Ask HN: How do you deal with chronic procrastination?
9 comments
I'm gonna try this out. Thanks a bunch!
Procrastination is related to depression. Try more sleep, more sun and, if possible, long walks in a park or other natural environment. Other forms of exercise are also good.
Walks have generally helped with my mental health but I still can't get important things done. I'll try to get the morning sun. Thank you so much!
Procrastination is a good thing. Don't put it off until tomorrow.
For me procrastination is generally a symptom of anxiety. When I catch myself killing time instead of doing what needs to be done, it is useful to ask: what is it that I am afraid of, and what can I do about that fear to make it less overwhelming?
Sometimes I have a lot of different things to remember, and I am afraid that if I focus on one thing I will lose track of something else. Maybe I'm not sure which of many not-obviously-ranked tasks would be the best one to start on.
Solution: write everything down in a list. Nothing fancy, no complex task management system tempting me into further procrastination, just a text file: one line per task, write them all down, everything I can remember.
Relief: I no longer need to remember all of this anymore, I can just refer to the list. Okay, where to start? If one thing is obviously most important, forget the rest and go do that. If nothing stands out, then it doesn't matter: pick whatever looks easiest and make some progress. One will begin to feel better immediately.
Sometimes I am facing some big thorny problem with a lot of unknowns, and I am afraid to start because I don't exactly know where I am going. It's easy to get caught in analysis paralysis, waiting for the big picture to emerge, which often doesn't come until you are in the middle of it.
Solution: start chipping away at the big scary ball by identifying the easy bits around the edges. Maybe I don't know enough to do the whole job, but surely there's something I can do, yes? I'll need to load this file format, or I'll need to talk to this service, or whatever it is - just do that little piece. Get it out of the way. Doesn't matter if you're not sure it's the right design and worry that you'll have to rewrite it later: whatever you do now will help you get where you need to be. Break off whatever piece looks like it could stand alone, get it done, and worry about the rest later. Apply this approach over and over until what's left of the problem no longer scares you.
Sometimes the anxious feeling coming from the state of procrastination itself gets in my way. Knowing that I am failing to get my work done doesn't feel good, and it can be easy to avoid that discomfort by thoughtlessly distracting oneself, which of course perpetuates the situation.
Solution: envision as clearly as I can what a relief it will be to stop feeling the looming dread of work un-done, stop thinking about the whole big ball of wax, pick some easy thing I know I can get done before lunch, or the end of the day, and go do that. Is it the most important thing to do? Wrong question! If it's a thing, and it needs doing, that's good enough. What's most important is to keep moving in some fashion at all.
Sometimes I have a lot of different things to remember, and I am afraid that if I focus on one thing I will lose track of something else. Maybe I'm not sure which of many not-obviously-ranked tasks would be the best one to start on.
Solution: write everything down in a list. Nothing fancy, no complex task management system tempting me into further procrastination, just a text file: one line per task, write them all down, everything I can remember.
Relief: I no longer need to remember all of this anymore, I can just refer to the list. Okay, where to start? If one thing is obviously most important, forget the rest and go do that. If nothing stands out, then it doesn't matter: pick whatever looks easiest and make some progress. One will begin to feel better immediately.
Sometimes I am facing some big thorny problem with a lot of unknowns, and I am afraid to start because I don't exactly know where I am going. It's easy to get caught in analysis paralysis, waiting for the big picture to emerge, which often doesn't come until you are in the middle of it.
Solution: start chipping away at the big scary ball by identifying the easy bits around the edges. Maybe I don't know enough to do the whole job, but surely there's something I can do, yes? I'll need to load this file format, or I'll need to talk to this service, or whatever it is - just do that little piece. Get it out of the way. Doesn't matter if you're not sure it's the right design and worry that you'll have to rewrite it later: whatever you do now will help you get where you need to be. Break off whatever piece looks like it could stand alone, get it done, and worry about the rest later. Apply this approach over and over until what's left of the problem no longer scares you.
Sometimes the anxious feeling coming from the state of procrastination itself gets in my way. Knowing that I am failing to get my work done doesn't feel good, and it can be easy to avoid that discomfort by thoughtlessly distracting oneself, which of course perpetuates the situation.
Solution: envision as clearly as I can what a relief it will be to stop feeling the looming dread of work un-done, stop thinking about the whole big ball of wax, pick some easy thing I know I can get done before lunch, or the end of the day, and go do that. Is it the most important thing to do? Wrong question! If it's a thing, and it needs doing, that's good enough. What's most important is to keep moving in some fashion at all.
This is incredible. Thank you so much for taking the time!
- My low risk things can be put off indefinitely. Some solve themselves.
- For high risk items: I put some heavy metal or dubstep yes I still listen to that on the sound system to a level that wakes up all the night critters within a quarter mile and start knocking out the list knowing I will feel better afterwards.