4 ms·

And all this time I just thought I was lazy. Actually, this article made think about what the relationship is between being lazy and being a procrastinator. O

And all this time I just thought I was lazy. Actually, this article made think about what the relationship is between being lazy and being a procrastinator. Once I get going I enjoy working and it feels so good to get things done. Still, I have the hardest time getting started. So what are the best methods to get going? It seems avoiding HN may be one of them.

michaeldwp 16y ago
I find that knowing what to do next helps. Also, I try to make a habit of getting to work when I first turn on the computer (rather than going to Hacker News and whatnot) in the morning. This helps me get some momentum, which helps keep the work going throughout the day. I can still get work done without the initial early morning momentum, but I get much more done by focusing on work first thing. For "what to do next," I keep a task list. I've been using "The Hit List" on Mac and ToDoList (by AbstractSpoon) while in Windows. I find that part of the trouble with "getting started" is not knowing what to do next sometimes. So keeping a task list is quite helpful, in my opinion. The other thing is, setting up timeboxes and being resolved to work diligently during each timebox. I guess you can try the Pomodoro technique -- just remember that you can adjust the timings to whatever work best for you. I personally prefer the longer timeboxes (1.5-2 hours each).
- trampsymphony 16y ago
  This one small idea completely changed my life a few years ago. I always keep a list containing my next actions. If I find myself procrastinating, I don't even have to think, I just glance at the list and do whatever is on top.
keeptrying 16y ago
A really easy way is to tell yourself that you'll write only one line of code. Go ahead and do that. Or that you'll do just one pushup or only one line of your blog... It works wonders.
- tomjen3 16y ago
  My mind just tells me "one line of code doesn't matter, so you can skip it", which gets me nowhere.
  - jcapote 16y ago
    Learn a more expressive language! ;)
    - eru 16y ago
      Or just dispense with newlines.
- shadowpwner 16y ago
  <?
- tomerico 16y ago
  I've just tried it. Even though I was completely conscious that I'm writing this line to break procrastination, it worked! I'm very surprised.
  - keeptrying 16y ago
    I have a feeling that procrastination is very personal thing - ie different for different people. For some reason this method works for some programmers. But only for programming tasks. I'd like to believe that this is because it's something we love to do inherently but we fear the "setup costs" involved in actually doing the task.
- danohuiginn 16y ago
  for me, the key in this is to mean it. i.e. to really let yourself stop after the first line if you want to. 90% of the time you'll do much more anyway, but it doesn't work unless you allow yourself to give up after 5 minutes the other 10%.
  - 16y ago
Splines 16y ago
Isn't there a procrastination option for your login in HN? I'm not sure what it does, though. It'd be neat if you could create an account on HN that only allowed you to see the top 20 stories for yesterday and the associated comments, and that's it. If you wanted the normal view, you'd need to log out, and type in your normal account name + password. Thus, you get a small break from work, but the site limitations prevent you from wasting too much time. The pain of logging in/out prevents you from circumventing it (I mean, you could log in/out, but hopefully you don't for your own good). IMO, putting sites into your hosts file is too draconian - when the mind starts to wander, it'll want to find a place to roost. If you deny it even a tiny perch (like a hobbled HN), it'll flitter to other, unprotected pastures (like slashdot or reddit).
- pella 16y ago
  >the top 20 stories for yesterday ... you can use : http://hckrnews.com/ http://hckrnews.com/ and check "top 20%"
mtoledo 16y ago
I think the best way to get started is having a habits calendar' aka seinfield's "don't break the chain". You track something like "work on this idea/project 30min everyday", and multiple times you'll try to do it quickly to 'get rid of the task' as quickly as possible. As you'll notice multiple times though, once you get started, you'll feel like going way past the 30min mark. Also, not having the 'responsibility' of working more than 30min will usually make the rest of the time working feel like less of a grind and more pleasurable.
- scorchin 16y ago
  I'd recommend checking out http://streak.ly/ http://streak.ly/ for this. It's another webapp from the folks from http://forrst.com/ http://forrst.com/
pier0 16y ago
Another is avoid reading books/articles about time management techniques. The first 4-5 chapters of Eat That Frog explain exactly what everyone needs to know. Applying it may be another story though.
scorchin 16y ago
At a micro-level, you can reduce the time you spend on HN by blocking it for periods of time. pg has added a noprocast option in your profile which you can turn on. It's set by the maxvisit and minaway fields (not sure about naming here, might need to adjust this in 20mins). I've got mine set to allow 10mins on the site, with a 20mins block. This fits my pomodoro work timing.

michaeldwp 16y ago

I find that knowing what to do next helps. Also, I try to make a habit of getting to work when I first turn on the computer (rather than going to Hacker News and whatnot) in the morning. This helps me get some momentum, which helps keep the work going throughout the day. I can still get work done without the initial early morning momentum, but I get much more done by focusing on work first thing. For "what to do next," I keep a task list. I've been using "The Hit List" on Mac and ToDoList (by AbstractSpoon) while in Windows. I find that part of the trouble with "getting started" is not knowing what to do next sometimes. So keeping a task list is quite helpful, in my opinion. The other thing is, setting up timeboxes and being resolved to work diligently during each timebox. I guess you can try the Pomodoro technique -- just remember that you can adjust the timings to whatever work best for you. I personally prefer the longer timeboxes (1.5-2 hours each).

trampsymphony 16y ago
This one small idea completely changed my life a few years ago. I always keep a list containing my next actions. If I find myself procrastinating, I don't even have to think, I just glance at the list and do whatever is on top.

keeptrying 16y ago

A really easy way is to tell yourself that you'll write only one line of code. Go ahead and do that. Or that you'll do just one pushup or only one line of your blog... It works wonders.

tomjen3 16y ago
My mind just tells me "one line of code doesn't matter, so you can skip it", which gets me nowhere.
- jcapote 16y ago
  Learn a more expressive language! ;)
  - eru 16y ago
    Or just dispense with newlines.
shadowpwner 16y ago
<?
tomerico 16y ago
I've just tried it. Even though I was completely conscious that I'm writing this line to break procrastination, it worked! I'm very surprised.
- keeptrying 16y ago
  I have a feeling that procrastination is very personal thing - ie different for different people. For some reason this method works for some programmers. But only for programming tasks. I'd like to believe that this is because it's something we love to do inherently but we fear the "setup costs" involved in actually doing the task.
danohuiginn 16y ago
for me, the key in this is to mean it. i.e. to really let yourself stop after the first line if you want to. 90% of the time you'll do much more anyway, but it doesn't work unless you allow yourself to give up after 5 minutes the other 10%.
- 16y ago

Splines 16y ago

Isn't there a procrastination option for your login in HN? I'm not sure what it does, though. It'd be neat if you could create an account on HN that only allowed you to see the top 20 stories for yesterday and the associated comments, and that's it. If you wanted the normal view, you'd need to log out, and type in your normal account name + password. Thus, you get a small break from work, but the site limitations prevent you from wasting too much time. The pain of logging in/out prevents you from circumventing it (I mean, you could log in/out, but hopefully you don't for your own good). IMO, putting sites into your hosts file is too draconian - when the mind starts to wander, it'll want to find a place to roost. If you deny it even a tiny perch (like a hobbled HN), it'll flitter to other, unprotected pastures (like slashdot or reddit).

pella 16y ago
>the top 20 stories for yesterday ... you can use : http://hckrnews.com/ http://hckrnews.com/ and check "top 20%"

mtoledo 16y ago

I think the best way to get started is having a habits calendar' aka seinfield's "don't break the chain". You track something like "work on this idea/project 30min everyday", and multiple times you'll try to do it quickly to 'get rid of the task' as quickly as possible. As you'll notice multiple times though, once you get started, you'll feel like going way past the 30min mark. Also, not having the 'responsibility' of working more than 30min will usually make the rest of the time working feel like less of a grind and more pleasurable.

scorchin 16y ago
I'd recommend checking out http://streak.ly/ http://streak.ly/ for this. It's another webapp from the folks from http://forrst.com/ http://forrst.com/

pier0 16y ago

Another is avoid reading books/articles about time management techniques. The first 4-5 chapters of Eat That Frog explain exactly what everyone needs to know. Applying it may be another story though.

scorchin 16y ago

At a micro-level, you can reduce the time you spend on HN by blocking it for periods of time. pg has added a noprocast option in your profile which you can turn on. It's set by the maxvisit and minaway fields (not sure about naming here, might need to adjust this in 20mins). I've got mine set to allow 10mins on the site, with a 20mins block. This fits my pomodoro work timing.