3 ms·

> You think "if I don't force myself, I won't do it." Sometimes this is true, at least for any meaningful timescale. For example, I figured that I'd finish a

> You think "if I don't force myself, I won't do it." Sometimes this is true, at least for any meaningful timescale. For example, I figured that I'd finish a showcase of my past projects on my homepage, yet the task itself just looms over me - needing to go through years of notes, figure out what even can get disclosed and then actually finishing the functionality for displaying them in my site. Since I haven't forced myself to do it, that task has now not been finished for about 8 months. The most progress I made was fixing some technical debt of the site itself, which still doesn't really solve the actual problem that I should have been solving, even when doing so is like pulling teeth. Ergo, if you want results, sometimes you need discipline, instead of counting on fickle motivation.

zozbot234 4y ago
> For example, I figured that I'd finish a showcase of my past projects on my homepage, yet the task itself just looms over me - needing to go through years of notes, figure out what even can get disclosed and then actually finishing the functionality for displaying them in my site. A common solution to a "looming" task is to break it into subtasks. Figure out what's the smallest unit of this work that you can complete successfully, and just get at it. The goal is to attack the problem gradually and reduce the feeling of discomfort around it over time.
- KronisLV 4y ago
  > A common solution to a "looming" task is to break it into subtasks. Definitely, which is also why techniques like Pomodoro are so useful - also making you approach working in smaller increments, so its less intimidating. Unless you end up taking pleasure in padding your backlog instead of actually solving problems, like what almost happened to me before I purged some of it and actually got around to doing things instead of planning. Still need to finish the homepage, though.
achenet 4y ago
Or you could try the strategy recommended in the article - trick yourself into wanting to do it. Wouldn't going through years of notes be fun? Instead of dreading it, shouldn't you be eagerly anticipating the walk down memory lane that this showcase will entail?

zozbot234 4y ago

> For example, I figured that I'd finish a showcase of my past projects on my homepage, yet the task itself just looms over me - needing to go through years of notes, figure out what even can get disclosed and then actually finishing the functionality for displaying them in my site. A common solution to a "looming" task is to break it into subtasks. Figure out what's the smallest unit of this work that you can complete successfully, and just get at it. The goal is to attack the problem gradually and reduce the feeling of discomfort around it over time.

KronisLV 4y ago
> A common solution to a "looming" task is to break it into subtasks. Definitely, which is also why techniques like Pomodoro are so useful - also making you approach working in smaller increments, so its less intimidating. Unless you end up taking pleasure in padding your backlog instead of actually solving problems, like what almost happened to me before I purged some of it and actually got around to doing things instead of planning. Still need to finish the homepage, though.

achenet 4y ago

Or you could try the strategy recommended in the article - trick yourself into wanting to do it. Wouldn't going through years of notes be fun? Instead of dreading it, shouldn't you be eagerly anticipating the walk down memory lane that this showcase will entail?