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What do you mean when you’re talking about learning deeply about the psychological mechanisms of procrastination? Do you have any links to start with that? It’s

What do you mean when you’re talking about learning deeply about the psychological mechanisms of procrastination? Do you have any links to start with that? It’s something I’ve struggled with my entire life, and if there’s something I can do to learn more about it and be able to overcome it over time I’d love that.

chrisweekly 7y ago
I struggle w this too. No good links to share but IME it's primarily emotional not logical. It helps if you can find some spark of enthusiasm for a specific tiny single step, because having started makes it possible to get into flowstate and/or discover other potential hooks or (re)entry points for the next time. If genuinely "stuck", try stepping away from it, going for a walk, and considering the simplest thing that could possibly work; ok to start there and refactor later. Making plans? Think big. Making progress? Think small. Also, standard self-care stuff (sleep, exercise, meditation) is critical.
hoorayimhelping 7y ago
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) helps tremendously because the whole schtick of CBT: 1. become aware of a feeling happening (in this case procrastination). By becoming aware of it happening, you can consciously overcome it ("hey I've been looking at HN for 35 minutes, I should get back to work") 2. start understanding the conditions which exist which cause this emotion to happen ("I notice I always procrastinate when it comes time to update my react-redux actions and reducers. It takes so long and is so tedious, I'd rather watch a youtube video") 3. start working on the conditions which cause you to procrastinate - start to understand what it is about modifying react-redux that sucks. Is it inherent and something you're just going to have to grind through? Is there a process you can change to make the work easier? Those three bullet points are a very high level overview of something a therapist or coach will work with you for months on. But that is the general flow: identify a feeling -> identify the root cause of the feeling -> change the root cause, or become aware of and okay with the feeling happening

chrisweekly 7y ago

I struggle w this too. No good links to share but IME it's primarily emotional not logical. It helps if you can find some spark of enthusiasm for a specific tiny single step, because having started makes it possible to get into flowstate and/or discover other potential hooks or (re)entry points for the next time. If genuinely "stuck", try stepping away from it, going for a walk, and considering the simplest thing that could possibly work; ok to start there and refactor later. Making plans? Think big. Making progress? Think small. Also, standard self-care stuff (sleep, exercise, meditation) is critical.

hoorayimhelping 7y ago

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) helps tremendously because the whole schtick of CBT: 1. become aware of a feeling happening (in this case procrastination). By becoming aware of it happening, you can consciously overcome it ("hey I've been looking at HN for 35 minutes, I should get back to work") 2. start understanding the conditions which exist which cause this emotion to happen ("I notice I always procrastinate when it comes time to update my react-redux actions and reducers. It takes so long and is so tedious, I'd rather watch a youtube video") 3. start working on the conditions which cause you to procrastinate - start to understand what it is about modifying react-redux that sucks. Is it inherent and something you're just going to have to grind through? Is there a process you can change to make the work easier? Those three bullet points are a very high level overview of something a therapist or coach will work with you for months on. But that is the general flow: identify a feeling -> identify the root cause of the feeling -> change the root cause, or become aware of and okay with the feeling happening