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I read the whole thing, but knew from the get go that these tricks wouldn't work on me. Mostly because I know the source of my procrastination and it boils dow

• irishloop 6y ago
  If the system is working for you...
• grecy 6y ago
  > I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last minute. Wow, that really resonated with me. I think sometimes I delay stuff as much as possible just to see if I'm up to the challenge of getting it done.. like I want to make it harder because it's too easy.
  • Tade0 6y ago
    I usually don't do that intentionally(or do I?), but when it eventually does happen I feel, I don't know, alive? I guess this is how thrill seekers must feel like.
• tmaly 6y ago
  Parkinson's law?
  • Tade0 6y ago
    Pretty much. And hilariously enough no IT department manager ever picked up on the lesson from it, so wherever and whenever work appears to stall, new people are added in the hope that this move would make things move faster - as if that was ever effective.
• grawprog 6y ago
  >I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last minute. I tend to do this a lot and so far it's managed to work for things that actually have deadlines, though it always ends up being more stressful. I find though, with things that don't have deadlines it kind of falls apart and last minute just becomes never happens.
  • mjayhn 6y ago
    Doing what they said (and I'm good at it) just stresses me out to the point that I don't even sleep the night before. I'm sure it's terrible for my performance the next day of said stressful thing, too. It also causes my work to back up which leads to even more stress. I forgot where I read it but there was something about ADD people getting so used to living in constant anxiety that they need it to thrive. I've been trying really hard to live with less anxiety and knocking my work out early has really helped.
    • grawprog 6y ago
      Yeah I find it's usually the stress itself that finally pushed me to actually do that last minute rush to actually do the thing. Which probably isn't the healthiest way to go about completing tasks in the end and doesn't necessarily lead to the best quality work.
  • mroche 6y ago
    > I find though, with things that don't have deadlines it kind of falls apart and last minute just becomes never happens. This is pretty much my situation as well. If a task has no deadline, it is not likely to be completed unless absolutely necessary (such as chores). Work tasks and such (assuming they have deadlines) I can be much better about completing not at the last minute, as long as the deadline is relatively close to the assignment date. My personal projects suffer because I get distracted super easily (like going on HN, Reddit, etc) rather than doing the work. I do have moments of spontaneity where I decide "this is a good thing to do", but I'm not sure if that's motivation or procrastination of other task... Unless it was something school related. For some reason no matter what class or what task, that was going to be completed last minute unless it was a group project. I'm much happier being out of that environment.
• XCSme 6y ago
  Same, I usually procrastinate a day or two, and then binge-work out of guilt for 1-2 days. I manage to get a lot done this way while avoiding the burn-out.
• moreaccountspls 6y ago
  That sounds like a rationalization. If there was a gift box sitting on your counter that when opened would make all of your wildest dream come true, would you procrastinate opening it? Again, all you would have to do is take 10 seconds to open it.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• pbrb 6y ago
  This hits really close to home. It's not that I enjoy the thrill... it's that I know I can do it, so that's what I do. A few years ago I had an incredible run of insane productivity in grad school and at a startup afterwards, but I think it's solely because I had so much to do that I was genuinely interested in that I was crushing through work without it being a last minute delivery (though, there were still a lot of those). Now, I'm so bored with work that I can't even begin to start on anything. Next thing I know it's 11pm and I said I would deliver something the next day and I bang it out, or at minimum come up with a good cover / projection of making major progress. It's really starting to eat at me, and isn't sustainable. This is in no way COVID related, it's been going on for the past 2 years. I was actually planning on hitting the reset button and taking a few months off of work, but now I can't do that. I think the key at this point might be actually getting meds for my ADHD.
  • notenoughhorses 6y ago
    I think I’ve got some similar experience. I always had underlying focus issues, but managed to excel at school and first job because I really cared. First work experiences led me to become pretty cynical about office life, and I find that my motivation ultimately gets sapped because I don’t think what I do is that important. I’ve been soul searching for months about this, including trying a different workplace, etc. The thing is, I know any job can be meaningful—finding meaning in it is something I need to work on. But I’ve also been searching for a path that will better suit my values. Some conclusions: I decided to go back to school, and I’m really good at focusing on school work now, it is much easier to do than making myself work. I wonder if the school work is more motivating because there is the chance for graded feedback though. At work, you never get an A, just “good enough” or “not good enough” plus you don’t have the feeling of working towards a clear goal of the degree. I wonder if your experience has some things in common with mine—maybe grad school was easier to focus on goal and progress, and start up you were fresh to work and excited. I ultimately think I have to find some way to feel that what I do is important to the world. That by working on it, I’m creating something important. The question is how to get to that feeling!
    • easymodex 6y ago
• dboreham 6y ago
  Why the gazelle jumps while being chased by the lion.