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How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

deprocrastination.co

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Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#81

Post by blaser-waffle »

anon9001 wrote: post #49
non-entity wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok serious question: Every one of these points is very applicable to me, especially 1,2 and 3. I haven't been to a doctor in years outside occasional emergency trips. How do you bring this up without seriously. I don't want to come off as the guy who compulsively self diagnoses based off what they read on the internet.

No problem, serious answer: This is the DSMV criteria: https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html Doctors are typically screening with a quiz that looks something like this: https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/adhd-quiz/ It's perfectly reasonable to say "I think I may have ADHD based on what I've read online, my symptoms match and people who know me have suggested I try adderall". Some doctors are fine with letting…

> I'd 100% recommend having stimulants in your toolkit, and chances are you're already supplementing with worse stimulants (like mountains of coffee or soda), so do give them a try, but be careful.

I'll second this. I've got an old friend and former coworker who clearly has serious ADHD and self medicates with tons of coffee/soda/cigarettes. He's killing himself and he knows it, but hates doctors and has a negative view of shrinks.

Anec-data: I cut out carbs and only eat during certain windows and that has done wonders for focus and stick-to-itiveness. Coffee and alcohol hit me extra hard, and I've cut back on them.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#82

Post by flir »

pmoriarty wrote: post #43

Some time back, I read all I could on procrastination, and watched dozens of videos on it, and by far the best thing I found on it was this video by Tim Pychyl: [1] It focuses particularly on procrastination in graduate school, but is widely applicable elsewhere. One of the key insights that Pychyl, a psychologist who studies procrastination, had is that procrastination is not (as is commonly believed) a time managem…

> Some time back, I read all I could on procrastination, and watched dozens of videos on it

Honestly thought you were setting us up for a punchline, there.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#83

Post by joekim »

epicureanideal wrote: post #78
joekim wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Re: the football team though, no matter how energized they are, that team will not be able to lift more than their 1RM (1 rep max), they won't be able to lift their 10RM (10 rep max) more than 10 times (maybe a few more on a good day). Eventually there are physical limits to their ability. Similarly if that team had not slept for 48 hours, or had done non-stop math problems for 18 hours and was asked to continue do…

"Pushing through via sheer force of will isn't possible." That's exactly what I'm saying. I'll check out the link.

> "Pushing through via sheer force of will isn't possible." > That's exactly what I'm saying. I'll check out the link.

What I'm saying is that you can't push your way through Navy Seal training by trying harder. But you can significantly increase your output and down regulate the process around "quitting" by using other techniques that will trigger the norepinephrine reset.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#84

Post by _tom_ »

joekim wrote: post #65
epicureanideal wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still think this is too limited. Analogous to how Keynes said classical / Ricardian economics discussed distribution of goods given a fixed level of production, the linked article doesn't consider that the maximum productive output on any given day is not the same, even when the 3 variables considered are maximized. "Behavior" here seems to be a boolean, "why we take action or not take action at any given moment",…

Well it is a lot more complicated. There is no "mental energy reserve", but we do get energized by norepinephrine in the brain and once it becomes saturated it it loses its effect. A simple technique to reset it is to activate the "sigh reflex". You just breathe in twice at a normal pace and then slowly exhale through the mouth. Another more powerful reset is to do yoga nidra for 10-20 minutes. Yoga nidra, once you f…

While "mental energy reserve" is not a standard term, "decision fatigue" is, and is basically the same idea.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#85

Post by owenshen24 »

Fogg has some good thoughts on positive behavior change. James Clear, who wrote Tiny Habits, is another good person in this space who writes reasonable stuff.

Self-plug for an overview on research into the habit formation literature that I recently cleaned up. Covers many evidence-backed interventions (of varying quality) for habit formation and removal.

https://mlu.red/52436366310.html

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#86

Post by infogulch »

_tom_ wrote: post #84
joekim wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well it is a lot more complicated. There is no "mental energy reserve", but we do get energized by norepinephrine in the brain and once it becomes saturated it it loses its effect. A simple technique to reset it is to activate the "sigh reflex". You just breathe in twice at a normal pace and then slowly exhale through the mouth. Another more powerful reset is to do yoga nidra for 10-20 minutes. Yoga nidra, once you f…

While "mental energy reserve" is not a standard term, "decision fatigue" is, and is basically the same idea.

Eh, "mental energy reserve" seems to be used like "ego depletion" which doesn't have a great pedigree iirc.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#88

Post by georgespencer »

tikhonj wrote: post #80
non-entity wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok serious question: Every one of these points is very applicable to me, especially 1,2 and 3. I haven't been to a doctor in years outside occasional emergency trips. How do you bring this up without seriously. I don't want to come off as the guy who compulsively self diagnoses based off what they read on the internet.

I was in a similar position. I did a bunch of reading on ADHD, convinced myself that I probably had it then I found a clinical psychologist who specialized in ADHD and reached out for an initial appointment. Apparently this is a pretty common story for people with ADHD who weren't diagnosed as children, so a specialist won't be particularly surprised by it. The initial appointment is probably going to be an in-depth…

> this is a pretty common story for people with ADHD who weren't diagnosed as children

This was an extremely meaningful datapoint for me in feeling "seen". One of the steps was to ask my mother to fill in a survey recalling how she experienced me as a child.

When I told my mother it was for ADHD diagnosis she laughed, and said, "You didn't have ADHD. You just liked to run around. In my experience 10% of kids are just wired that way."

Cue the psychiatrist telling me that ADHD prevalence is now thought to be around around 10%.

A good psychiatrist will not diagnose you with ADHD unless you have it, and they will not sit on the fence and say "maybe" if they believe you have it. Mine was emphatic with me.

> Apparently people with ADHD usually drastically underestimate their own symptoms, which is why a third-party perspective is important

Absolutely! The way people experienced me was totally different to the way I thought that they did.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#89

Post by Funes- »

vitabenes wrote: post #47
CraigJPerry wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you never find yourself doing things that after you’ve done it, you realise you shouldn’t have? I find procrastination is sometimes a sign that my subconscious has realised i’d be better delegating or rejecting something rather than doing it BUT my consciousness hasn’t realised that yet. Resolve is my last choice for things i’m procrastinating. It comes after questions like: maybe i really do want to do this and i…

We often say to our clients that procrastination is a teacher, an indicator. What does it indicate? Could be: * you don't like a type of work * you don't have sufficient skills to match the task * it's not important enough for you * you don't believe you can do it ... We teach them to ask themselves: why am I procrastinating? Resolve often isn't the issue.

You left one of the more obvious reasons, in my opinion: you are avoiding responsibilities and hard work because it's easier and safer--in the short term--to fuck around and slack off all day.

Re: How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

#90

Post by dsubburam »

I find concepts like "procastination" problematic, including associated ones in the comments like "resolve", "discipline", and separately, "weak will".

Take the case of "resolving" to watch just one episode of your favorite TV show after dinner. You then end up binge-watching three episodes. Why is this a case of "weak will" when it is simpler to explain it as a change of mind? After all, there is "new data" post the first episode; maybe an increased curiosity into what happens next, or still feeling wide awake.

The idea of "free will" is well motivated. I am not so sure about "weak will" etc.

Is there some other way to characterize the applicable cases?

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