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No, I don't think it can (completely). If you procrastinate, you lack discipline. No technology can change or give you discipline. You have to work on it and y

No, I don't think it can (completely). If you procrastinate, you lack discipline. No technology can change or give you discipline. You have to work on it and you can't let yourself say no, it's a mindset.

nitrogen 6y ago
Procrastination can be caused by any number of things separate from a lack of discipline. It can be a subconscious signal that we doubt the importance of a task. It can be a signal that we unconsciously know we aren't prepared for a task. Maybe it's a strategy to wait until the last possible moment so we have the best possible information and maybe even find an alternative task that is better. I don't believe "discipline" is a useful concept for everyone. We all have different brains and different circumstances. Some are motivated by discipline and duty, others by novelty and randomness. To an extent most of us can exert our will to build more of one side or the other, but it's much more efficient to exploit our supposed weaknesses at the same time as we build our strengths. I feel like I've seen examples of the "discipline" crowd and let's call it the "gamification" crowd preaching their one true way, so it's clear that both seem to work for some people, and maybe we can all try to apply some of each to solving problems of motivation and procrastination. But speaking for myself, discipline is rarely the tool that works for me, and it's just that after some amount of waiting I suddenly feel ready to take on whatever it was I was delaying. I think that some kind of randomness might actually help if I can summon the discipline to do just one thing if I don't yet know what it is (I haven't read the article yet so I don't know if what they describe is similar to what I've been noodling on the back burner of ideas).
Scarblac 6y ago
Everybody has limited discipline. The trick is to not need discipline. By making work more fun, perhaps. And this sounds like a bit of fun. A better way is to only do what you actually, really want to be doing, but - most of us don't always have that luxury - often we would like to have something done while not really wanting to do - fear of failure, fear of success etc can make us procrastinate even on things we actually want to do.
james_s_tayler 6y ago
Side note: If you chronically procrastinate, and have your whole life, you probably lack dopamine.
- synaesthesisx 6y ago
  Which implies they likely have ADHD (or similar) and require medication, right?
  - james_s_tayler 6y ago
    Or complex multi-level coping strategies. Whatever works.
afarrell 6y ago
> No technology can change or give you discipline. If you don't believe that the shape of technology can change people's behavior.... https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-design-for-programmers/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-des... --------- As someone whose entire profession is meticulously-crafting metaphors to enable organizations to better interpret and act on information, I think discipline itself is a thing you craft. Discipline is a mental techne. You can design what ideas and habits you want to try to plant in your brain. Your mind is a garden of your own to terrace and irrigate, to plant and to graft, to water and weed and repair, -- and yes, to artificially fertilize if needed -- so that whatever the weather, out of your impulses will grow the actions which bear fruit according to what you truly value. Every push-up and pomodoro is weeding the garden.

nitrogen 6y ago

Procrastination can be caused by any number of things separate from a lack of discipline. It can be a subconscious signal that we doubt the importance of a task. It can be a signal that we unconsciously know we aren't prepared for a task. Maybe it's a strategy to wait until the last possible moment so we have the best possible information and maybe even find an alternative task that is better. I don't believe "discipline" is a useful concept for everyone. We all have different brains and different circumstances. Some are motivated by discipline and duty, others by novelty and randomness. To an extent most of us can exert our will to build more of one side or the other, but it's much more efficient to exploit our supposed weaknesses at the same time as we build our strengths. I feel like I've seen examples of the "discipline" crowd and let's call it the "gamification" crowd preaching their one true way, so it's clear that both seem to work for some people, and maybe we can all try to apply some of each to solving problems of motivation and procrastination. But speaking for myself, discipline is rarely the tool that works for me, and it's just that after some amount of waiting I suddenly feel ready to take on whatever it was I was delaying. I think that some kind of randomness might actually help if I can summon the discipline to do just one thing if I don't yet know what it is (I haven't read the article yet so I don't know if what they describe is similar to what I've been noodling on the back burner of ideas).

Scarblac 6y ago

Everybody has limited discipline. The trick is to not need discipline. By making work more fun, perhaps. And this sounds like a bit of fun. A better way is to only do what you actually, really want to be doing, but - most of us don't always have that luxury - often we would like to have something done while not really wanting to do - fear of failure, fear of success etc can make us procrastinate even on things we actually want to do.

james_s_tayler 6y ago

Side note: If you chronically procrastinate, and have your whole life, you probably lack dopamine.

synaesthesisx 6y ago
Which implies they likely have ADHD (or similar) and require medication, right?
- james_s_tayler 6y ago
  Or complex multi-level coping strategies. Whatever works.

afarrell 6y ago

> No technology can change or give you discipline. If you don't believe that the shape of technology can change people's behavior.... https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-design-for-programmers/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/10/24/user-interface-des... --------- As someone whose entire profession is meticulously-crafting metaphors to enable organizations to better interpret and act on information, I think discipline itself is a thing you craft. Discipline is a mental techne. You can design what ideas and habits you want to try to plant in your brain. Your mind is a garden of your own to terrace and irrigate, to plant and to graft, to water and weed and repair, -- and yes, to artificially fertilize if needed -- so that whatever the weather, out of your impulses will grow the actions which bear fruit according to what you truly value. Every push-up and pomodoro is weeding the garden.