I have realized that I easily give up when I face a hard problem. This is hurting my career prospects. I have been thinking and it may have become an issue because I grew up in a high pressure environment, where a lot is expected from you. How do I change myself ? I have observed that a lot of times I have a vague idea of a problem I am trying to solve but I don't put in the effort to nail it down. This affects my confidence and I don't want to lead whenever I get an opportunity. How do I get out of this habit ?
Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
1–10 of 272 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#2For some people, procrastination is a form of emotional management.
For others, sometimes the best strategy is "embrace the suck": do it even though you're likely to fail. Keep repeating until you don't.
Having a good well rounded education or library of random facts helps you dig into problems because it gives you perspective. Learning should be a lifelong process.
Finally, physical health is very important. If you're not working out, start a regular, manageable, cardiovascular exercise routine. There's many benefits to this, better sleep, better focus, and confidence building.
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#3You might try something like:
* write down the smallest next possible step towards this goal. It should be something you're very close to knowing how to do already. It doesn't matter if it leaves you still a long away from the ultimate goal.
* set a short timer (e.g. 20 minutes) and work on it until the timer goes off.
* reward yourself with something fun.
* repeat.
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#4Only do something for 1 minute, focusing as hard as you can.
Then take a break.
Then try for 2 minutes.
Then take a break.
Repeat until you can focus for a long time :)
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#5Adderall
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#6Seriously: exercise. You will have more energy, feel better, and be mentally shaprer. Exabrial said it better, I just wanted to reiterate it. It's had an excellent impact on my life.
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#7What’s an example of a hard problem you recently gave up on?
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#8I don't have a magic fix, but a few things that have worked for me, in different contexts:
- Remove your options. If possible, turn off your WiFi, router and phone. If I don't have an easy way to distract myself, it's easier for me to get "into the zone", and for my brain to really engage.
- Convince yourself to spend 5 minutes taking a stab at the problem. If you need to, set a timer. You can do anything for 5 minutes. And once you're 5 minutes in, the problem won't feel so massive
- Start writing down what needs to be done. Make a list, and then start making the list more granular by breaking the "big tasks" into "small tasks". Big tasks are frightening. Small tasks are easy to do one at a time.
- Put yourself in a new environment. If you procrastinate at home, take yourself out to a coffeeshop, or library where you can work. If you have a big enough house, have a "work room" and a "play room", and don't mix the two. Commit to not getting distracted in the work room.
- Surround yourself people you want to emulate -- here, productive people. If you're in uni, this is easy. If you're not, try to find discord channels, IRC channels, or whatever. It's always easier to be motivated when you're surrounded by other motivated people.
None of this is magic, and I don't want to pretend to be a paragon of efficiency (I'm on HN right now, after all). But the key is really to try SOMETHING new, if you aren't happy with your mental stamina -- and keep changing variables until you are.
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#9you might have trauma (little t trauma), which feels weird to call trauma because its not obvious trauma (death, car accident, abuse etc) but still affects you a lot and your feelings are still just as valid and they are there and real.
Try to allocate a long time, like 2 hours to focus on something that you know you have to do. Observe how it feels physically, in your body.
For me, my throat tightens up and my chest gets tight and I feel like crying.
So I procrastinated for years to avoid feeling the awful physical sensations. I still do, really. They haven't gone away for me just yet.
First step is awareness, next is expecting the feeling, discovering what triggers it, making elaborate plans and tackling harder tasks in bite sized pieces. Force yourself to try and improve, because you have to, and soldier through the feelings like you're on the start of a long battle, or a long journey of self growth.
Re: Ask HN: How do I overcome mental laziness?
#10You might try something like: * write down the smallest next possible step towards this goal. It should be something you're very close to knowing how to do already. It doesn't matter if it leaves you still a long away from the ultimate goal. * set a short timer (e.g. 20 minutes) and work on it until the timer goes off. * reward yourself with something fun. * repeat.
I'd add to this:
* change. if you get stuck, change your world. go for a walk, get fresh eyes. put a few plants on your desk... or take some away.
Sometimes you need to mentally bump your mind out of a rut to see why you were stuck in a dead end loop that made you give up.