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Procrastination is a signal that you hate what you are supposed to be doing. Don't ignore it.

by adamnemecek 7y ago

flor1s 7y ago
You might hate what you are doing in the short term but love what you will gain from doing that in the long term.
- adamnemecek 7y ago
  Not really. The odds are if hating it now, the odds of you hating it forever are pretty high.
  - idclip 7y ago
    Actually a disturbed ego will hate doing a good thing, and love doing a bad thing. Thats the basis of affective disorders. Is it hate, or is it aversion? The spectrum of emotion isn't a simple thing, and i have seen people change.
- djsumdog 7y ago
  You might like the result (like a clean house) but hate starting the process. That's one possibility. But you could also hate starting (a project for a job you hate) but you keep on doing it, ignoring those feelings, because we all have bills to pay. I think the second one is what you need to be aware of.
temporaryvector 7y ago
Not always true. I frequently procrastinate on things that I actively enjoy doing and want to do. There are times when I want nothing more than to be doing something and I still procrastinate doing it. This applies to things that aren't work or aren't productive just the same, things that take little effort like watching a series or playing a video game. Medication does make it a lot better and I don't procrastinate nearly as much as I used to, but before I started taking it, there were times where I'd lie on the sofa with the remote control next to me and I would just stare at the ceiling thinking about watching that movie I've been wanting to watch and I still couldn't bring myself to do it.
- idclip 7y ago
  Have you considered meditation?
  - temporaryvector 7y ago
    Yes, mediation, mindfulness and several other techniques for controlling emotions were things that we tried with my psychiatrist. Meditation didn't really work for me but mindfulness sure did.
    - djsumdog 7y ago
      Meditation isn't always for everyone: https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/mindful-meditation-is-not-for-everyone/ https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/mindful-meditation-is-n...
      - idclip 7y ago
        I know, but consider psychiatric meds perscribed - its generally very risky to mess with one’s head. Ive 700hours in monasteries under my belt, ive seen the dark side of meditation, aswell as its light. I still say take the risk tho. Mindful is a great tool. It needn't be vipassana. Many People who do vipassana often are at a point where its a last resort before something worse.
    - idclip 7y ago
      Oh yes i did mean mindfulness meditation, i have been to several mindfulness retreats (vipassanas) and used to have ADHD. I find cold showers and a morning/evening mindfulness sit work wonders.
      - temporaryvector 7y ago
        I suppose I should clarify the kind of mindfulness I'm talking about. Basically what I was taught was how to pay attention to what I'm feeling and where those emotions are coming from. This helps a lot with lowering my anxiety and stress levels. Unlike meditation, this isn't something that I stop to do, aside from maybe a brief pause to take a couple of breaths, it's something I do throughout the day when I start feeling bad. Meditation didn't work for me because it implied taking some time out my day to do it, and that would just and either become a way to procrastinate or something that I would procrastinate doing and contribute to my anxiety. That aside, I think there's a lot of confusion about the terms "meditation," "mindful mediation" and "mindfulness" and I'm not sure I know the correct way to use them, but the above is what I mean when I say "mindfulness."
chpmrc 7y ago
That advice ignores the fact that we hate most of the things we should do to be healthy. Should we just give up fitness and healthy eating just because we don't like them (in the short term)?
- adamnemecek 7y ago
  Do you procrastinate On these?
  - read_if_gay_ 7y ago
    An example might be to quit smoking. Anyone who quits will probably procrastinate that for a while. But no matter how much you are going to hate quitting, smoking just isn’t worth it.
    - idclip 7y ago
      Went through that, can confirm.
    - mercora 7y ago
      i do not favor this example either. to quit smoking is long term commitment to not do something anymore. When i am thinking about procrastination i think about tasks you can be done with. Even if you meant procrastinating before starting to quit i do not think it holds up as a good example because there is no way to be done with it and if i stop i restart at the beginning.
  - chpmrc 7y ago
    Who doesn't? If we didn't there wouldn't be a whole industry dedicated to helping you do it.
idclip 7y ago
Not sure why youre being downvoted. There us alot of truth to that. Not all cases, but i believe many
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Because GP phrased it as being absolute. Yeah, perhaps it's true for some. Frankly, those have it easy - there's a clear path to solving the problem: stop doing what you hate, perhaps first resolving the issue that forces you to do the things you hate. For me and many others here, procrastination is completely orthogonal to whether you hate something or not. That complicates things, because you can't just switch tasks, or jobs, to solve the problem or even to recover your mental strength.
ivanhoe 7y ago
Procrastination is a signal that task makes you feel uncomfortable, but that fear of it can be a result of many issues (boredom, laziness, feeling of incompetence, fear of making what seems as a hard decision, fear of people not liking it, fear of finishing as then you have to move to the next step, etc.). Usually it's far more complex than just "I hate doing it", because there's a deeper reason hidden behind that aversion.
- dasil003 7y ago
  And perhaps the most rational reason of all: because last time I was faced with a similar task I procrastinated and it went away on its own.
onion2k 7y ago
The opposite is true for me - when I have a task I know I'm going to enjoy I put it off for ages because I like the anticipation of doing it. I also put off tasks I'm not confident about even if I'll like them because I fear the outcome. Failing makes me depressed. Neither of these are hating the task itself.

Procrastination is a signal that you hate what you are supposed to be doing. Don't ignore it.

flor1s 7y ago

You might hate what you are doing in the short term but love what you will gain from doing that in the long term.

adamnemecek 7y ago
Not really. The odds are if hating it now, the odds of you hating it forever are pretty high.
- idclip 7y ago
  Actually a disturbed ego will hate doing a good thing, and love doing a bad thing. Thats the basis of affective disorders. Is it hate, or is it aversion? The spectrum of emotion isn't a simple thing, and i have seen people change.
djsumdog 7y ago
You might like the result (like a clean house) but hate starting the process. That's one possibility. But you could also hate starting (a project for a job you hate) but you keep on doing it, ignoring those feelings, because we all have bills to pay. I think the second one is what you need to be aware of.

temporaryvector 7y ago

Not always true. I frequently procrastinate on things that I actively enjoy doing and want to do. There are times when I want nothing more than to be doing something and I still procrastinate doing it. This applies to things that aren't work or aren't productive just the same, things that take little effort like watching a series or playing a video game. Medication does make it a lot better and I don't procrastinate nearly as much as I used to, but before I started taking it, there were times where I'd lie on the sofa with the remote control next to me and I would just stare at the ceiling thinking about watching that movie I've been wanting to watch and I still couldn't bring myself to do it.

idclip 7y ago
Have you considered meditation?
- temporaryvector 7y ago
  Yes, mediation, mindfulness and several other techniques for controlling emotions were things that we tried with my psychiatrist. Meditation didn't really work for me but mindfulness sure did.
  - djsumdog 7y ago
    Meditation isn't always for everyone: https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/mindful-meditation-is-not-for-everyone/ https://battlepenguin.com/philosophy/mindful-meditation-is-n...
    - idclip 7y ago
      I know, but consider psychiatric meds perscribed - its generally very risky to mess with one’s head. Ive 700hours in monasteries under my belt, ive seen the dark side of meditation, aswell as its light. I still say take the risk tho. Mindful is a great tool. It needn't be vipassana. Many People who do vipassana often are at a point where its a last resort before something worse.
  - idclip 7y ago
    Oh yes i did mean mindfulness meditation, i have been to several mindfulness retreats (vipassanas) and used to have ADHD. I find cold showers and a morning/evening mindfulness sit work wonders.
    - temporaryvector 7y ago
      I suppose I should clarify the kind of mindfulness I'm talking about. Basically what I was taught was how to pay attention to what I'm feeling and where those emotions are coming from. This helps a lot with lowering my anxiety and stress levels. Unlike meditation, this isn't something that I stop to do, aside from maybe a brief pause to take a couple of breaths, it's something I do throughout the day when I start feeling bad. Meditation didn't work for me because it implied taking some time out my day to do it, and that would just and either become a way to procrastinate or something that I would procrastinate doing and contribute to my anxiety. That aside, I think there's a lot of confusion about the terms "meditation," "mindful mediation" and "mindfulness" and I'm not sure I know the correct way to use them, but the above is what I mean when I say "mindfulness."

chpmrc 7y ago

That advice ignores the fact that we hate most of the things we should do to be healthy. Should we just give up fitness and healthy eating just because we don't like them (in the short term)?

adamnemecek 7y ago
Do you procrastinate On these?
- read_if_gay_ 7y ago
  An example might be to quit smoking. Anyone who quits will probably procrastinate that for a while. But no matter how much you are going to hate quitting, smoking just isn’t worth it.
  - idclip 7y ago
    Went through that, can confirm.
  - mercora 7y ago
    i do not favor this example either. to quit smoking is long term commitment to not do something anymore. When i am thinking about procrastination i think about tasks you can be done with. Even if you meant procrastinating before starting to quit i do not think it holds up as a good example because there is no way to be done with it and if i stop i restart at the beginning.
- chpmrc 7y ago
  Who doesn't? If we didn't there wouldn't be a whole industry dedicated to helping you do it.

idclip 7y ago

Not sure why youre being downvoted. There us alot of truth to that. Not all cases, but i believe many

TeMPOraL 7y ago
Because GP phrased it as being absolute. Yeah, perhaps it's true for some. Frankly, those have it easy - there's a clear path to solving the problem: stop doing what you hate, perhaps first resolving the issue that forces you to do the things you hate. For me and many others here, procrastination is completely orthogonal to whether you hate something or not. That complicates things, because you can't just switch tasks, or jobs, to solve the problem or even to recover your mental strength.

ivanhoe 7y ago

Procrastination is a signal that task makes you feel uncomfortable, but that fear of it can be a result of many issues (boredom, laziness, feeling of incompetence, fear of making what seems as a hard decision, fear of people not liking it, fear of finishing as then you have to move to the next step, etc.). Usually it's far more complex than just "I hate doing it", because there's a deeper reason hidden behind that aversion.

dasil003 7y ago
And perhaps the most rational reason of all: because last time I was faced with a similar task I procrastinated and it went away on its own.

onion2k 7y ago

The opposite is true for me - when I have a task I know I'm going to enjoy I put it off for ages because I like the anticipation of doing it. I also put off tasks I'm not confident about even if I'll like them because I fear the outcome. Failing makes me depressed. Neither of these are hating the task itself.