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Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

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Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#1
I'm not great at finishing projects at work.

I'm not great at finishing my own projects.

How can I get better at this? I've frustrated managers and even friends.

I've tried a lot of personal time management techniques.

I think I'm even good at identifying the critical steps forward for success. In group meetings, I'm lethal at cutting unnecessary work.

But somehow, when I go off by myself to actually do it, little gets done. Something in my brain seems to generate lots of complications to the tasks I am doing, and I lose enthusiasm and self-confidence.

I would pay for a coach, if they were familiar with this specific problem and not just general emotional support.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#2
Sounds very familiar! I realized much, much too late in my career that I have ADHD; you might want to get checked for it (there are on-line self tests you can take first). I wasted many years underperforming in just the ways you've described.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#3
In my opinion there’s only one way to deal with this - let’s say - procrastination. The problem is that you are at mercy of your feelings when you are supposed to sit down and actually do the tasks that you set yourself up for. Feelings of doubt and fear of not being good enough may kick in and your brain will come up with all kinds of ideas to release you from the situation.

For me, the following works:

1. Craft a day plan for yourself: it doesn’t have to be super-elaborate. Just sit down every evening and decide what tasks you want to work on tomorrow. Decide for how long approximately. You don’t have to plan when exactly you’re working on what. It’s more about what tasks and how long. Also take into account how much time you actually have.

2. Once you start your day, consider your plan as fixed. No ad-hoc changes. Your feelings will come. Be prepared. You cannot change today’s plan. That’s the rule.

3. Before you start: Break down your task into the simplest step you can take. E.g. when you want to write a blog post, start with brainstorming. If you wanna code, checkout the repo and have a look at the code.

4. Set a timer for 25 minutes and don’t allow yourself to do anything else. 25 minutes is manageable and you have the feeling you can do it. After 25 minutes you have started and probably it’s already fun to work on the task. Take a 5-minute break to do something fun (listen to music) and enjoy your “success”. Then do the next round.

Hope it helps.

We actually created an entire product around this because we needed it just like you.

Check it out if you like: https://daycaptain.com

However, you can do it on paper as well.

I’m also happy to help you as a coach. I’ve a lot of experience with these kind of things.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#5

In my opinion there’s only one way to deal with this - let’s say - procrastination. The problem is that you are at mercy of your feelings when you are supposed to sit down and actually do the tasks that you set yourself up for. Feelings of doubt and fear of not being good enough may kick in and your brain will come up with all kinds of ideas to release you from the situation. For me, the following works: 1. Craft a d…

this is pretty much exactly what I'd say. I do something similar and highly recommend all this.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#7
post #2

Sounds very familiar! I realized much, much too late in my career that I have ADHD; you might want to get checked for it (there are on-line self tests you can take first). I wasted many years underperforming in just the ways you've described.

What did you do about it?

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#8
post #2

Sounds very familiar! I realized much, much too late in my career that I have ADHD; you might want to get checked for it (there are on-line self tests you can take first). I wasted many years underperforming in just the ways you've described.

What did you do about it?

Once I concluded that I have ADHD, I made an appointment with a psychiatrist, although it's still about a month out. I expect he will put me on medication. Actually, it took me quite a while to get the appointment; many therapists have very long waits for new patients, or are not taking new patients at all. Supposedly has to do with mental health effects of COVID. Also, the ADHD itself made the whole process of selecting a therapist much more complicated and drawn-out than it should have been.

Re: Ask HN: How to Get Better at Finishing?

#9
Scale back the "dream" and scale up the "grind". And of course, modularize.

"If you have a big dream and a small grind, you'll never accomplish the dream. But if you have a small dream and a big dream, you're much more likely to get it done" -- Paraphrasing Dr. Eric Thomas. [1]

[1] "iGrind" by Dr. Eric Thomas -- Explanation beginning at approximately 1m:00s https://youtu.be/4iKJMDRXR6U?t=58

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