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How to Get Things Done When You Don't Feel Like It
- edoo 8y agoThis feels like someone discovered that multitasking doesn't really work (some studies show it causes brain damage). I've grown to hate multitasking. Do not try to design your project while building it. Do not try to understand what it is supposed to do while debugging it. Separate all things, focus on them individually. I've found without effort it is easy to find yourself working on several tasks at the same time that would each be completed much faster if focused on one at a time.
- diminoten 8y ago> multitasking doesn't really work (some studies show it causes brain damage). Haha, whaaaaat!? Would love to see some links, that's crazy!
- snazz 8y agoWhat you really seem to be getting at is the importance of planning—which I agree with wholeheartedly. Do your homework before trying to write a half-baked implementation and then backtracking when it doesn’t work.
- copperx 8y agoDon Knuth has the right idea; he batches all tasks. However, we don't all have the luxury of working at our own pace.
- TheTrotters 8y agoI believe Knuth worked at his own pace before he had the luxury to do so. That is: if you’re doing great work other things will matter much less. But it’s a gamble and Knuth’s version of “working as his own pace” probably means working harder than most people.
- 6nf 8y ago> some studies show it causes brain damage What? That can't be true, are you sure?
- PinkMilkshake 8y agoThis is what I can gather from skimming some articles in a lazy research attempt: * Almost all evidence shows multitasking is not actually possible * Some evidence shows attempting to do so anyway results in IQ reduction and loss of ability to focus * Some evidence shows this reduction lasts even after you are done * Some evidence shows this reduction is due to permanent physiological changes in the brain 'Brain damage' might be going to far.
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- Pyxl101 8y agoI can have a conversation with someone while driving a car. Is that not multitasking? To anticipate an objection, I would agree that the competence of both tasks diminishes somewhat. However the overall competence of both is sufficient. My brain also seems capable of detecting when more attention is required, and automatically stopping the lower priority task. For example, if I had to quickly merge across many lanes on a busy freeway, then I would likely cease conversation during that maneuver. I don’t have to think too much about this consciously. The brain understands that driving is paramount and it will automatically preempt anything lower priority when more cognitive attention is required. I would be interested to know what the research says about phenomena like that. There must be research like this supporting aviation, space flight, and nautical activities. It seems easiest to multitask across different modes, e.g., I can work with my hands or drive a car while listening to an audiobook. I can have a social conversation with friends over voice chat while playing a video game. Maybe the degree to which you can multitask depends upon the type of task and to what extent your brain can perform it automatically. The rote tasks involved in driving for example require very little attention to perform safely and correctly.
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- usaphp 8y agoIsn’t that anything we do is actually always multitasking, coding - you use your fingers to type and brain to think what to type and at the same time you are thinking about why you are typing that.
- WalterSear 8y agoNo.
- mandelbrotwurst 8y agoWhy not? Parent raises a good point, how do we define a single task? If you are playing one melody with your left hand on the piano and one with your right, is that one task or two?
- TeMPOraL 8y agoWe don't have a definitive diagram of the mind to point to, but I feel we all really can feel what is and what isn't multitasking. Once internalized through experience, hand movements on piano (or computer) keyboard are subconscious. They don't tax your brain. Thinking about what you're playing/writing and why are you doing it is still within one "context of execution". They are closely related mental activities sharing most of the same data. Starting to simultaneously think about or engage in an unrelated, cognitively demanding activity - this is multitasking, or the so-called "context switch".
- WalterSear 8y agoBecause everything but the executive task flow is being handled via processes known as automaticity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaticity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaticity
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoI absolutely can't multitask: I can't drive properly and talk (I can do it, but my driving isn't good). I could never talk and play piano, nor even sing along as I played (I don't have opportunity to play anymore). I can however talk and type, but it's done in a way where I fill a mental register with the sentence I'm typing, switch focus whilst my hands operate on that register; then fill the register in a pause from the conversation. It's just rapid task switching for me except the typing. Probably took me a decade of touch typing to get there. I'm also I've of those people who ends up writing down the conversation if I'm handwriting and conversing. -- reflecting now when playing piano I'd try and fill a mental register with the forthcoming musical phrase whilst I switched to speaking. I think perhaps it didn't work because I struggle with rhythm and so need central focus to maintain any semblance of rhythm.
- harshvladha 8y agoAll humans are different - psychologically. So, same psychological trick may not work with everyone. & sometimes, it also depends on the type of work
- trukterious 8y agoYou can't do a thing you don't feel like doing. Ask David Hume, or ask any depressed person. In reality our ideas about what we should be doing co-evolve with our feelings about doing those things.
- diminoten 8y agoI dunno, sounds slightly circular, prone to the "If you did it you must have felt like doing it" kind of response.
- comboy 8y ago> "If you did it you must have felt like doing it" That's exactly correct. Every action you took voluntarily was your choice. You are always doing whatever you want to do. You may tell yourself many stories in your head, and we can dispute free will, but as long as we assume it for the purpose of this discussion, what you do is your choice. So to me the biggest step in fighting procrastination seems to be deciding what do you really want to be doing with your life and eliminating wishful thinking (i.e. thinking that you can get foo without doing bar in case where that is not possible)
- dwaltrip 8y ago> That's exactly correct. Every action you took voluntarily was your choice. > You are always doing whatever you want to do. You may tell yourself many stories in your head, and we can dispute free will, but as long as we assume it for the purpose of this discussion, what you do is your choice. I understand what you are getting at, and I agree with the basic fundamental idea within a certain context. However, we have to be careful with how we extrapolate and attempt to re-interpret words and phrases such as "choice", "want", "feel like doing [x]", "deciding" , and so on. The part quoted above basically makes those words meaningless. Regardless of what one thinks about free will, those words have great utility and fulfill roles in the human experience for which there isn't really any replacement. You yourself demonstrate this quite plainly in your last sentence, when you say we should "decide" what we really "want" to be doing with our life.
- hyperpallium 8y agoOn HN stories (ie here, not the article itself), I can get a "readable" version on mobile firefox (ie the icon left of the tab square). All but this one. Weird. EDIT and now, an hour later, I can. Also weird.
- dukoid 8y agoListening to ambient music somehow seems to makes me seek other distractions less, allowing me to actually get started with or focuns on the task at hand.
- Kaveren 8y agoI find this to be the case too. I prefer listening to rain ambient, like A Soft Murmur [1] or lofi hip hop beats. Apparently, there's even some research that shows that ambient music which isn't at a high volume level can boost creativity [2], and that it can also improve performance in performing repetitive tasks. Edit: Also found a reference to a 2005 study which is said to show that music can increase performance in software developers. [3] [1] https://asoftmurmur.com/ https://asoftmurmur.com/ [2] Mehta, Ravi, et al. “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise On Creative Cognition.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 39, no. 4, 2012, pp. 784–799. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/665048. Edit: [3] http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735605050650 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735605050650
- vbuwivbiu 8y agoi despise ambient music
- anon7429 8y agoHeavy doses of atomoxetine, clonidine, mirtazapine and procrastination. WFM.
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- escherplex 8y agoTo translate: alleviate ADHD > reduce BP + alleviate ADHD > antidepressant > but there's always tomorrow > sounds good to me :) But did you find the mirtazapine really does counteract any side effects of the atomoxetine that crop up?
- anon49124 8y agoI also took terazosin for a couple of weeks due to insane sweating (secondary hyperhydrosis; cold sweating) and goosebumps response (shiver) when not cold. Overall, the effects of atomoxetine (80 mg/day) are slight (IME) but helpful: reducing by an order or two the magnitude of tracks my mind wants to wander in. CBD (10 mg 4x/day) has been the biggest help. Also, I take heavy doses (~200 mg/day ER in the morning) of propranolol. Mirtazapine (60 mg/day at night) Clonidine (0.1 mg/day at night) I would avoid SSRI's at all costs (Maslow's hierarchy of need habits optimization: exercise, sleep, diet, caffeine (which is a mild anticholinergic) elimination, CBT, regular socializing, etc.) because the vestibular and discontinuation side-effects are horrendous and possibly permanently-damaging.
- PankajGhosh 8y agoBelow are two questions that I ask myself, when I need to do a task I do not feel like. My experience has always been that the impedance is higher at only start of the task, and if the answer to any of below two questions is Yes, then the value of outcome would supersede my initial uneasiness. 1. Would the value created by this task reduce over time? In other words, is it better to do this task today than in future? 2. Does the effort required by the task increase (or remain same), if delayed? In other words, is it easier for me to do this task today than in future?
- dtujmer 8y agoThat's a good strategy. What if the answer is no to both questions?
- PankajGhosh 8y agoIn the case, where answer is No to both the questions, I have come to terms with being comfortable with procrastinating on that task. If I cannot convince myself of value added vs effort required today vs in future, it is okay to delay the task. Also, choosing not to do a task now and procrastinate can be a powerful and useful tactic.
- HillaryBriss 8y agoWorthwhile reading, IMHO. Every idea is one that has worked for me at one time or another. I haven't seen them all together in a single article before. I especially like the explanation that taking a break to successfully complete some other straightforward task (e.g. sweeping the floor) creates dopamine which gives rise to more creative thinking which can help you reach a break through on the original task. Well done.
- drawkbox 8y agoCouple tricks on getting started: - Use the 15 minute rule to get started, only agree to do 15-20 minutes of work to see if you are flowing in that project, most of the time once you get started and loaded up the project in your mental space you can easily flow on it. Pomodoro is nice as well, but the 15 minute get started rule has less commitment needed and usually works, or just plan to do at least one tomato and you end up doing many. - Leave a currently solved code part partially done or leave a compile issue on the area you were working on, then wake up the next day, finish that part and you can flow right into other work because the domain is in your mind. - Multiple projects and work on another project during procrastination or a thinking spot of the current project. Have main work projects, side projects, fun projects, some are more fun, more work or just tedious/rote that you can use depending on your productivity or work style of the day. - Motivators and triggers: music (usually a playlist that is used during work to make it more regular), coffee/gum/work food, focus by turning off distractions except for breaks, stand up regularly and walk around when stuck on any issues that need to be done, and visualize shipping. - Creative Open/Focused Closed state: do creative work in the open state, block out time and explore, do must be done work in the closed state, minimize distractions and exploration [1]. - Start the day right, work on something simple or one check in for instance before reddit/HN/news or distractions, sometimes the first thing you do in the morning can influence your whole day, reward yourself with distractions but base yourself in production at least 2 to 1 productivity to fun/distraction. Ultimately be a pro, a pro can start working to a high level even when they don't want to, sometimes you need to jump start or get a rolling start but you can develop a habit to get moving and ship. [1] https://genius.com/John-cleese-lecture-on-creativity-annotated https://genius.com/John-cleese-lecture-on-creativity-annotat...
- fwoty 8y agoGood tips... setting timers really helps me. It's mini-accountability. Start a timer and say "I'll finish this task in 30 minutes". It helps my brain skip the random "new tab twitter.com" behavior.
- draw_down 8y agoI'm terrible at "tricking" myself into doing things. It's like trying to tickle myself, it just doesn't work that way. If I don't want to do something it's simply very difficult to motivate myself to do it. Maybe imagining the repercussions of not doing the thing, if they are sufficiently grave, but that's all I can think of.
- irrational 8y agoAnd here I am reading HN instead of doing the work I don't feel like doing ;-)
- epynonymous 8y agoi think the author mentions divide and conquer (not by name), breaking things down to the smallest scope. it's harder for me to keep track of all my things to do, for work, home, etc, i've actually created a tool to use for this, there's an iphone app if anyone's interested: https://getsdone.xyz https://getsdone.xyz
- whatgoodisaroad 8y agoAlthough I don't think it's an extraordinarily novel concept, something about the framing of "Gumption Traps" [1] in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance resonated with me strongly, and sensitivity to them has helped me get a lot more done. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption_trap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption_trap
- keyle 8y agoI've had great success with a pomodoro timer that forces set breaks, and an actionable todo list for the day.
- rb808 8y agoI have procrastination problems. I have a theory that I haven't heard other people that seems to work for me - its that my brain works too quickly for coding and gets frustrated then moves onto "more interesting distractions". I find I am most productive when I get tired at night, or I'm not feeling well, or I have a few beers. I love coding and getting in flow state but it just seems much coding is too boring a process. Could this be true? Or maybe I'm just a classic procrastinator on HN again.
- WalterSear 8y agoYou are describing attention deficit disorder.
- jobeyonekenobi 8y agoAgreed. I was recently (6 months) diagnosed as an adult with ADHD. The experiences of the parent are in line with mine.
- cowpewter 8y agoYep, just diagnosed a week ago at age 38. If you did well enough in school, and have the inattentive-type ADHD, it's really easy for it to get missed in childhood. If you were smart enough to coast through school despite your procrastination and attention issues, definitely go see a psych for an evaluation.
- rb808 8y agoWow I never considered, maybe I should talk to them.
- WalterSear 8y agoThe Wender-Utah scale for adult ADD is available online, and could give you a firmer indication, though obviously this is something you would want a medical professional to confirm and help you treat.
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- welanes 8y agoTo help 'gamify' getting things done, I recently added the ability to set the timer in Lanes (https://lanes.io https://lanes.io) to sync with any Youtube video. So instead of tidying for 10 minutes, for example, you can tidy for the length of your favorite track - the timer will match the length of the video, the audio will play and the time will be logged. If you have routine tasks this turns out to be a pretty effective way of breezing through them. How it looks: https://gfycat.com/HonoredHatefulIndianelephant https://gfycat.com/HonoredHatefulIndianelephant
- movedx 8y agoWhen it comes to project work, more so in a corporate or team environment, I also like to consider the people involved as a motivating factor: by not doing the work involved, you impact the people around you. Ultimately everything we do, have done, or ever will do is all about people and society. Who are you hurting by not doing the work?
- foobiekr 8y agoOf the suggestions on this list, only the "precrastination" one makes any kind of sense to me. In fact, most of the others are anti-productive for me and I have tried them. When I was young I read a quote that basically said, "you aren't ever going to feel like it." This struck me immediately as true: given any list of tasks, basically, there is always a fraction you won't want to do or which some form of constructive procrastination will prevent you from doing _even if you are otherwise productive_. This realization has been incredibly helpful for me in my career. Later on, years ago but years after I was already pretty senior, I ran into the blog that Robert Hodgin used to have where he made a point that just plotting the first pixel was the hardest part of any of his projects. So .. plot the first pixel, write the first line of code, write the first sentence, do the first set of squats, walk down the driveway, ... forcing these simple first steps make it substantially easier to do the next steps. TL;DR: the most valuable solution to getting things done when you don't feel like it is to _start_.
- jhabdas 8y agoWe always make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time. The more time you have to make a decision the more information you will acquire to make it. Procrastinate and use it to build and balance a healthy anxiety before you start your work. Sharpen that axe until you really need to start cutting and the task will seem significantly easier with the right informational tools to perform it.
- Pxtl 8y agoTake up running. Running is about learning the power of decisions, because it's one long, agonizing decision to better yourself. With every step your body tells you to stop, and it's up to you to choose not to stop. That's what worked for me. I was terrible at procrastination until I took up running. Now I just apply the lesson I learned from running: Every moment is a choice.
- hliyan 8y agoStrangely, the one thing that worked for me doesn't appear to be on this list: The resistance to starting a task is geometrically proportional to the SIZE of the task. So I try to break everything down into tasks that take no more than a few minutes. I wouldn't have tasks like "Write FooBar architecture document", but rather "Write FooBar intro", or "sketch connection diagram on paper" or "copy connection diagram to Visio/Draw.io".
- quentinp 8y agoThe article does mention your trick: > My solution was to approach a project by turning it into as many tiny steps as possible. That way I could get a few really easy wins under my belt. For example, each step would be a task such as "Search for ______ on Google" or "Have a conversation with ______." Crossing things off your to-do list gives your brain a happy little dopamine hit, even if the tasks are tiny—it keeps your motivation up and your excuses down.
- hliyan 8y agoYou're right. I think one of my other tricks failed me: reading paragraph headings, following by the minimum number of sentences per heading required to get its gist.
- FalcorTheDog 8y agoThis is literally the first tip he describes in the article.
- lhh 8y agoWhen I find myself procrastinating, it’s usually because the problem feels to me like some combination of unclear and overwhelming, in the sense that it will take a lot of mental energy to even get started and then I’ll have to maintain focus for a long time after that. What helps me a lot in that case is to break the problem down into simpler pieces. Then the first piece doesn’t seem so bad, and then I’m rolling.
- sytelus 8y agoTLDR; - break task in to tiny steps - allocate time on calendar - buddy up with someone - Talk about it to others - just relax and something else you want This article is not deep study but just someone’s opinion.
- punnerud 8y ago“procrastination is a bad thing. It comes from a fear of getting started“ Is it really from fear? I believe it comes from a basic human need for constant changes, or often called ‘news value’.
- jen729w 8y agoI see it as a fear for sure. “I can’t do this thing”, “if I do this thing it won’t be any good anyway”, that sort of thing.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoI feel sources of procrastination need to be discussed somewhat separately. I know a fear like yours is frequently reported to be one. But myself, I don't have such fear for the tasks I procrastinate the most on. Hell, I'm usually overconfident about doing them (that's why I agreed to do them in the first place). For me it's closer to "news value", but it really boils down to sudden anxiety attacks and desperate need to do something else, anything else whenever I face a task I actually should be doing. So, different people, different flavours of procrastination.
- punnerud 8y agoI feel the same way. By being overconfident I mean that I am sure I can plan every aspect in my head, and the work boils down to ‘boring todo’. When I first start I find new ascpects that I believe give me the necessary news-value/flow to continue the task, as long as there is such a value when you work on it.. basic routine work is the worst and I often find my self want to automate the task, even if it is faster to do it manually.
- kthejoker2 8y agoThis is me, this is the article that resonates with me https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.h...
- dboreham 8y ago
- fersho311 8y agoI've seen these tips before, but unlike most people here I've tried them without any long term success. Breaking tasks down and gamification sounds beautiful in theory, but usually I don't have the discipline to do that. In case someone else feels the same way, what worked for me is to talk to my coworkers. I usually go out for coffee or long walks and let my mind wander. I'd talk about work, politics, our families, and usually the conversation wanders back to work and what we are doing. Many scenarios usually come up from those talks. Sometimes I'll find what my coworkers working on pretty interesting and get involved (which sometimes makes coming back to my work easier). Sometimes I ended up talking about my work (explaining my problems to others helps me clarify and solidify what I needed to do). Sometimes I realize that another team has already done the work and all I have to do is ask them for a library. Once I realize that my work was meaningless and purely a political play and I left the company soon after. So going out for long walks and just talking with different people in my company has worked out really well for me.
- manmal 8y agoSometimes, brain function is actually to blame for procrastination, and not attitude or perception of the work before you. When I‘d slept too little, or am going through caffeine withdrawal, my procrastination goes through the roof. I‘d just rather sleep than do anything productive then. My anti-procrastination toolkit is: - Like you said, going for a walk (activates beneficial genes, helps circadian rhythm) - Stop caffeine as soon and often as you can. Sometimes situations force me to use a pick-me-up, but I try and stop the day after. - Go to bed early (10PM ideally) - Vitamin D, Magnesium, etc. also check out near infrared therapy to improve mitochondrial function - Moderate exercise (overtraining has a bad net effect on nearly everything, so stop if working out makes you feel worse; if you have a heart rate variability monitor, you can use that as a metric for overtraining) - Small talk (works for me to „wake the brain up“) But really, 90% of the time I just have to sleep more. The others are just hacks to keep me going if I can’t get enough sleep (sometimes not easy with 2 kids).
- eponeponepon 8y ago> 90% of the time I just have to sleep more I don't know about a lot of the rest of your post, but this bit is key. If you aren't getting enough sleep, nothing will help. The legends of politicians and executives who sleep 3 hours a day are either outliers for whom 3 hours genuinely is enough, or speed-freaks, or often enough both.
- cr4zy 8y agoWhat works best for me is to meditate during the inevitable downtimes - compiling, training, uploading, downloading... Find beauty in the scrolling logs. Take a look outside. Before you know it, you'll be excited about the next important thing you can do while waiting on the first. Also makes for a much happier work day!
- ericd 8y agoSomething I've found very helpful at breaking the habit of going to HN/Reddit/whatever when I start waiting for something to finish running - set up a cronjob that checks what time it is, and if it's within working hours, it adds a bunch of sites to my hosts file, pointed to a server I control. It also grabs my current todo text file, and formats/pastes that into the index page of that server. The page also does some light shaming. Outside of work hours, it removes those host file items automatically. It helps in those cases where you reflexively visit a time waster without really meaning to.
- dzek69 8y agoHaving todo on replaced website is a great idea, thanks!
- nstart 8y agoI'm going to share my tip which has worked excellently for me in the past few months (this is after years of iterating to find a solution). I have a note book, and I write timestamped logs into it as I go along. The emotions I feel when I take some extra time to do a tiny task because I got distracted by HN or something else is quite strong. I feel like this has had a very positive effect on self accountability. I can't bear to look at a log where it's written: 10:12 - Discovered that a file is missing locally. Which one is it? (extra note of file name) 10:14 - Going to check github to see if the file exists still and if not, when it got removed. 10:50 - (Insert expletive). Got distracted with Twitter. Back now. Checked file. It was removed in the last commit. There are lots of other little elements I've included in my workflow like regular reflections and end of day planning for next day. But I feel like the physical logging activity is the element that actually makes it all work. Happy to share more details on this workflow if anyone is interested. My build just finished so it's back to work before I become embarrassed by my log ;). Edit - I was in a hurry to write this because of a build about to finish. I've got another build going and wanted to add that one other important effect of this process is forcing myself to think of the next step without the burden of keeping the previous contexts in my head. That's all written down so I can always pick up where I left off even in the case of an interruption.
- mackrevinack 8y agothe log of shame. that's a good idea. im going to try this today thanks
- mikekchar 8y agoYeah, this works for me as well. I keep a log in Org mode which is essentially the same thing. When I go back and read my log and say, "What the heck happened in this one hour gap", it makes me think.
- torvy 8y agoThanks for this. I've been giving it a go for a couple of hours now and it's quite useful.
- nefitty 8y agoI presume you don't log when you're in flow. To clarify, you only begin logging your actions when you notice you're procrastinating?
- lihaciudaniel 8y agoFor getting started I recommend this video https://youtu.be/m3ZKduijMk8 https://youtu.be/m3ZKduijMk8.
- heinrichhartman 8y agoMirror: https://archive.is/MVT4y https://archive.is/MVT4y
- mosselman 8y ago"Talk about it to others" may seem intuitive, but apparently there is some study to the contrary: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02336.x http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009... So, as the article suggest, the talking should be with regards to problems you have during a project, not so much your intentions to complete your tasks.
- S7012MY 8y agoIn my opinion this article misses the two most important points: having a clear long term purpose and learning how to be present and love your life.
- mscasts 8y agoMy best tip is to get more sleep. It is way easier to complete stuff and do stuff you don't want to with a well rested mind. When I am sleep deprived, I procrastinate a lot. When I get about 8 hours I don't.
- Hard_Space 8y agoI work remotely, and being allowed by a friendly tech company (for whom I also occasionally do work) to use their offices as a working hub has transformed my procrastination tendencies. The context just takes over: there is nothing else to do there, but work, so I get on with it. It's maybe a different argument than the OP discusses, but I think for a lot of us, it's a related one.
- tobyhinloopen 8y agoHow to procrastinate: Read an article about procrastination
- nkkollaw 8y agoThis is horrible advice. If you have the discipline to do that, you have the discipline to complete the task.
- nilsocket 8y agoThese tricks work sometimes but ultimate solution is to control your brain, through mediation. Then you will be one who is in control, not the other way around.
- shitloadofbooks 8y agoI like Adam Savage's approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnoTrJNAtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnoTrJNAtc which can be summarised as "future me is really happy when past me takes care of their crap." Thinking about what the future will be like when this task is done (and done properly) almost seems to bring some of the gratification/reward into the present.
- nathan_f77 8y ago"Get other people involved" has been really helping me over the last few weeks. I have a new customer who needs a new feature, and they've basically been my temporary co-founder while I'm working on it. I'm a solo founder, so it's been really helpful to listen to their feature requests, and they're helping me with a lot of QA. I didn't really feel a lot of motivation to work on this feature before, because I had many other things to do. But once I started, I really got into it, and now I'm excited about launching it. It should make a huge difference to my company.
- DrNuke 8y agoThis is daily life at work, though... you just divide your job in smaller tasks and keep going one by one up to the nearest milestone.
- 127 8y agoBuild your projects in such a way that the difficulty of diving back in is easy as possible. Nothing enables my procrastination quite as much as not remembering how to get back to working.
- jddj 8y agoSomething which I have found helps me when I'm in one of those motivation funks which last longer than a day and which I can't seem to shake is to spend a bit of time consuming impressive work that other people have done in fields outside of software development. There's something about spending time in an art gallery, a library or even taking a walk around the central business district of a major city checking out the more impressive buildings and absorbing the pace and atmosphere that seems to wake up what I would almost call a competitiveness (in the sense of "shit, all of these people are doing such amazing, focused, long-term and brilliant things. I should get back to work", but truly without any elements of self-pity that might be read into that if I don't spell it out) on top of the other more general inspiration which these things give me. For whatever reason, it seems to be more effective if these works are outside of software development.
- lisper 8y agoOne strategy that has consistently worked for me when there's something I need to do that I really don't want to face: set aside some time to work on it, and then start casually thinking about it before that time arrives while I'm doing something else. That seems to help a lot with "swapping in" the mental state for the task, and when I actually sit down to work I find I'm a lot more productive than if I have not pre-loaded my mental caches this way.
- jmartrican 8y agoOne thing I like to do to motivate myself and get stuff done is mini-hackathons. Its essentially a mixture of setting time aside and gamyfication. Essentially you have a task and you challenge yourself to get a workable solution complete within a short period of time, say 15 min or an hour, or maybe even a day... really depends on the task. Basically a hackathon but for a shorter period of time and maybe smaller predefined task.
- jschulenklopper 8y agoBack in university, I rewarded myself with one attempt at 3-ball juggling after 30 minutes of studying. So, my hackathons were throwathons :-) Worked great, and I learned to juggle within a week. Somewhere else I read that someone did push-ups, squats or planks during breaks. That would be a great tip for me nowadays. Pushathons?
- petercooper 8y agoIt might sound a bit more extreme, but I just think of not having any money, me and my family being thrown out of our house, and my kids thinking I'm a failure. That usually sorts it out.
- stewfortier 8y agoRegarding accountability, I’ve found Focusmate to be indispensable: https://www.focusmate.com https://www.focusmate.com I often enjoy it even more then being accountable to a co-worker because it frees you to be a bit more honest with the challenges you’re facing and how you’re genuinely feeling.
- awkward 8y agoOne thing that I didn't realize until I was in a work environment that prevented it - I need procrastination or I can't get things done. Without multiple irons in the fire - not that there can't be too many - I can't keep myself in the interesting part of work, and if I can't batch administrative stuff the interrupt time dwarfs the actual effect of what I'm doing.
- natvod 8y agoWhat works for me is being able to toggle between a few different projects that requires slightly different skills and tasks. If I get stuck or tired of one, I can toggle to another project and still accomplish something. Something else that works for me is letting go the guilt when I don't feel like something something (that's not urgent or time sensitive). If I'm not in the mood, I take a long break and allow myself to properly enjoy it without the guilt. This usually restores my motivation.
- cowpewter 8y agoIf you have really serious procrastination issues, not only in your work, but in your life in general, if you lose your keys or phone a lot, have trouble keeping up with bills, forget appointments, if you're late to things constantly, zone out at meetings, forget things people say to you almost immediately, concentrate better when either tired or stimulated, have a bad habit of interrupting people cause you'll forget what you wanted to say otherwise, if your house is a constant mess... Do yourself a huge favor and see a psych who specializes in ADHD. You might be undiagnosed, and treatment could make a significant difference in your life. If you were smart enough to coast through schooling as a child, and have the inattentive-type ADHD, it's quite likely your ADHD was missed as a child. It's not something you "grow out of" as an adult. Even if you aren't ready for the psych step yet (it took me years of suspecting I was ADHD before I took that leap), read up on Adult ADHD. If you see yourself in everything you read, see a psych. It's worth it, even just to know you're not "broken" you just have ADHD. Once you know, you can get treatment, and find strategies that work for your brain.
- kennxfl 8y agoADHD is Sometimes a mental construct that people have to try to explain lapses in motivation and general laziness. To be fair, there are legitimate cases but people will do anything to be diagnosed and find a way to hide behind prescriptions blaming ADHD. Seen it happen.
- borkt 8y agoI am this exact way. I've come to the conclusion that I seem to be addicted to stress, and my mind purposefully avoids important tasks until almost no time is left, and then it is so much more easy for my brain to concentrate on the task and I achieve a level of focus that honestly produces much better work than when I've deliberately tried to work on a task in a timely manner. I have no idea what to do about this, and my family would be incredibly dismissive and judgmental if I ever tried to seriously see my doctor about this. Any time I have mentioned the potential for ADD I am scoffed at and called lazy. I am not lazy at all, I actually can't stand being unbusy and will find something to do to always be busy. I just have a huge problem focusing on what I actually should be focusing on until the last minute, and my brain is often somewhere else which causes me to forget where I put things all the time. Yet I am the person people seem to trust most if they need help with a critical decision Does this sound like it could be an issue? I am on Kaiser and I hear they have a TERRIBLE program for psych stuff in general. I hear I would need family to be interviewed or asked if they feel I have issues which, again, they will just say Im lazy and have no problems. Is there a place I can identify a doctor in my area that is either reasonably priced or does not require visits frequently? Even a web based doctor that you visit infrequently?
- JohannesH 8y agoI often find that when I'm tired I'm much more effective and less prone to procrastinate. I've always wondered how to achieve this effect while not messing with my sleep.
- randomsearch 8y agoFAO all procrastinators: read “the Now Habit”.
- vbuwivbiu 8y agoWe have evolved mechanisms that direct attention and make most efficient use of our energy. When the brain turns its attention away from a task don't fight it, go with it. Listen to your intuition and you'll find there's something else that needs attention. Once that's been addressed, the motivation to complete the task at hand will naturally renew. You might think you can simply do what you want when you want, but life's not like that: you can't have what you want when you want it.
- Leigho15_M 8y agoYou could use consequential thinking strategies. In other words, motivate yourself by reminding yourself of the consequences of not taking certain actions. Really imagine the bad things that will happen if you don't take action.