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Here's my thesis procrastination story: I remember sitting in the explanation lecture, 18 months before the deadline for my undergrad thesis. Even then, I was

Here's my thesis procrastination story: I remember sitting in the explanation lecture, 18 months before the deadline for my undergrad thesis. Even then, I was nervous about handing it in on time. So I did the usual things, made week by week plans, asked my supervisor to check in with me etc. Of course, as a serial procrastinator I didn't come close to sticking to the plan. I fiddled around with a few things but didn't really do anything. Fast forward to a week before the deadline. I a few broken prototypes and no very little else of the 10,000 word thesis I was supposed to hand in at the end of the week. I finally broke down in front of my professor. In the end I sat around the corner from his office all week as he checked on me every hour or so to make sure I was writing it. I took breaks to go cry in the toilet. I just barely managed to finish it and hand it in on time. I cried again, this time tears of joy and relief. What really stands out to me, apart from the heroic push at the end, is that in the back of my mind I knew I was going to procrastinate on this project and even that knowledge wasn't enough to stop me. The planning, organization, calendars, todo lists and so on didn't help. Later in life I was diagnosed with ADHD. With medication and coping techniques things are getting better. If you struggle with procrastination on a grand scale you have an emotional problem, not an organizational one. No amount of planners, charts, calendars or todo lists will solve it(though they are good to have for other reasons). You need emotional solutions. Therapy, medication, meditation, introspection. For anyone struggling with procrastination I wish you all the best. It is a lifelong problem. Don't expect to be able to solve it over night, but it can get better.

Sakos 4y ago
I've been reading some books recently around taking notes and distraction. The most salient part of the book Indistractable is how distraction is primarily a pain management problem. The relevant chapter starts with > But after digesting the scientific literature, I had to face the fact that the motivation for diversion originates within us. As is the case with all human behavior, distraction is just another way our brains attempt to deal with pain. If we accept this fact, it makes sense that the only way to handle distraction is by learning to handle discomfort. If distraction costs us time, then time management is pain management. Which I felt was a decent stab at the heart of the issue.
winter_blue 4y ago
> If you struggle with procrastination on a grand scale you have an emotional problem, not an organizational one. No amount of planners, charts, calendars or todo lists will solve it(though they are good to have for other reasons). You need emotional solutions. Therapy, medication, meditation, introspection. I'm in a similar situation and need help as well. What did you find works, or worked?
- annie_muss 4y ago
  Short term: Get someone to make you do things. It could be a family member, a professor, a co-worker. Sometimes people call this body doubling. If you really need stuff done and there are big negative consequences (losing your job, failing your degree) to doing it get help now. I still struggle with procrastination but I'm much better than I used to be. Here are some things that helped me. Some are ADHD related, some more emotional related. * Getting diagnosed with ADHD. This gave me insight and the ability to forgive myself. It also gave me access to medication. * Methylphenidate helps me in a big way. I take a slow release version branded as concerta. The effects day to day are subtle, but after weeks and months I realized things are going much better, my house is cleaner, my work is more stable, my relationships are better. * Noticing your patterns of procrastination is important. Some people find meditation helpful for this but I could never manage to stick with it. It sounds simple but actually noticing your emotional state just before choosing to procrastinate is surprisingly hard. For me the pattern is often "feeling overwhelmed" --> "wanting to escape" --> "wanting this bad feeling to go away" --> "do something mindless like watching youtube or reading articles". The mindless activity dulls the emotional pain. Even just a 10 second pause of noticing the feeling, staying with the feeling and realising it is simply a feeling can be enough to start to break the habit. * Distractions. There are many different types of distractions. Make sure your workspace does not have any visual distractions in your line of sight. Being able to see the interesting book you want to read or a notification pop up on your phone is not helpful. Simply placing items behind you is generally enough. Similar with screen distractions. Make sure the things you can see on your screen are relevant to what you are doing now, and anything not relevant is completely hidden/off-screen. * Completely accepting your procrastination. This is paradoxical, but accepting your procrastination is the best thing you can do. Let's say you spend the entire day aimlessly browsing the internet instead of doing your homework. If you start to think "I'm useless, I'll never be able to do this." or "I wasted the whole day, now I'm going to be even more stressed trying to finish it" you add negative emotions on top off the negative emotions that are causing you to procrastinate. Genuinely accepting what you did and not feeling bad about it is very difficult, but helps you avoid going into a spiral of negative emotions. At least think "Oh well, I procrastinated today. That time is gone, but I can do 5 minutes now and it won't be completely wasted" * Timeboxing/pomodoros can be helpful. You set a relatively short timer and work for that time, then take a short break. Say, work 20 minutes and take a 5 minute break. Remember, we need to solve the emotional problem, not the organizational one. Serial procrastinators often set unrealistic goals when first learning about pomodoros: "Ok, I'm gonna do 8 pomodoros this morning and really crank through my thesis". Now the expectation is set for doing lots of work, feelings of overwhelm and potential failure will creep in and that's the seed of procrastination. The other failure mode is not taking the short breaks. On some subconscious level you know you've tricked yourself. "Hey, you said we were doing 20 minutes and now we've been working for over an hour." Always take the breaks, and start off by doing a very small number of short pomodoros.
mansoon 4y ago
Love more hopelessness coming at me.
ttul 4y ago
This 100%. If you understand what needs to be done, you want the long term goal, and yet you still feel severe emotional pain when trying to engage in the work required, it might be ADHD. I highly recommend to anyone who struggles with procrastination that they go see a doctor or psychologist who can assess them for ADHD. And, yes, it takes a skilled professional to diagnose you. Take heart: “ADHD impairs the functioning of highly intelligent people, so the disorder can be diagnosed in this group. A population-based birth cohort study of over 5700 children found no significant differences among children with high, average, or low IQ and ADHD in median age at which ADHD criteria were met, rates of learning disorders, psychiatric disorders, and substance abuse, and rates of stimulant treatment (Katusic et al., 2011; Rommelse et al., 2017).” https://www.adhdevidence.org/ics#diagnosed https://www.adhdevidence.org/ics#diagnosed
- Fr0styMatt88 4y ago
  Thank you so much for posting this. ADHD is not just 'young schoolboys behaving badly disrupting the class'.
  - annie_muss 4y ago
    The sad thing about that ADHD stereotype is when people are young the stakes are so much lower. Messing around in class, being distracted and not completing school work, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really matter that much. If you're an adult things are much worse: unemployment, inability to maintain relationships, impulsiveness and anti-social behavior.
    - ttul 4y ago
      Not to mention rash, irresponsible entrepreneurism…
jeeshan 4y ago
>If you struggle with procrastination on a grand scale you have an emotional problem, not an organizational one. No amount of planners, charts, calendars or todo lists will solve it(though they are good to have for other reasons). You need emotional solutions. Therapy, medication, meditation, introspection. Exactly correct. If you're already in a PhD program, well-meaning organizational and motivational techniques are likely not what you need. What can be labeled as procrastination may be an emotional dysregulation or as Dr. Jen Wolkin calls is " procrastination isn't laziness, it's a trauma response" https://twitter.com/drjenwolkin/status/1574795724419653636?s=46&t=BuV-F_XPOcqAWZKwGu_tGw https://twitter.com/drjenwolkin/status/1574795724419653636?s... To anyone who has felt this way, I am so sorry and you are not alone and there is help. If you're in school, access student health and the graduate programs health resources and leave programs. There still is so much unnecessary stigma and shame around mental health, but if you had similarly severe physical health problem, getting treatment and help would the first step. Not trying to brute force your way through it.
dendrite9 4y ago
You might like this very short article in the New Yorker about a cafe for procrastinators with varying levels of supervision. I immediately thought of it when reading your post. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/coffee-with-a-side-of-deadline-hectoring https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/coffee-with-a-...

Sakos 4y ago

I've been reading some books recently around taking notes and distraction. The most salient part of the book Indistractable is how distraction is primarily a pain management problem. The relevant chapter starts with > But after digesting the scientific literature, I had to face the fact that the motivation for diversion originates within us. As is the case with all human behavior, distraction is just another way our brains attempt to deal with pain. If we accept this fact, it makes sense that the only way to handle distraction is by learning to handle discomfort. If distraction costs us time, then time management is pain management. Which I felt was a decent stab at the heart of the issue.

winter_blue 4y ago

annie_muss 4y ago
Short term: Get someone to make you do things. It could be a family member, a professor, a co-worker. Sometimes people call this body doubling. If you really need stuff done and there are big negative consequences (losing your job, failing your degree) to doing it get help now. I still struggle with procrastination but I'm much better than I used to be. Here are some things that helped me. Some are ADHD related, some more emotional related. * Getting diagnosed with ADHD. This gave me insight and the ability to forgive myself. It also gave me access to medication. * Methylphenidate helps me in a big way. I take a slow release version branded as concerta. The effects day to day are subtle, but after weeks and months I realized things are going much better, my house is cleaner, my work is more stable, my relationships are better. * Noticing your patterns of procrastination is important. Some people find meditation helpful for this but I could never manage to stick with it. It sounds simple but actually noticing your emotional state just before choosing to procrastinate is surprisingly hard. For me the pattern is often "feeling overwhelmed" --> "wanting to escape" --> "wanting this bad feeling to go away" --> "do something mindless like watching youtube or reading articles". The mindless activity dulls the emotional pain. Even just a 10 second pause of noticing the feeling, staying with the feeling and realising it is simply a feeling can be enough to start to break the habit. * Distractions. There are many different types of distractions. Make sure your workspace does not have any visual distractions in your line of sight. Being able to see the interesting book you want to read or a notification pop up on your phone is not helpful. Simply placing items behind you is generally enough. Similar with screen distractions. Make sure the things you can see on your screen are relevant to what you are doing now, and anything not relevant is completely hidden/off-screen. * Completely accepting your procrastination. This is paradoxical, but accepting your procrastination is the best thing you can do. Let's say you spend the entire day aimlessly browsing the internet instead of doing your homework. If you start to think "I'm useless, I'll never be able to do this." or "I wasted the whole day, now I'm going to be even more stressed trying to finish it" you add negative emotions on top off the negative emotions that are causing you to procrastinate. Genuinely accepting what you did and not feeling bad about it is very difficult, but helps you avoid going into a spiral of negative emotions. At least think "Oh well, I procrastinated today. That time is gone, but I can do 5 minutes now and it won't be completely wasted" * Timeboxing/pomodoros can be helpful. You set a relatively short timer and work for that time, then take a short break. Say, work 20 minutes and take a 5 minute break. Remember, we need to solve the emotional problem, not the organizational one. Serial procrastinators often set unrealistic goals when first learning about pomodoros: "Ok, I'm gonna do 8 pomodoros this morning and really crank through my thesis". Now the expectation is set for doing lots of work, feelings of overwhelm and potential failure will creep in and that's the seed of procrastination. The other failure mode is not taking the short breaks. On some subconscious level you know you've tricked yourself. "Hey, you said we were doing 20 minutes and now we've been working for over an hour." Always take the breaks, and start off by doing a very small number of short pomodoros.

mansoon 4y ago

Love more hopelessness coming at me.

ttul 4y ago

This 100%. If you understand what needs to be done, you want the long term goal, and yet you still feel severe emotional pain when trying to engage in the work required, it might be ADHD. I highly recommend to anyone who struggles with procrastination that they go see a doctor or psychologist who can assess them for ADHD. And, yes, it takes a skilled professional to diagnose you. Take heart: “ADHD impairs the functioning of highly intelligent people, so the disorder can be diagnosed in this group. A population-based birth cohort study of over 5700 children found no significant differences among children with high, average, or low IQ and ADHD in median age at which ADHD criteria were met, rates of learning disorders, psychiatric disorders, and substance abuse, and rates of stimulant treatment (Katusic et al., 2011; Rommelse et al., 2017).” https://www.adhdevidence.org/ics#diagnosed https://www.adhdevidence.org/ics#diagnosed

Fr0styMatt88 4y ago
Thank you so much for posting this. ADHD is not just 'young schoolboys behaving badly disrupting the class'.
- annie_muss 4y ago
  The sad thing about that ADHD stereotype is when people are young the stakes are so much lower. Messing around in class, being distracted and not completing school work, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really matter that much. If you're an adult things are much worse: unemployment, inability to maintain relationships, impulsiveness and anti-social behavior.
  - ttul 4y ago
    Not to mention rash, irresponsible entrepreneurism…

jeeshan 4y ago

>If you struggle with procrastination on a grand scale you have an emotional problem, not an organizational one. No amount of planners, charts, calendars or todo lists will solve it(though they are good to have for other reasons). You need emotional solutions. Therapy, medication, meditation, introspection. Exactly correct. If you're already in a PhD program, well-meaning organizational and motivational techniques are likely not what you need. What can be labeled as procrastination may be an emotional dysregulation or as Dr. Jen Wolkin calls is " procrastination isn't laziness, it's a trauma response" https://twitter.com/drjenwolkin/status/1574795724419653636?s=46&t=BuV-F_XPOcqAWZKwGu_tGw https://twitter.com/drjenwolkin/status/1574795724419653636?s... To anyone who has felt this way, I am so sorry and you are not alone and there is help. If you're in school, access student health and the graduate programs health resources and leave programs. There still is so much unnecessary stigma and shame around mental health, but if you had similarly severe physical health problem, getting treatment and help would the first step. Not trying to brute force your way through it.

dendrite9 4y ago

You might like this very short article in the New Yorker about a cafe for procrastinators with varying levels of supervision. I immediately thought of it when reading your post. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/coffee-with-a-side-of-deadline-hectoring https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/02/coffee-with-a-...