9 ms·
> I once read that procrastination is rooted in fear. I think this generally holds true for me. For me as well. It's rooted in fear of failure, fear of the unk
by piva00 5y ago
> I once read that procrastination is rooted in fear. I think this generally holds true for me.
For me as well. It's rooted in fear of failure, fear of the unknown. I notice it quite clearly when I switch jobs or teams, initially when I'm out of my depth with the new domain I'm working in I get almost paralysed with starting something, eventually I started it after guilting myself on not being productive. Then comes a period of back-and-forth procrastination on the task until I get my mental model in place and feel somewhat productive.
Slowly I chip away the unknowns by gaining more expertise and feeling confident and comfortable with new tasks but up to that point I will struggle with: fear of failure, fear of not knowing enough, fear of delivering a subpar solution. There is some kind of prestige fear in there that I haven't yet wrapped my head around, therapy has been helping, in the least to be able to actually notice the pattern and start some coping mechanisms.
> But just starting sooner? Yes, it's that simple but no, it's not that simple.
Exactly my take as well, it follows the same line I share with people trying to lose weight: losing weight is actually pretty simple, it's just not easy at all depending on your habits.
Some simple solutions are just not easy when you consider the human.
- dcminter 5y agoAre you me? :) One other thing that sometimes works is that I will tell myself: Ok, you should start this thing, but you only have to do ${trivial-amount} on it. Then you can do ${more-enticing-thing}. I don't know why this works since obviously I'm fully privy to the subterfuge... but if I can manage that first trivial amount (e.g. when I was writing tech books it would be one paragraph) I would often end up finishing the task (e.g. drafting a whole chapter) as I discover that the thing I fear is illusory. It's all very frustrating. As often as not the thing I'm procrastinating upon is something I actively enjoy once I get going!
- piva00 5y agoNothing is new and we aren't all that unique, haha. The more you described your issue and how you deal with it the more I thought the same "are you me?". Instead of tech writing I try to produce music (still learning, just 3 years in) and I ended up using the same subterfuge: when I avoid opening my DAW to make music I just tell to myself "open it, create a motif with a preset sound you like and save the project", something that wouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes to be done with. After I start with that most of the time I simply keep going. I try to apply the same to work tasks, it's just a little harder to get the initial commitment when I feel very paralysed, every time I do the "just 5 minutes" thing it does work though.