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From my own retrospective notes, tasks that are "dangerous" (w.r.t. planning) are: * Administrative; i.e. my brain doesn't anticipate any tangible end product

by ollin 8y ago

From my own retrospective notes, tasks that are "dangerous" (w.r.t. planning) are: * Administrative; i.e. my brain doesn't anticipate any tangible end product or outcome upon completion, and... * Free of a strict, externally imposed deadline, and... * Impossible to complete in one sitting, usually because... * The method to complete them isn't clear, but it... * Probably involves doing lots of experiments, research, contacting people, etc., and... * The optimal time to start work has already passed. I doubt these are universal, but I've found it useful to be able to recognize tasks like these as a separate class from normal work, rather than being surprised when they turn out to be different.

criddell 8y ago
Does it impact hobbies as well as work? For example, something like practicing a musical instrument seems like it would hit all of your danger points.
- ollin 8y ago
  The key points regarding hobbies are the first ("administrative") and third ("impossible to complete") points. The hobbies that I've had which were successful have all been ones where I was intentional about (and capable of) generating incremental, tangible progress within a single session. The hobbies I've failed at are those where I tried to work on a large goal without any rewarding subgoals, and eventually couldn't make my brain work for nothing anymore. For me, at least, it still applies.
gnulinux 8y ago
> The optimal time to start work has already passed. This is affecting my life really bad. I've been trying to fight this for years with next to no success. If I pass the optimal time to start a task I find it almost impossible to start after that point. Say, sometimes I know that if I do it a bit faster and maybe sloppier I can still make the deadline but for some unknown reason it's so hard to do it and I go back to procrastinating. Another similar problem I have with procrastination is "soft deadlines". When something has a deadline but it's not the end of the world if the deadline is passed (say you can still accomplish the task 2 days later and it'll be ok) I find it incredibly hard to do it after the soft deadline. You have no idea how many troubles I collected this way since I kept procrastinating sending important documents to people, government etc... If I send them the day they're due everything is fine; if something comes up, say like scanner breaks, I forget etc... it takes months for me to send that document.
- Jarwain 8y ago
  Talk to a psych. Too much in this thread is reminiscent of my own ADHD, or some sort of executive function disorder. You might find it to be incredibly beneficial; I know I did.

by ollin 8y ago

criddell 8y ago

Does it impact hobbies as well as work? For example, something like practicing a musical instrument seems like it would hit all of your danger points.

ollin 8y ago
The key points regarding hobbies are the first ("administrative") and third ("impossible to complete") points. The hobbies that I've had which were successful have all been ones where I was intentional about (and capable of) generating incremental, tangible progress within a single session. The hobbies I've failed at are those where I tried to work on a large goal without any rewarding subgoals, and eventually couldn't make my brain work for nothing anymore. For me, at least, it still applies.

gnulinux 8y ago

> The optimal time to start work has already passed. This is affecting my life really bad. I've been trying to fight this for years with next to no success. If I pass the optimal time to start a task I find it almost impossible to start after that point. Say, sometimes I know that if I do it a bit faster and maybe sloppier I can still make the deadline but for some unknown reason it's so hard to do it and I go back to procrastinating. Another similar problem I have with procrastination is "soft deadlines". When something has a deadline but it's not the end of the world if the deadline is passed (say you can still accomplish the task 2 days later and it'll be ok) I find it incredibly hard to do it after the soft deadline. You have no idea how many troubles I collected this way since I kept procrastinating sending important documents to people, government etc... If I send them the day they're due everything is fine; if something comes up, say like scanner breaks, I forget etc... it takes months for me to send that document.

Jarwain 8y ago
Talk to a psych. Too much in this thread is reminiscent of my own ADHD, or some sort of executive function disorder. You might find it to be incredibly beneficial; I know I did.