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How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

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Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#91

Post by angkec »

scotty79 wrote: post #52
chaz wrote: post #6

I have found the Pomodoro Technique ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique ) to be helpful. I can't do it for a whole day, but a short sprint to grind through something is a near, achievable goal. For extended, head-banging frustrations, it's helpful to step away, think about it without the distraction of the screen, and coming back at it with fresh eyes. The time AFK is not to be underestimated: http://ww…

Pommodoro Technique is so effective that instead of avoiding starting work I began to avoid starting pomodoro timer.

As funny as it sounds, this is sadly my experience sometimes.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#92

Post by pandler »

thatthatis wrote: post #75
jaysonelliot wrote: post #62

I was hoping to see one for my personal bugbear: paralysis of choice. The most common situation for me is to be faced with a list of projects and tasks that are more than I can handle, and doing any one of them means ignoring the others, which are all equally urgent. I know all the GTD and Pomodoro techniques and everything else, but it's in my head where the problem lies. Once I settle in to one specific task, I can…

In cases like this I use a binary comparison tree: Task a vs task b: if I don't have an opinion about which I should do, I flip a coin. Task c vs task d, task e vs task f, task g vs task h. Then winner ab vs winner cd, winner ef vs winner gh. Then winner abcd vs winner efgh. I almost never make it all the way to the end as by round 2 ive considered the urgency and value of every task and the winner is usually obvious…

The coin flip works surprisingly well for me, and for the exact reason you stated. Given the choice between two options that I can't decide between, I flip a coin. The actual result of the flip is irrelevant, because I'll invariably know which result I want before the coin even lands. It forces me to make a decision in spite of myself.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#93

Post by Grokit »

callum85 wrote: post #74

I think this is terrible advice. I got much better at motivation over the last year by thinking in exactly the opposite way from what this article recommends. I accepted that I had virtually no willpower, and that I wasn't just going to just magically develop some, and that I didn't need it anyway. Instead I needed to get more skilled at 'coaxing' myself into doing things – at steering my feelings into more construct…

Just because you can't, doesn't mean other people can't. I had actually realized basically everything they were talking about a few months ago, and since then I have improved my decision making significantly. Depending on your feelings to power you through things is very unreliable.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#94

Post by gedrap »

eaurouge wrote: post #87
callum85 wrote: post #74

I think this is terrible advice. I got much better at motivation over the last year by thinking in exactly the opposite way from what this article recommends. I accepted that I had virtually no willpower, and that I wasn't just going to just magically develop some, and that I didn't need it anyway. Instead I needed to get more skilled at 'coaxing' myself into doing things – at steering my feelings into more construct…

You can't "just" do stuff if you don't feel like it, as this article suggests. And yet every morning, millions of people get up and go to work to do a job they really don't feel like doing. People still do back-breaking work just so they can put food on the table. I'm not saying it's a recipe for happiness but people have been doing stuff they don't enjoy for millennia. And even in present day, only some of us can af…

This. Sometimes, I feel really guilty when I 'don't feel like working', although I know that hour worked is hour paid (working from home), and my hourly rate is the same as my dad's daily rate in a sweat shop in Lithuania.

We have such a luxury and we fail to understand that.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#95

Post by read »

acoustic wrote: post #60
read wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of what you say doesn't contradict the author. You might also have an incomplete understanding of some others. (1) A prevention and a promotion focus are two types of focus people have a disposition to. You can't adopt a prevention focus if you are promotion inclined. Maybe you, personally, work better with tasks requiring a promotion focus. (2) The technique you mention does not contradict the author. I agree w…

Regarding your last point, the Harvard goals study doesn't actually exist: http://sidsavara.com/personal-productivity/fact-or-fiction-t...

Thanks. The Harvard goals study doesn't exist. After hearing of this myth, Gail Matthews at Dominican University tried to perform the goals study:

http://www.dominican.edu/academics/ahss/undergraduate-progra...

The conclusion: writing one’s goal enhances goal achievement. You are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down.

It's curious how HN users found nothing positive in my comment above and chose to downvote it. It must have seemed my intention was to mislead people.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#96

Post by kamaal »

thatthatis wrote: post #75
jaysonelliot wrote: post #62

I was hoping to see one for my personal bugbear: paralysis of choice. The most common situation for me is to be faced with a list of projects and tasks that are more than I can handle, and doing any one of them means ignoring the others, which are all equally urgent. I know all the GTD and Pomodoro techniques and everything else, but it's in my head where the problem lies. Once I settle in to one specific task, I can…

In cases like this I use a binary comparison tree: Task a vs task b: if I don't have an opinion about which I should do, I flip a coin. Task c vs task d, task e vs task f, task g vs task h. Then winner ab vs winner cd, winner ef vs winner gh. Then winner abcd vs winner efgh. I almost never make it all the way to the end as by round 2 ive considered the urgency and value of every task and the winner is usually obvious…

>>flip a coin

That's actually the best test. Flip a coin and then for a moment no matter how small when its in the air, you will hoping for a result. Work on that option.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#97

Post by raldi »

tzs wrote: post #51
chaz wrote: post #6

I have found the Pomodoro Technique ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique ) to be helpful. I can't do it for a whole day, but a short sprint to grind through something is a near, achievable goal. For extended, head-banging frustrations, it's helpful to step away, think about it without the distraction of the screen, and coming back at it with fresh eyes. The time AFK is not to be underestimated: http://ww…

It's interesting to note that the Pomodoro breaks, at least if you use the 25 minute interval most commonly recommended, fit in well with this recommendation from the Cornell Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group [1]: Sit to do computer work. Sit using a height-adjustable, downward titling keyboard tray for the best work posture, then every 20 minutes stand for 2 minutes AND MOVE. The absolute time isn’t critic…

The conclusions on that page seem to be completely at odds with the study it claims to use as its source; please be careful about propagating quotes from it.

Details: http://redd.it/kfjet

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#98

Post by matznerd »

angkec wrote: post #91
scotty79 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pommodoro Technique is so effective that instead of avoiding starting work I began to avoid starting pomodoro timer.

As funny as it sounds, this is sadly my experience sometimes.

I use a chrome extension called Strict Workflow that is an implementation of Pomodoro (with website blocker), and I pair it with Any.Do's extension and have both right next to my browser bar. They work pretty well in tandem...

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#99

Post by thret »

asdashopping wrote: post #22

I have suffered from depression for years and it is destroying my life. I read articles like this and think that what they're saying sounds like a great idea, and then proceed to completely ignore it. I have tried multiple types of antidepressants and found the side effects unbearable. They didn't make me feel happy, they made me feel nothing. I have tried CBT and regular therapy, both of which have failed because I…

This may not help you, but it might help others understand what you mean: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/adventures-...

I kind of agree with everyone else though, some exercise and sunlight every day. And time. Change is part of life, it happens eventually.

Re: How to Make Yourself Work When You Just Don’t Want To

#100

Post by crucialfelix »

callum85 wrote: post #74

I think this is terrible advice. I got much better at motivation over the last year by thinking in exactly the opposite way from what this article recommends. I accepted that I had virtually no willpower, and that I wasn't just going to just magically develop some, and that I didn't need it anyway. Instead I needed to get more skilled at 'coaxing' myself into doing things – at steering my feelings into more construct…

The advice was to actively drain your emotional response. Rather than fight your feeling, work to quiet all of your feelings - be like Spock.

You won't reduce them to nothing, but you will get them under control enough that you can then steer them just as you are saying. Otherwise your aversion feelings are overwhelming and it's impossible to steer as you say.

Your steering technique is good. I like it.

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