issues ;-)

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#494

Post by JacketPotato » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:43 AM UTC

whalee wrote: post #7

Cool idea! I would note there are some known health hazards in handling thermal-paper receipts(BPA/BPS)[1] with your bare hands if you do so often. I don't know much beyond this, I would look into it. [1] https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...

Good point, but luckily it's pretty easy now to find BPA free paper.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#495

Post by JacketPotato » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:44 AM UTC

kiliankoe wrote: post #476

whalee wrote: post #7

Cool idea! I would note there are some known health hazards in handling thermal-paper receipts(BPA/BPS)[1] with your bare hands if you do so often. I don't know much beyond this, I would look into it. [1] https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...

It's come up every time something related to thermal printing has been mentioned on HN lately, but this is honestly great stuff if you're in Germany: https://www.oekobon.de/ These non-poisonous blue receipts have the added benefit of being able to be marked with a fingernail, which is nifty if you're using them to print your shopping list, crossing things off is very satisfying.

Are these the ones that Lidl use?

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#496

Post by ArekDymalski » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

laurieherault wrote: post #2

Author here. It’s my first article. I’m a bit nervous but excited to get your feedback. If you deal with procrastination too, I hope this method helps you like it helped me.

Congratulations on your first article - it's a really good one. I found the jar filling method especially inspiring. Thanks a lot and good luck with the launch!

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#497

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:55 AM UTC

laurieherault wrote: post #10

whalee wrote: post #7

Cool idea! I would note there are some known health hazards in handling thermal-paper receipts(BPA/BPS)[1] with your bare hands if you do so often. I don't know much beyond this, I would look into it. [1] https://www.pca.state.mn.us/business-with-us/bpa-and-bps-in-...

Yes, very true. It's paper with bisphenol. These papers are now banned in Europe, but not in the USA.

[deleted]

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#498

Post by antihero » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 9:59 AM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #381

Maybe someone can relate to me on this... > With this new system, I haven't missed tracking my habits even once. When I'm in a productive era like that it mostly feels amazing. But it also comes with this looming threat that it can't go on like that forever. The feeling that maintaining such a high standard will only lead to a big fall once something inevitably disrupts the system. It also creates a sense of burden b…

I find any system I create works really well because it's exciting and interesting, and then I get bored of the system, and it becomes ineffective.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#499

Post by LeonM » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 10:07 AM UTC

chrz wrote: post #479

plumbees wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first two paragraphs made me realize I have ADHD. I had thought I didn't have it.

I realized after 40 years. I had a talk with a guy with ADHD about how drinking coffee makes us sleepy

The one thing that is often a dead giveaway is how many stimulants seem to have the opposite effect on people with ADHD.

I have ADHD, amfetamines help me relax, caffeine causes me to fall a sleep, some anti-allergy medication can cause me to stay awake for 2 days straight.

I read that in some countries doctors can prescribe mild sleeping pills for babies to help them stay calm during long flights. They always advice to test it before going on the flight, because some babies can actually become hyperactive from that medication. If that happens, there's a good chance the baby has ADHD.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#500

Post by LeonM » Fri, Jun 13, 2025, 10:13 AM UTC

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 38, and never expected to hear that diagnosis. Main reason was my misunderstanding of what ADHD is. Like most people, I just naively associated ADHD with hyperactive kids, and thought I was just lazy and having procrastination issues.

Now that I understand it so much better, I start to recognise it everywhere. After reading first paragraph of the article, I immediately though: Laurie must have ADHD!

For ADHD the things that often help are: breaking tasks up into smaller tasks and having a way of tracking progress. You don't want to do that on a screen, your phone is a distraction device!

I write my to-do lists on a paper notebook so I can tick them off. But the label printer idea is also a smart one! Though maybe a bit over-engineered, but I guess that was just a way for Laurie to procrastinate on the solution ;-)