6 ms·

Good and Bad Procrastination (2005)

77 points by busterc 11y ago

dasboth 11y ago
"The most dangerous form of procrastination is unacknowledged type-B procrastination [...] the to-do list is itself a form of type-B procrastination" This resonates so much with me. It took a long time to realise that my specific procrastination problem was type-B (and type-A). It then took another year or so before I realised that, contrary to a lot of advice out there, to-do lists are a terrible idea for a remedy.
- roddux 11y ago
  Other than to-do lists (which are a favourite of most 'beat procrastination' guides that I've read) - what do you find helps? As a side note; I found this to be a great article on the topic: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastin...
  - tjr 11y ago
    Rather than to-do lists, I have found much help with the subtly different "habit tracking" systems. I personally use this one: http://productiveapp.io/ http://productiveapp.io/ I keep my threshold for daily success low. For example, I have a habit item of reading a book. All I have to do is read for, say, 15 minutes, and that suffices for me to click off that I completed the habit for the day, and I can go back to procrastinating if I like. But I find that once I get started doing something that I actually want to do (such as reading a real book rather than surfing the web), then it's pretty easy to continue doing it for a longer period of time.
    - dasboth 11y ago
      I've noticed the same thing, it often boils down to finding a strategy to 'fool yourself' into starting.
  - dasboth 11y ago
    That's one of the best articles you could read on the subject, I might give it another read seeing as you've linked it here. This was another favourite, the one that started my 'journey': http://www.raptitude.com/2011/05/procrastination-is-not-laziness/ http://www.raptitude.com/2011/05/procrastination-is-not-lazi... YMMV, but to-do lists were just another source of pressure for me, so I've been trying to create external pressure for myself instead. I was a software developer wanting to learn data science but never went through with any of the MOOCs I started, even though I was interested in the subject. So I started a Masters to give myself that framework of accountability, deadlines etc. I realise that's an extreme example, so I'll give a smaller one too. My wife wanted a Wordpress plugin and I offered to help, and immediately set a date for when I'd work on it. Even though she wasn't forcing me or anything, she was the external pressure I created, and rather than make me anxious it actually helped me focus and get the job done. The biggest realisation for me was that the barrier to starting something is orders of magnitude bigger than the barrier to keep going, so you can try to experiment with ways to fool yourself into starting. Things like saying "I will work on this but only for 15 minutes, after which I'll reward myself with some time on the Playstation" often lead to me getting into flow before the time is up, and then just carrying on, sometimes for hours.
  - visakanv 11y ago
    I'm a bit of a procrastination literature connoisseur. In addition to WBW, here are some of my favorites: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140121123613-25056271-tasks-down-how-to-overcome-procrastination-by-facing-discomfort https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140121123613-25056271-tasks... http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/ http://visakanv.com/1000/0395-procrastination-as-parent-vs-child-breakdown/ http://visakanv.com/1000/0395-procrastination-as-parent-vs-c... (the most recent thing I've written) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY69bgftUok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY69bgftUok
drb311 11y ago
Putting off an unimportant task to work on an important one isn't procrastinating. It's prioritizing. The best bit of this essay is the last 5 paragraphs, how to work on big things: 1. Break it down into fun small goals and experiments that get you in the right direction but offer their own reward. 2. Let desire and interest pull you to certain activities at certain times. You're not a computer working through a todo list. Let serendipity happen. I find having a to do list pushes me to do nothing. The thought of working through it is just too depressing. Letting desire and interest lead me means I'm usually doing SOMETHING. Often quite useful things it turns out. When I look back over the first 15 years of my career I did my best work when I had no to do list at all.
- e40 11y ago
  Honest question: if you don't have a list, how do you make sure you don't forget to do some of the stuff?
  - vinaybn 11y ago
    I think the point is that if you forget to do it, and face no repercussions or regret that remind you of not doing it, that stuff was not worth doing in the first place.
  - dasboth 11y ago
    My to do list only ever consists of life admin things that have a hard deadline, like paying taxes, doctor's appointments etc. Anything else is just unnecessary pressure, and as someone else pointed out - if there's a penalty for not doing it you'll remember without a list, or it just wasn't that important.
  - visakanv 11y ago
    The point is that "some of the stuff" doesn't matter– the only thing that matters is that you do the most important thing. Once you've done the most important thing, you do the next most important thing. As long as you keep doing that, you're always in the clear.
known 11y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development helped me to overcome procrastination

77 points by busterc 11y ago

"The most dangerous form of procrastination is unacknowledged type-B procrastination [...] the to-do list is itself a form of type-B procrastination" This resonates so much with me. It took a long time to realise that my specific procrastination problem was type-B (and type-A). It then took another year or so before I realised that, contrary to a lot of advice out there, to-do lists are a terrible idea for a remedy.

roddux 11y ago
Other than to-do lists (which are a favourite of most 'beat procrastination' guides that I've read) - what do you find helps? As a side note; I found this to be a great article on the topic: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastin...
- tjr 11y ago
  Rather than to-do lists, I have found much help with the subtly different "habit tracking" systems. I personally use this one: http://productiveapp.io/ http://productiveapp.io/ I keep my threshold for daily success low. For example, I have a habit item of reading a book. All I have to do is read for, say, 15 minutes, and that suffices for me to click off that I completed the habit for the day, and I can go back to procrastinating if I like. But I find that once I get started doing something that I actually want to do (such as reading a real book rather than surfing the web), then it's pretty easy to continue doing it for a longer period of time.
  - dasboth 11y ago
    I've noticed the same thing, it often boils down to finding a strategy to 'fool yourself' into starting.
- dasboth 11y ago
  That's one of the best articles you could read on the subject, I might give it another read seeing as you've linked it here. This was another favourite, the one that started my 'journey': http://www.raptitude.com/2011/05/procrastination-is-not-laziness/ http://www.raptitude.com/2011/05/procrastination-is-not-lazi... YMMV, but to-do lists were just another source of pressure for me, so I've been trying to create external pressure for myself instead. I was a software developer wanting to learn data science but never went through with any of the MOOCs I started, even though I was interested in the subject. So I started a Masters to give myself that framework of accountability, deadlines etc. I realise that's an extreme example, so I'll give a smaller one too. My wife wanted a Wordpress plugin and I offered to help, and immediately set a date for when I'd work on it. Even though she wasn't forcing me or anything, she was the external pressure I created, and rather than make me anxious it actually helped me focus and get the job done. The biggest realisation for me was that the barrier to starting something is orders of magnitude bigger than the barrier to keep going, so you can try to experiment with ways to fool yourself into starting. Things like saying "I will work on this but only for 15 minutes, after which I'll reward myself with some time on the Playstation" often lead to me getting into flow before the time is up, and then just carrying on, sometimes for hours.
- visakanv 11y ago
  I'm a bit of a procrastination literature connoisseur. In addition to WBW, here are some of my favorites: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140121123613-25056271-tasks-down-how-to-overcome-procrastination-by-facing-discomfort https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140121123613-25056271-tasks... http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/21b/ugh_fields/ http://visakanv.com/1000/0395-procrastination-as-parent-vs-child-breakdown/ http://visakanv.com/1000/0395-procrastination-as-parent-vs-c... (the most recent thing I've written) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY69bgftUok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY69bgftUok

drb311 11y ago

Putting off an unimportant task to work on an important one isn't procrastinating. It's prioritizing. The best bit of this essay is the last 5 paragraphs, how to work on big things: 1. Break it down into fun small goals and experiments that get you in the right direction but offer their own reward. 2. Let desire and interest pull you to certain activities at certain times. You're not a computer working through a todo list. Let serendipity happen. I find having a to do list pushes me to do nothing. The thought of working through it is just too depressing. Letting desire and interest lead me means I'm usually doing SOMETHING. Often quite useful things it turns out. When I look back over the first 15 years of my career I did my best work when I had no to do list at all.

e40 11y ago
Honest question: if you don't have a list, how do you make sure you don't forget to do some of the stuff?
- vinaybn 11y ago
  I think the point is that if you forget to do it, and face no repercussions or regret that remind you of not doing it, that stuff was not worth doing in the first place.
- dasboth 11y ago
  My to do list only ever consists of life admin things that have a hard deadline, like paying taxes, doctor's appointments etc. Anything else is just unnecessary pressure, and as someone else pointed out - if there's a penalty for not doing it you'll remember without a list, or it just wasn't that important.
- visakanv 11y ago
  The point is that "some of the stuff" doesn't matter– the only thing that matters is that you do the most important thing. Once you've done the most important thing, you do the next most important thing. As long as you keep doing that, you're always in the clear.

known 11y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development helped me to overcome procrastination