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I'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

I'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 ago
Sometimes, 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.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    One more thing is just as important: Water. Another tip that worked for me is not eating any fast sugars at all.
  - MrP 8y ago
    Or lies.
  - aeonflux 8y ago
    Seriously this. Sleep and hydration. This sounds as trivial and stupid that most of the people will dismiss this advice for this very reason. People often prefer complex solutions which they do not really understand instead.
  - mysterydip 8y ago
    A couple nights ago I tried to force myself to get some coding done ("just a little a day adds up over time"), and woke up to a line of "ssssssssssss" on my screen. I erased it and went straight to bed.
    - hutzlibu 8y ago
      Or you force yourself and get the thing done on your list ... but discovered later that it was just a half baked solution creating all kinds of other problems later. Coding when too tired is really, really not a smart idea.
  - toyg 8y ago
    I can function on 3 hours a day -- if the only thing I have to do is talking and reacting to incoming stimuli. Which is precisely what high-flying politicians and execs do: talk, talk, talk, with some occasional reasoning thrown in. They don't have to break down complex problems or create complex artefacts, there are aides doing it for them. They just go through briefing after briefing and react to what is thrown at them. Actual creative workers and engineers require a different set of brain functionality, which requires deeper concentration, and hence need more sleep.
Nition 8y ago
A few tips from my personal experience; may not necessarily work for anyone else: - As the other reply here says, getting enough sleep seems to make a massive difference. It's easy to say "I haven't got enough done on this today, I'll stay up late and just do a bit more..." and ending up in a cycle of being tired and not working enough where you really just needed a good rest. - The article mentions the 10 minute timer thing. I've done a different timer thing, where I start a timer and tell myself I have to stop the timer any time I stop working. If I starting reading Hacker News or something, I have to pause the timer, and the pain of having my work minutes conspicuously not counting up as real time marches on is significant. The fact that you have to go and manually stop the timer when you stop working is also a mental barrier that gives you a chance to think rationally about whether you should be stopping. Unfortunately it's also easy to just forget to stop or restart it. - The article and many like it talk about all these ways to "trick" your brain. Do x and y to "get that dopamine hit." Another comment here starts "You can't do a thing you don't feel like doing." But you're capable of thinking rationally. Sure it's easy to get into these habits of procrastination where you just naturally start getting away from work. But it's also possible to take a mental step back and just say NO, I'm in control of my own actions, and I'm going to work on this thing. And then just do it. Feels really bad when you're doing the work and you really want to be doing something else. Feels really good when you get the work done.
- jschulenklopper 8y ago
  > I've done a different timer thing, where I start a timer and tell myself I have to stop the timer any time I stop working. This is a great trick... also informing yourself honestly how many 'productive' hours you had at the end of a day. With all kinds of interruptions (many of those self-inflicted) some days the timer registered less than 3 hours when I was studying in university. That realization prompted me to stop studying at home, and travel to the university library daily. There my pattern was similar to 50 minute periods of work (before Pomodoros were a thing) followed by 10 minute breaks. After that, I easily clocked 6 hours of real work daily.
agumonkey 8y ago
I did try to game things, analyse them, find approaches etc etc... I went nowhere, only deeper into paralysis. These days I have a simpler trick: stop thinking, do <it>, don't stop until it's done (avoid multitasking, unless you're already into flow or you sense high motivation). welcome to adulthood.
- matwood 8y ago
  Well said. There is no game, it's simply doing. How is any journey started? By taking a step. I think sometimes peoples intelligence works against them. A deep analysis of procrastination is itself procrastination. The fact that someone recognizes they are procrastinating is 90% of the way there to stopping. Next, they just need to step. Eventually, taking a step becomes habit.
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    I have no real way to convey how I feel about this topic. All I know is that I tried so many side tricks.. but at one point the only thing that felt good, outside of ideology or anything, just good, is the stopping of overthinking, the pleasure to actually doing something instead of the stress of idle, and the satisfaction of finishing it. For years these weren't clear emotions, so trying to think seemed a better idea.
    - matwood 8y ago
      > the pleasure to actually doing something instead of the stress of idle, and the satisfaction of finishing it This is great. Focus on the after feeling, and then work to get there as quickly as possible. What I found is that feeling of procrastination caused way more stress than just doing. Of course it's hard to see this in the moment, and requires discipline to get going. But after, it's a great feeling to crush through all these things that would otherwise drag on for a long period, and now enjoy my free time.
      - agumonkey 8y ago
        There's also a notion of uselesness that changes, for a while you'd spend time hesitating between choices and then you'd just pick one, throw out the rest.
wsy 8y ago
I totally agree about talking to co-workers. Another tip in the same direction which helps me: I try to create collaboration setting so that I don't work alone on a task I don't like. For example, I tell my work mate "I need to finish this document, do you have time tomorrow afternoon to read it and give me feedback?". That creates a social obligation to get the task done.
dsco 8y ago
The thing that worked for me is to have a personal mission statement, which goes beyond the project and company I’m working for. Currently it’s the idea of digitalization as a greater good, which in turn propells humanity into a more well-connected and globalized state. So I just take on jobs that align with that personal mission statement. Then everything from doing mundane tasks to strategic work actually makes sense, and are easier to do.
rexpop 8y ago
Is it counter-intuitive to think that people are much more productive when they are happy, having arrived at the work through their own initiative, with their own inspiration, and in their own time?
baxtr 8y ago
Great story. So basically you’re saying your gut outsmarted you because it knew it wouldn’t be worth it...
Woberto 8y ago
I'm not sure if you read the entire article, but two of the tips mentioned are talking to coworkers, and taking breaks like walking around. I think it would've been nice if you gave credit to the article for mentioning tips that have worked for you, instead of making it seem like the article didn't provide these tips. Some people might read your comment and think the article only discusses gamification.

manmal 8y ago

Sometimes, 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.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  One more thing is just as important: Water. Another tip that worked for me is not eating any fast sugars at all.
- MrP 8y ago
  Or lies.
- aeonflux 8y ago
  Seriously this. Sleep and hydration. This sounds as trivial and stupid that most of the people will dismiss this advice for this very reason. People often prefer complex solutions which they do not really understand instead.
- mysterydip 8y ago
  A couple nights ago I tried to force myself to get some coding done ("just a little a day adds up over time"), and woke up to a line of "ssssssssssss" on my screen. I erased it and went straight to bed.
  - hutzlibu 8y ago
    Or you force yourself and get the thing done on your list ... but discovered later that it was just a half baked solution creating all kinds of other problems later. Coding when too tired is really, really not a smart idea.
- toyg 8y ago
  I can function on 3 hours a day -- if the only thing I have to do is talking and reacting to incoming stimuli. Which is precisely what high-flying politicians and execs do: talk, talk, talk, with some occasional reasoning thrown in. They don't have to break down complex problems or create complex artefacts, there are aides doing it for them. They just go through briefing after briefing and react to what is thrown at them. Actual creative workers and engineers require a different set of brain functionality, which requires deeper concentration, and hence need more sleep.

Nition 8y ago

A few tips from my personal experience; may not necessarily work for anyone else: - As the other reply here says, getting enough sleep seems to make a massive difference. It's easy to say "I haven't got enough done on this today, I'll stay up late and just do a bit more..." and ending up in a cycle of being tired and not working enough where you really just needed a good rest. - The article mentions the 10 minute timer thing. I've done a different timer thing, where I start a timer and tell myself I have to stop the timer any time I stop working. If I starting reading Hacker News or something, I have to pause the timer, and the pain of having my work minutes conspicuously not counting up as real time marches on is significant. The fact that you have to go and manually stop the timer when you stop working is also a mental barrier that gives you a chance to think rationally about whether you should be stopping. Unfortunately it's also easy to just forget to stop or restart it. - The article and many like it talk about all these ways to "trick" your brain. Do x and y to "get that dopamine hit." Another comment here starts "You can't do a thing you don't feel like doing." But you're capable of thinking rationally. Sure it's easy to get into these habits of procrastination where you just naturally start getting away from work. But it's also possible to take a mental step back and just say NO, I'm in control of my own actions, and I'm going to work on this thing. And then just do it. Feels really bad when you're doing the work and you really want to be doing something else. Feels really good when you get the work done.

jschulenklopper 8y ago
> I've done a different timer thing, where I start a timer and tell myself I have to stop the timer any time I stop working. This is a great trick... also informing yourself honestly how many 'productive' hours you had at the end of a day. With all kinds of interruptions (many of those self-inflicted) some days the timer registered less than 3 hours when I was studying in university. That realization prompted me to stop studying at home, and travel to the university library daily. There my pattern was similar to 50 minute periods of work (before Pomodoros were a thing) followed by 10 minute breaks. After that, I easily clocked 6 hours of real work daily.

agumonkey 8y ago

I did try to game things, analyse them, find approaches etc etc... I went nowhere, only deeper into paralysis. These days I have a simpler trick: stop thinking, do <it>, don't stop until it's done (avoid multitasking, unless you're already into flow or you sense high motivation). welcome to adulthood.

matwood 8y ago
Well said. There is no game, it's simply doing. How is any journey started? By taking a step. I think sometimes peoples intelligence works against them. A deep analysis of procrastination is itself procrastination. The fact that someone recognizes they are procrastinating is 90% of the way there to stopping. Next, they just need to step. Eventually, taking a step becomes habit.
- agumonkey 8y ago
  I have no real way to convey how I feel about this topic. All I know is that I tried so many side tricks.. but at one point the only thing that felt good, outside of ideology or anything, just good, is the stopping of overthinking, the pleasure to actually doing something instead of the stress of idle, and the satisfaction of finishing it. For years these weren't clear emotions, so trying to think seemed a better idea.
  - matwood 8y ago
    > the pleasure to actually doing something instead of the stress of idle, and the satisfaction of finishing it This is great. Focus on the after feeling, and then work to get there as quickly as possible. What I found is that feeling of procrastination caused way more stress than just doing. Of course it's hard to see this in the moment, and requires discipline to get going. But after, it's a great feeling to crush through all these things that would otherwise drag on for a long period, and now enjoy my free time.
    - agumonkey 8y ago
      There's also a notion of uselesness that changes, for a while you'd spend time hesitating between choices and then you'd just pick one, throw out the rest.

wsy 8y ago

I totally agree about talking to co-workers. Another tip in the same direction which helps me: I try to create collaboration setting so that I don't work alone on a task I don't like. For example, I tell my work mate "I need to finish this document, do you have time tomorrow afternoon to read it and give me feedback?". That creates a social obligation to get the task done.

dsco 8y ago

The thing that worked for me is to have a personal mission statement, which goes beyond the project and company I’m working for. Currently it’s the idea of digitalization as a greater good, which in turn propells humanity into a more well-connected and globalized state. So I just take on jobs that align with that personal mission statement. Then everything from doing mundane tasks to strategic work actually makes sense, and are easier to do.

rexpop 8y ago

Is it counter-intuitive to think that people are much more productive when they are happy, having arrived at the work through their own initiative, with their own inspiration, and in their own time?

baxtr 8y ago

Great story. So basically you’re saying your gut outsmarted you because it knew it wouldn’t be worth it...

Woberto 8y ago

I'm not sure if you read the entire article, but two of the tips mentioned are talking to coworkers, and taking breaks like walking around. I think it would've been nice if you gave credit to the article for mentioning tips that have worked for you, instead of making it seem like the article didn't provide these tips. Some people might read your comment and think the article only discusses gamification.