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A receipt printer cured my procrastination

laurieherault.com

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Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#531

Post by jonnybgood »

poulpy123 wrote: post #522
afro88 wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question: isn't this everyone? Don't we all find large tasks hard to start and so we procrastinate? Isn't it common general advice for all people to break things down into smaller steps so you can get going

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate.

That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#532

Post by justanotherjoe »

namaria wrote: post #504
LeonM wrote: post #500

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…

Same story for me. What has really helped is trying to make initiating useful and desirable tasks easier and seeking distractions harder. Bit by bit, cultivating that mindset changes things for the better over time. The trap is usually "I've figured it out and this new system will solve my life" only to be burned out days or weeks later because this only addresses the symptoms and not that cause. Cultivating a more f…

I rmemember what truly worked for me, as a chronic case, was a 1 day workweek. Granted I did work normal days, but I only mean things that cost motivation like side projects. On other days I even stopped myself when I started to kid myself about 'doing it'. It made me feel gross but that gross feeling helped when the scheduled day comes.

I stopped doing it for some reason. But I remember it worked. For what it is.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#533

Post by staticman2 »

pchangr wrote: post #530
poulpy123 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

I don’t think you understand depression. There’s a big difference between depression and sadness … like the difference between purple and green. They are just not comparable. This is not shades of a different color. My personal experience is: “I’m sad” and that can mean… “I want to cry” But If im depressed can be like “I’m happy.., and yet.. I don’t see the point of living.”

I doubt the distinction between depressed and not depressed is all that clear.

I know scales like BDI 2 assign a number and use terms like:

– BDI-II scoring:

0-13 is considered none or minimal range depression;

14-19 mild depression;

20-28 moderate depression;

29-63 severe depression.

https://strokengine.ca/en/assessments/beck-depression-invent...

There is no objective cutoff point is what I'm saying.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#534

Post by idiotsecant »

jonnybgood wrote: post #531
poulpy123 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.

I get that this is partly HN devils advocacy and partly a very human bias towards thinking all brains are your brain, but it's like saying that everyone has creaky joints so people with arthritis are just complaining too much.

Inattentive type ADHD makes you physically incapable of concentration. Procrastination is a symptom of the underlying problem, which is that the attention mechanism in your brain is chemically broken. People with this disorder are forced to 'manually' drive executive functions in a way that people with fully functioning norepinephrine synthesis systems can't really understand.

It is surmountable, but it's very hard and it's an 'invisible' condition. The sad thing is that most people with this (actual, real, chemically identifiable) condition spend most of their lives internalizing that they are lazy and worthless and desperately wishing they knew how to not be that. I have vivid memories of thinking those things when I was in elementary school. I am relatively high functioning now because I understand that my mind needs external control loops to keep me halfway productive but it comes with a whole lot of constant anxiety and shame that I can't do anything about.

It's a real thing.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#535

Post by poulpy123 »

jonnybgood wrote: post #531
poulpy123 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.

No, it does not applies for everyone

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#536

Post by poulpy123 »

pchangr wrote: post #530
poulpy123 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

I don’t think you understand depression. There’s a big difference between depression and sadness … like the difference between purple and green. They are just not comparable. This is not shades of a different color. My personal experience is: “I’m sad” and that can mean… “I want to cry” But If im depressed can be like “I’m happy.., and yet.. I don’t see the point of living.”

> I don’t think you understand depression

I think I understand very well

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#538

Post by kmacdough »

marcrosoft wrote: post #408

The problem with methods like this is that there is no priority and rewards you for doing tasks that don’t actually matter. It’s better to do one really important thing per day than 10 meaningless tasks.

Perhaps for some, but the entire point of the article was about building momentum. She didn't talk much about the bigger tasks, but frequently alluded to getting more "real work" done. If you find yourself never getting thoae bigger tasks with this method, then yeah you've got to keep thinking, but that doesn't make it a "problem".

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#539

Post by aaronbaugher »

jonnybgood wrote: post #531
poulpy123 wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With mental illnesses there is no clear limit between normal and sick. However there is a point when it's really hurting the person afflicted. For example procrastination: everyone procrastinate more or less, but in people with ADHD, procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. Another example : depression. It's not easy from an e…

> procrastination happens even when they actively don't want to procrastinate, and even when it hurts them right now to procrastinate. That applies to just about everyone. It’s why there are countless books and articles on defeating procrastination.

No, most people have never found themselves staring at a pile of unpaid bills and collection notices, while knowing there's work they should be doing that would pay those bills...and feeling physically and mentally incapable of starting that work. Not "I don't wanna" or "I'd rather play games right now," but "I know I should do that, I know it would make my life better and I want that so bad...but I just can't."

It's horrible, and definitely not something that applies to just about everyone.

Re: A receipt printer cured my procrastination

#540

Post by Noumenon72 »

PKop wrote: post #320
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.

I would avoid massively increasing your exposure to receipts. They have endocrine disrupting chemicals and it's advised to not even handle them from retail stores let alone in higher quantities in your own home. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/receipt-paper-harmful/

If the grocery store cashiers aren't getting cancer from handling 150 receipts a day then the todo list should be fine.
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