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I really liked this article and it's eerie at how I had those same productivity issues and ended up doing things similar to Carmack to track productivity. Carm

by nickjj 9y ago

I really liked this article and it's eerie at how I had those same productivity issues and ended up doing things similar to Carmack to track productivity. Carmack used the CD player tactic to track his productive time, but a few years ago I used a schedule. I charted out every minute of my life. Every single time I context switched, I wrote down what I just did previously and for how long. After doing that for a bit you begin to realize just how fucked up you are when you see a daily recap of "checked HN 25 times, checked email 20 times, watched 2 hours of Youtube videos unrelated to your field" and you barely inched forward on whatever you're working towards. I found real deadlines really helps me. I mean, I had my next video course idea in my head for almost 1 full year and I kept putting off doing work towards it because I was getting small wins doing other stuff which prevented me from even starting something new. Then someone hired me for freelance work and it just so happens what he wanted done matched what I wanted to do in my course almost exactly. It took me literally 20 hours (3 solid "no messing around" work days) to write about 85% of the material I wanted to do in the course. There's a lot more than just writing source code to finish a course, but that was something I managed to put off for an entire year but nearly completed it in a few days. I don't know why, but when someone pays me to do something I shift from being a sloth into a hyper focused productivity machine. I haven't found out how to harness that power without external motivators and I've been at this for about 20 years (I work for myself, so I don't have a boss paying me). I used to think I was never so stupid to have some type of fear of success but deep down I'm constantly battling my inner self on the topic so I'm beginning to think that maybe I have serious issues around that.

Yahivin 9y ago
No idea if this will work but an interesting motivational trick could be to put aside some of your money into a separate account and use it as a budget to "pay" yourself for tedious yet important tasks you want done.
- Retra 9y ago
  That doesn't work if you aren't motivated by shopping.
- nickjj 9y ago
  I never thought of doing that, thanks. Is this something you've done in the past? On its own I'm confident that won't work because it's not new money, but funnily enough I have a deeply rooted scarcity mindset (I constantly think I'll wake up one day and won't be able to generate another penny), so maybe it would work in the end if I gave myself a no strings attached "reward fund" for completing tasks. Some type of weird permission to spend X amount per month on non-essentials. I currently live so below my means that it would probably be comical for most people as an outsider.
Asooka 9y ago
checked HN 25 times, checked email 20 times, watched 2 hours of Youtube videos unrelated to your field That by itself is not the problem. It is a weight on your productivity, sure, but the real problem is if you watch 2 hours of YT videos and don't come off in a better mental state to do the work you slacked off on. I find that what helps me the most is finding the most "productive" ways to slack off, so you're not just avoiding thinking about work, but are actively recharging. So, pick your slack carefully and it should be less of a problem, maybe even a positive part of your work routine.
- nickjj 9y ago
  What you're describing is really just a guilt free reward. It all boils down to bad habits and broken mindsets. There's that old saying of if you want to get something done, ask the busiest person in the room to do it.

by nickjj 9y ago

Yahivin 9y ago

No idea if this will work but an interesting motivational trick could be to put aside some of your money into a separate account and use it as a budget to "pay" yourself for tedious yet important tasks you want done.

Retra 9y ago
That doesn't work if you aren't motivated by shopping.
nickjj 9y ago
I never thought of doing that, thanks. Is this something you've done in the past? On its own I'm confident that won't work because it's not new money, but funnily enough I have a deeply rooted scarcity mindset (I constantly think I'll wake up one day and won't be able to generate another penny), so maybe it would work in the end if I gave myself a no strings attached "reward fund" for completing tasks. Some type of weird permission to spend X amount per month on non-essentials. I currently live so below my means that it would probably be comical for most people as an outsider.

Asooka 9y ago

checked HN 25 times, checked email 20 times, watched 2 hours of Youtube videos unrelated to your field That by itself is not the problem. It is a weight on your productivity, sure, but the real problem is if you watch 2 hours of YT videos and don't come off in a better mental state to do the work you slacked off on. I find that what helps me the most is finding the most "productive" ways to slack off, so you're not just avoiding thinking about work, but are actively recharging. So, pick your slack carefully and it should be less of a problem, maybe even a positive part of your work routine.

nickjj 9y ago
What you're describing is really just a guilt free reward. It all boils down to bad habits and broken mindsets. There's that old saying of if you want to get something done, ask the busiest person in the room to do it.