
Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says expert - pseudolus
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-for-june-14-2020-1.5604357/there-s-a-reason-we-procrastinate-and-it-s-not-laziness-1.5604433
======
nisa
Words of warning from a not so young (36) chronic procrastinator with a rather
messed up life: Take it seriously. I'm not talking about reading HN in your
7th work hour when doing stupid Excel sheets. I'm talking about messing up
years and years of your life. I believe it's a symptom of some deeper issues
and it won't go away from alone. Lack of sleep, stress, work overload,
information overload amplify the effects but once it crept into your life
outside of work it really can wreak havoc. Simple things start to become
complicated and you are in a constant negative feedback loop. The worst is
that you procrastinate not only work but rather your own existence because
you'll constantly attempt to catch up but just can't.

At the moment doing pomodoro and putting everything in kanban charts and
devide&conquer seem to work somewhat. I don't really have any clever advice
beyond that, it just sucks.

~~~
wpietri
Yeah, agreed. For me avoidance of _tasks_ was just the visible problem; the
root was avoidance of _feelings_.

I don't really struggle with procrastination much any more, but it took all
sorts of work that would have seemed apparently unrelated to me. E.g., a
regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an automated
lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun. Regular cardio helps
keep my baseline anxiety level much lower. Meditation, therapy, medication,
food choices, and an awful lot of introspection and self-experimentation were
necessary. And time, just a lot of time to unwind the bad habits and bad
associations.

I get that it feels hopeless sometimes, but I hope you'll continue. Note that
you can't catch up if your baseline is some arbitrary standard. But the right
way to measure it is improvement from where you are now. Then there's no
"catching up". There's just today, and whether you're going to make things
better by one day's worth.

~~~
giovannibonetti
> E.g., a regular sleep schedule is really helpful, and that required an
> automated lighting system that helps me keep in sync with the sun.

Wouldn't letting the curtains open achieve the same thing?

~~~
weightless
Depending on your location (urban or rural) having your curtains open could
expose other light sources (street or car lights) and make it harder to get to
sleep.

------
javajosh
Well, the difficult emotion is often some form of fear. Fear of failing, of
making a mistake, in some cases, of making the problem worse. All of these
fears are in a fundamental sense legitimate, but the direct solution is,
insofar as it is possible, to prepare and practice.

The alternative is to tackle something _even harder_ that includes the thing
you want to make as a special case. This is a recent discovery of mine. The
pressure of accomplishing the bigger, harder thing can often drive you to
simply knock out the smaller thing to get it out of the way, and that's often
good enough.

There's an apocryphal story in rabbinical lore about a farmer who's frustrated
that his home is so noisy that he can't sleep. The Rabbi sympathizes and tells
the farmer to invite another animal into his home night after night. The
farmer gets more frantic, angry even that this "solution" isn't working. Then
the rabbi tells the farmer to remove all the animals, and the farmer, now in
peace and quiet, could fall soundly asleep. The solution above is the same:
you don't eliminate the fear, you replace it with a greater fear such that the
original fear doesn't seem to matter!

~~~
aisamu
> The alternative is to tackle something even harder that includes the thing
> you want to make as a special case.

This is the main operating principle of
[http://www.structuredprocrastination.com](http://www.structuredprocrastination.com)

~~~
jimmydddd
After reading that article a while back, I started making longer to-do lists.
I found that it's hard for me to do a task on a three item to-do list. But if
my list has 20 items, it's somehow easier to pick an item from the middle of
the list and bang it out.

------
myth2018
I always read here and there people commenting about certain tips not working
well on their own procrastination issues. My experience is no different.

Some months ago I wrote about how procrastination had harmed my life. I was
going through a lot. Thankfully, things have hugely improved since then. Step
by step, I'm getting my life together.

Way before my ex-wife left me, I had been reading some books on the subject. I
had already identified the emotional nature of my procrastination, but I was
still struggling to find a solution.

If I could give one advice to people who are facing very bad cases of
procrastination, that would be: if you have the chance, get some
psychotherapy. That was instrumental in my recovering.

My case had a complex emotional background. The extreme pressure I was putting
over myself. The insanely huge goals I had established. My inclination to
define my own value as a person based solely on my intellectual
accomplishments. Everything mixed together. Overwhelming.

Don't get me wrong, the books helped. But mine was too complex a case and some
personalized advice was needed.

~~~
WhompingWindows
"The extreme pressure I was putting over myself. The insanely huge goals I had
established. My inclination to define my own value as a person based solely on
my intellectual accomplishments. Everything mixed together. Overwhelming."

Thank you for writing, this really jives with my experience. I would read HN
or various articles or do "fun" work to get dopamine hits, but the reality my
psychotherapist revealed was that I internalized a lot of external
pressures/expectations to do X Y Z in my career. It led to me resigning my job
as an SQL/R programmer in February...bright-eyed looking for the next
position...

And now I'm unemployed, so things are going super.

~~~
myth2018
Thanks for sharing this. I'm glad that you looked for a therapy. We are all
going through tough times regarding jobs and economy, but I'm pretty sure
you'll be OK. Stay safe and don't let the present times let you down, things
are going to be normal again soon.

------
melvinroest
> Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says
> expert

I love this tagline! I think this is as accurate as one can get about why we
procrastinate, in one sentence.

\---

> What research has indicated across a wide variety of studies is that it is
> an emotion regulation situation.

So CBT, meditation and similar things might help. I'd like to see studies on
that.

Hypothesis:

emotion regulation (bad) --> coping (none-existent) --> procrastination

emotion regulation (bad) --> coping (e.g. mindfulness or CBT) --> less
procrastination

\---

> What's the song of the procrastinator: "I don't want to, I don't feel like
> it," and usually there's the chorus of: "I'll feel more like it tomorrow."

That's a very playful way to phrase a characterization: what's the song of.
I'm stealing it ;-)

~~~
mc32
“ > Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficult emotions, says
expert”

That makes sense for some procrastination, but other procrastination is
laziness.

Mopping the floor, taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn types of
procrastination... those are under your own purview and don’t involve big
emotions or decisions...

So I think it explains some kinds of procrastination but not all.

~~~
mattmanser
It's not about just doing the dishes, it's about the sum of all the other
chores and things you have to do. It's overwhelming in its entirety, not the
individual tasks.

When they look at the washing up a procrastinator doesn't _just_ see the
washing up, they also see that they have to do a laundry, fix the cupboard
creak, do a full clean of the cupboards, clean under the fridge, wash the
floors, dust the cobwebs, fix the dripping tap, take out the recycling, decide
what to do with those old jars, etc., etc.

Even if they do eventually manage to do a flurry of chores, and usually feel
great, it's not a habit to do it again. It's not a scheduled minor, automatic,
task. Your brain deals with habits much easier than things you have to
consciously do.

So it inadvertently builds up, and BAM, as if from nowhere, there's a massive
pile of washing up with a whole load of OTHER tasks mentally attached to it
again.

You see it as easy and lazinness, but we don't. The irony is that living like
this is actually a lot harder, you're having to ultimately put more work in
for often worse results.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _When they look at the washing up a procrastinator doesn 't just see the
> washing up, they also see that they have to do a laundry, fix the cupboard
> creak, do a full clean of the cupboards, clean under the fridge, wash the
> floors, dust the cobwebs, fix the dripping tap, take out the recycling,
> decide what to do with those old jars, etc., etc_

This reminds me: is there a word to describe a related phenomenon, that I find
incredibly frustrating? It goes as follows: say I want to take a one minute
break to fetch myself some coffee. I go to the kitchen, find the dishwasher
running and no clean cup, so I have to clean one myself. I do that, then
discover I have to refill the water and the beans in the coffee machine. I
make the coffee, and the machine flashes red. The dredgewater bin is full. I
need to pour it out and clean it. I get dirty and coffee-smelly, so I want to
wash my hands. Doing that, I use the last bit of soap in the dispenser, so now
I have to fetch the 5L jug and carefully refill it. By this time, what started
as a one-minute break turned into 10 minutes of chores, and I'm already
anxious about getting back to work.

Some form of the story above happens to me pretty much every other day. Is
there a name for this kind of unexpected recursive expansion of chores?

~~~
VVertigo
Yak shaving is a term I use when I run into a chain of tasks.

[https://www.hanselman.com/blog/YakShavingDefinedIllGetThatDo...](https://www.hanselman.com/blog/YakShavingDefinedIllGetThatDoneAsSoonAsIShaveThisYak.aspx)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fnfeuoh4s8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fnfeuoh4s8)

------
mywacaday
I have had a weird relationship with procrastination, I find I get more
appropriate work done when I'm exhausted. When I have no energy it will take
all my concentration to stick to the job at hand but I do stick to it, when I
have plenty of energy my monkey brain gets distracted easier. I've also found
the the GTD technique of breaking items into smaller tasks, setting a next
action and make sure the action starts with a verb helps.

~~~
sjm-lbm
Same.

My interpretation is a little different, though: I think that a lot of my
emotional struggle with procrastination is some fear of creating something
less than perfect (or, for that matter, at least less than what I'm capable
of). When exhaustion and/or stress over a _very near_ deadline override that,
I end up tossing something together.. and in the clear light of the next day,
I usually find what whatever I did is at least a good start at whatever I need
to do.

As a side note, I've also found that setting a next action helps - I usually
take it a step further and make sure it's a simple and/or easy action, though.
Very often, without intentionally making sure to save something easy, I'll
knock out anything simple that's in line with what I've been doing. If
something is complex enough to think "well, that will take a long time, this
is a good stopping point" it's _also_ a task that will be harder to get
started whenever I come back to what I'm doing.

~~~
weitzj
So your interpretation is kind of based on fear?

Like, you want to to your work perfectly, because otherwise ... will happen?

You procrastinate so that you have to finish the work on the last hour and
then can tell yourself that you did not use your full potential, so that no
one can judge you (as they did not see the full potential), because otherwise
... would happen?

~~~
mtsr
I'm not sure if you mean to, but you sound a bit dismissive.

It seems exactly like the kind of habits complex emotional creatures like
humans develop. And it's not nearly as bad a habit as some other stuff, like
addiction etc, which most people do understand. Even though the effects on
ones life can be just as catastrophic.

~~~
weitzj
I am sorry. I did not mean to sound dismissive. I was just observing.

I guess the strongest emotion is fear which “motivates” us. And one should
verify whether some actions are based on fear and how it influences our lives.
And maybe now this is only procrastination. But as the previous commenter
said, one had to watch out for themselves.

------
laurieg
Sometimes comments like "Oh I'm procrastinating by reading this article while
at work (at my successful software engineering job)" seem a little
insensitive. It's like telling a blind man "Yeah, I close my eyes too
sometimes".

~~~
yesco
I'm not sure what you mean, it's not like procrastinating is a mental disorder
or permanent disability like being blind. If you are avoiding work that you
need to be doing then by definition you are procrastinating, career success
has nothing to do with it.

It's not like it's insensitive to say you are anxious about something minor
when there exists people with more severe anxiety problems. It's just the name
of a symptom.

~~~
ekr
I'm fairly sure the author means that if you're still able to maintain a more
or less demanding job and all the social obligations thereof, the degree of
your suffering is nowhere near as serious as it could be. Take for instance
someone suffering from debilitating/easily triggered mental breakdowns/
seizures.

You may think that these conditions are not strongly related to
procrastination, I can argue against that.

------
ashtonkem
At the risk of being a bad trope, if you’re struggling with the emotional half
of things I would recommend therapy.

Even if you don’t “discover” something traumatic in your past that explains
everything, having someone to explain your feelings to often does wonders for
your emotional well being in general. A lot of therapists will also specialize
in procrastination, and may have extra strategies that help.

~~~
zerkten
I highly recommend therapy. Generally, men in the US find it difficult to seek
out help. Often they think it's a failing and avoid it, especially in the
context of relationships. Therapy is something you could almost do for
yourself, if you could work out the puzzle. Therapy can do wonders at breaking
the initial problem and giving you some things you can work on.

Therapists can also provide useful inputs for career and work optimization.
They get treated as mental health problem solvers, but you may get more
optimization out of therapy than attending a conference or doing something
that's traditional for career development.

Finding the right therapist takes some effort. Don't expect it to help
initially. Do some education on the kinds of things they treat and mental
health in general. I suffer from anxiety, but I never made that connection
before.

~~~
yamrzou
Practically speaking, what would a therapiat tell me that I can't find or
learn on my own?

~~~
ashtonkem
If you’re extremely self reflective; nothing.

For most of us, a therapist can tell you a lot of things that you could
observe about yourself but won’t admit to. Most people have a blind spot the
size of themselves.

------
Bedon292
Its interesting, I never really thought about it like this. In high school I
was an extreme procrastinator. Avoiding the boredom of doing the task is
certainly part of it, everything was too easy. But when I know I can finish an
assignment in two hours the night before its due, why would I ever start it
early? There was no benefit to completing things early. But, there was always
a high from getting away with procrastinating to the last minute. Just like
that rush from solving a hard programming problem. Essentially I experienced a
reward for procrastinating, and was always chasing that. At least that is how
it felt to me.

But eventually, after some time not doing so well at college because of this,
I ended up joining the Marine Corps. Since then, I have been much less of a
procrastinator. Not really because my motivation or anything changed, its
entirely because my tolerance for uncomfortable situations and tasks went way
way up. So this explanation actually makes sense to me once I really consider
it.

~~~
jimmydddd
I had the same high school - college experience as you. HS was easy to pull
off with no work and last minute efforts. Then it caught up with me in
college. Instead of the Marines, I did a restart at a lesser college, and
ended up becoming friends with a group of dudes who had had the same exact
experience. I think part of it is related to the growth/fixed mindset theory.

------
mbeex
My solution is similar (breaking down the problem), the cause is - at least
partially - different.

If I am procrastinating in software development or research it is

(1) for complexity reasons, (2) for foreseeable vast grunt work I have already
done and solved in the past.

Example (1): I have to choose between at least two fundamental different ways
to get ahead in writing software. I know that implications come late, wasted
time can be a lot. I will often pause until it comes to me.

Example (2): Writing a new library in Julia, when I covered the topic in
Python or C++ years ago, but cannot directly reuse it, the whole thing
intensifies when it has already been done in several incarnations. Becomes
more and more difficult ("been there, done that") with age, especially if the
occasion is determined from outside. The same applies to research which
requires a larger amount of knowledge from the past that needs to be
reactivated.

(2) could be attributed to negative emotions (boredom, and yes, even
laziness), but (1) is different, more a search for an optimal strategy prior
to the start, because the cost for doing otherwise could be prohibitive. It is
simply unwillingness in decision-making (too early).

~~~
and-hi
I'm familiar with your (1) and I think it fits extremely well with the
negative emotion explanation.

At least for me, making a difficult decision that might have far-reaching
consequences can be very uncomfortable if I don't have all the information.
And it can be very easy to procrastinate because I tell myself that more
information might be available in the future (even when that is clearly not
true).

So, it's not so much that I search for an optimal strategy and more that I
know there isn't one and I don't want to bite the bullet yet and make a
decision.

~~~
rrrrrrrrrrrryan
My brain latches onto the few examples where it did pay off, though. "Imagine
if I would've started earlier - all that work I did would've been completely
_wasted_."

In reality, that work probably wouldn't have been completely wasted, and even
then, I certainly wouldn't be any further behind on the project if I'd done it
instead of slacking off.

------
kator
Also there is a thin line between procrastination and brutal prioritization. I
often feel that procrastination ping and think to myself, is this really the
next most important thing for me to do? Often times it is not, and once in a
while it is. A lot of my work is creative in nature and forcing the creative
process when you’re blocked is not always a good use of time. There is a
balance between deadline, now and the time it comes to you with a force that
screams to leave your body. The trick is understanding yourself and being
honest, am I putting this off because it’s too fuzzy, not clear what the next
step is etc? or is it just brutal prioritization?

Also note that I’ve changed roles quite a bit in my life and when I delete the
final TODO list I look back at the things I did not get done. It’s as
informative to review your accomplishments as it is your failures, but also
what you never got around to doing. Often that last category will make me
laugh “look at all those stupid things I thought were important”... rm -f TODO

And as I tell people all the time, the day after you die there will be more
email in your inbox. If you focus on emptying your inbox your life will be
empty when you leave. But your inbox will still be filling up.

~~~
im3w1l
> A lot of my work is creative in nature and forcing the creative process when
> you’re blocked is not always a good use of time.

Yeah I gotta agree with this. Sometimes it's like you are trying to walk
through a wall and it's just not working. Our subconscious tells us "this is
not working, try something else". Now the dysfunctional reaction is to pass
time waiting for the wall to collapse under its own weight. And the "correct"
solution is to search for a door. But the tricky thingy is we may not realize
on a conscious level that the wall is even there or that the wall is the
reason we are passing time.

------
claudiusd
> We believed that it was poor time management and that if we just worked a
> bit harder and had more self-discipline, we could do the job

It's frustrating that the "experts" still see things this way. As if it's some
moral defect that people are too lazy to overcome.

Can't stop procrastinating? "Just work a little harder and get started
already"

Depressed? "Just cheer up and get over it."

Addicted to drugs? "Just look at the negative consequences and stop using
them"

I guess I could see this article as a step in the right direction, but it's
still frustrating to see how the casual stigmatization of behavioral health
and its symptoms continues to linger.

------
Tenoke
>'Just get started'? If I could just get started then I wouldn't have a
procrastination problem." I thought: fair enough.

This never worked for me. I write one sentence or do the small task and then I
go off and do something else. Perhaps it's due to my (bad) habit of context-
switching but either way I've never benefited much from this approach despite
often trying it.

~~~
leadingthenet
I am exactly the same, though ADHD medication has helped tremendously in this
respect. Terrible context switching, not lack of attention, is the bane of my
existence.

Have you ever had a test?

~~~
Tenoke
>Have you ever had a test?

At university a councilor (or similar) said they believe I have ADHD but it
was near the end of a school year so nothing came out of it.

For what is worth, I've tried most common adhd meds on my own and while they
definitely they also ruin my sleep so I am not convinced that going through
the hassle of getting an official diagnosis will help all that much.

~~~
leadingthenet
I agree, it’s definitely a difficult balance to strike.

I found that even small amounts of stimulant medication does help even if it’s
not super obvious in the moment, and the upside is that it doesn’t interfere
with sleep too much, but I try hard not to make a habit out of it. Sleep,
above all else, is the best predictor of my mood / productivity / physical
health.

I try not to take anything after about noon, though. This is especially true
about caffeine, for me. I might get a crash in the late afternoon, but it’s a
price worth paying for a good night’s sleep.

------
TrackerFF
Just want to say that if someone here truly has tried to overcome
procrastination, but still fails, try to get screened for ADD/ADHD.

Even though it's a condition that is also quite over diagnosed, it's
simultaneously a condition that's underdiagnosed IMO - it really depends on
where you're looking / sampling. A lot of kids fly under the radar, because
they don't show any obvious signs, even more so those with ADD / non-
hyperactive.

~~~
bserge
It also gets progressively worse, adult AD(spectrum) can be life ruining. I
wish it was more recognized and I wish it was easier to get
medication/treatment. The side effects are nothing compared to half a life
wasted.

~~~
TrackerFF
Yes, it's quite sad. For a lot of adults, their lives don't really start until
they've been diagnosed, and gotten on some treatment - usually a medication
that works for them. Lots of these people have tried and failed school, tried
and failed jobs, etc.

But then the bricks fall in their place, and they can try to redo all that.
Unfortunately, by that time, a lot of doors have been closed - especially if
you want to work in tech or professional industries.

Now, I'm not trying to scare posters, but it's much better to get that stuff
figured out before you've gone too long to make lasting damage, both to your
own health, and to your professional life.

------
ThrustVectoring
This may be true for some forms of procrastination, but there's one kind in
particular that has a much cleaner and more precise story behind it. Your
intuitive task planning system will simply _refuse_ to go down paths that it
_knows_ has a reward-to-effort ratio incompatible with long-term flourishing.
Instead, it will prune that task planning process in favor of either something
known to be of higher value, or some strategy that it believes will help find
high-value tasks. Modelling procrastination this way explains several
phenomena:

1\. The "honeymoon period" of organizational methods. This is simply the
period of time where your intuitive task-planning system hasn't figured out
that your new organizational method is generating insufficiently rewarding
plans. Once you learn that it has you tilting at windmills, the honeymoon
"ends" as the system itself gets pruned for something easier or novel enough
that it might be more effective.

2\. The unreasonable effectiveness of breaking things down into simple steps.
Every piece of uncertainty and risk that your plan has to overcome adds to the
amount of expected reward necessary to successfully motivate the effort.
Listing out simple, well-understood steps significantly reduces the sense of
venturing into the unknown, and the lower perceived risk directly affects your
short-term willingness to engage in the process.

3\. The loop people often get stuck in of closing a social media feed (eg,
reddit), only to re-open it 30 seconds later. When you don't have a good
short-term plan, finding something interesting is the "default". Competition
between social media sites has generated several highly popular super-stimuli
for this niche.

~~~
alliao
the downside of knowing more than one language is I have access to too many
social media sites. The pull is insane.

------
cryptica
Whenever I do something. I assume that it's going to be a business failure.
That helps me to avoid procrastination which could otherwise arise out of a
fear of failure. Business success is not within my own control so everything I
do needs to have a "fallback purpose".

Everything I do is at once a business opportunity, a learning experience and a
technical stepping stone which I can re-use for future projects. All of my
work builds on top of my previous work and I constantly combine it with other
people's work. This strategy is failure-proof and it stops procrastination.
I've been doing it for almost 10 years. It does get a bit closer to business
success every time. You have to set yourself up for success and sometimes that
requires redefining success.

~~~
godtoldmetodoit
Thank you for sharing this perspective, it really resonated with me. I've
always struggled with procrastination at a moderate level, but the last 6
months or so have been especially bad.

I had worked my heart out on a project that the business decided not to
pursue. It killed me, all my time was wasted, business was fucking up, would
have to re-do all this work in subpar tools etc. As I got moved onto a new
project, it has been insanely hard to get motivated to work on it.

Just assuming that it will be a business failure again... it relieves a lot of
pressure off me. And you are right - at this scale I have almost no say on
whether the business decides to run with it or not, so why worry about it?

~~~
cryptica
I know the feeling. I think this is one of the major challenges of working for
a big company, there is no sense of ownership over the project and you usually
can't reuse that code for your own purposes later.

I highly recommend working for an open source company if possible. I find it
motivating to think that some people I've never met from a future generation
could pick up ideas from my work and continue the mission.

------
battery423
Ritalin.

Yepp went from a very bad grade to a very good grade.

You can't tell me its about 'avoiding negative emotions' if i have prepared my
learning desk with everything i need, cleaned it, etc. then i open the book
and i literlay can't learn.

That wall is much easier to break with ritalin.

Is that shitty? Probably. Is it healthy? Probably not. But it brought me much
further then before and i'm pretty sure that through that i have more habbits
which stay without ritalin.

~~~
partyboat1586
Ritalin suppresses some of those deeper emotions. It also gives you additional
rewarding feelings for completing tasks here and now. Unless you have ADHD due
to genetic factors then imo it's just a mask over the real emotional issue. A
very effective and useful one but still a temporary measure.

~~~
seebetter
I view Ritalin and Adderall as a performance enhancer. I have never seen a
biological study proving ADHD except perhaps some EEG. Virtually everyone I
have known prescribed amphetamines abused them.

(Anecdotal warning) And my ex roommate was a large prescriber of Adderall. He
would see patients for 3 minutes. He had 3 homes (one an $8m condo) and drove
a matte black Lamborghini Aventador. He was way overweight and dressed like
Mick Jagger on LSD. That’s the type of person diagnosing ADHD at least in Los
Angeles.

~~~
leadingthenet
That view is actually both extremely common, and very dangerous for the people
genuinely suffering from ADHD symptoms, like myself.

Many years of misery could’ve been avoided had I not met people that thought
this way, earlier in life.

~~~
nefitty
Yeah, I’m still struggling with taking this seriously for myself. Not only am
I contending with the inevitable procrastination of setting an appointment
with a doctor, but there’s also a chunk of my brain screaming, “don’t tell
anyone, everyone will think you’re a druggy, adhd is bullshit!”

~~~
battery423
I have to remind myself to take ritalin.

I get it through subscription, so no black market or shit and i'm still not
taking it every day

------
sosuke
Looks like I'm late the party but I submitted a YouTube video talking about
this as "The Wall of Awful" emotions and experiences you need to get through
in order to start a task that has negative emotions associated with it. It
totally changed how I approached my procrastination by simply asking myself
"why" I was avoiding a task.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo08uS904Rg)

~~~
hnick
Just supporting this since I was going to share it too but searched and found
yours first. It is related to ADHD but I think applies to everyone to some
degree.

The part about conflating emotion and time (in the follow up) really gets to
me. How he says mowing the lawn is "an all day project" simply because it's
been built up to feel that way.

------
superasn
For me the biggest help has been David D. Burns (the author of feeling good)
technique called the TIC-TOC technique(1).

It's basically like a Pros and Cons list but targeted to cure procrastination
but identifying the cognitive distortions in the TICs (or task-interfering
cognitions). It has been so helpful for me that I ended up writing a small
web-app for myself to do this whenever I don't feel like doing anything!

(1) [http://www.elizakingsford.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/11/TIC...](http://www.elizakingsford.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/11/TIC-TOC-Technique.pdf)

~~~
ddlec
Mind sharing a link to your web-app? I ask this while actively procrastinating
from work.

~~~
superasn
Sure, it's here:
[https://www.feelhappy.win/app.html#/dashboard](https://www.feelhappy.win/app.html#/dashboard)

It's not just this TIC-TOC thing but I've kinda converted all his CBT
exercises like Cost Benefit Analysis, Daily mood log, Acceptance paradox, tec
into my web app.

Small disclaimer: I made this site only for myself so it is buggy and
unpolished as hell. Get's the work done for me though, but ymmv.

------
hirundo
Time boxing is the best treatment I've found. A project may feel overwelming,
but usually I can bring myself to bite off one tomato (25 minutes) of it. I
can generally make a noticeable amount of progress in that time, and more
importantly, clarify the next actions whose ambiguities have been leading me
to procrastinate.

In one such session I actually completed a project I had put off for years

~~~
sova
Three years ago a friend and I were looking at different divisions of time --
in one of our Eastern Philosophy books there was a mention of splitting the
day into 60 segments. We were puzzled. If there are 60 snaps in a day, how
many minutes are in each snap? The answer is delightfully simple: 24 minutes
per snap. (60 minutes an hour with 24 hours or 24 minutes a snap with 60
snaps). We have started using the 24-minute mark as a more flexible form of
time measurement and of "see you soon" \-- see you in a couple of snaps.

~~~
jimmyjack
What book is this if you don't mind me asking?

~~~
sova
Myriad Worlds (The Treasury of Knowledge). There is a portion on calculating
days and the keyword is "clepsydra measure"

------
sokoloff
> Randy Pausch, an M.I.T. professor who died of cancer

How does this get into the article without basic fact-checking? He was a
professor at CMU.

~~~
dctoedt
> _Randy Pausch, an M.I.T. professor who died of cancer_

The piece also referred to his "final lecture," when it wasn't; the lecture
was a part of series titled "Last Lectures" (note the capitalization).

------
glaberficken
I read the article while procrastinating on a work task I should be doing. I
think the author nails it. When I just get started on a task, picking the
simplest thing to do first without much planning, then I naturally get into a
flow where small sub-tasks present themselves as I go.

If instead I start planning out all that is left to do, I quickly become
demotivated and overwhelmed not knowing where to start. A sort of "analysis-
paralysis".

The big problem for me is that even if I get into a productive flow its much
to easy to run into a blocker that pulls me out into paralysis again (could be
a family interruption, a harder sub-task, etc).

------
PopeDotNinja
Procrastination was been hitting me hard recently. I was so stressed out that
I found myself literally saying "I'm not good enough." I knew that was not
accurate, but I was still feeling inadequate. So I look a long lunch. While I
was out I realized that I could pivot to saying "My code's not good enough"
and "I am not my code". I was working through a lot, but I just wanted to
share that it is possible to make incremental gains when you're feeling like
krapola.

~~~
octodog
In a similar vein, when I start to feel like that I try to remind myself that
I should be "questioning my knowledge, not my self".

I think it's quite a powerful idea. Questioning your knowledge can lead to
positive introspection and growth, whereas questioning or doubting yourself
will not.

~~~
PopeDotNinja
Yeah, When I reached "my code's not good enough", I started to come up with
some actionable steps to take to resolve that.

------
fsociety
A lot of people talking about their struggles. I’m going to plug
HealthyGamerGG and suggest people take a watch of this
[https://youtu.be/WQ5bkdFuFhg](https://youtu.be/WQ5bkdFuFhg) because it might
help them.

Basically he explains an equation that goes on in our head when we
procrastinate and how to change that equation. This is done through a live
therapy session with a Twitch streamer who struggles with laziness.

I think this will help more than one person here.

~~~
vfinn
That was great, thanks. I've studied Buddhism a bit, but I feel like I learned
something new by watching this :). This Dr was very articulate with his ideas,
and I loved the honesty of the "troubled gamer".

------
Tade0
This article gives great advice, but there's also the other end that I
personally struggle with, namely: where's the reward?

I noticed that it's especially hard for me to bring things to the state of
"100% done", because the emotional reward for that is so much smaller than
getting to the first 70%.

I tried shifting my thinking about this by treating that 70% as an actual 50%
(given the time spent), but it feels like a half-measure.

~~~
dijksterhuis
Theres this thing called "the 80/20 rule".

Story time:

My dad used to work at Sainsbury's (big UK supermarket chain). One day the CEO
(Lord Sainsbury I think he said it was) popped over to his desk.

"<Dad's name>, you do great work. I know I can always count on you."

"But... You spend so much effort on details that don't end up being important.
The first 80% of your work takes as long as the last 20%."

"The thing is, that first 80% is more usually good enough for what we need.
Why don't you try and hit 80% and then wait and see if we need that last 20%
next time? It might save you some time."

Caveat - I may have made the name up. But it quite often works in practice.

~~~
oigursh
He's asking your dad not to finish any work? This is really hard to apply to
development or, say, mowing the lawn.

~~~
dijksterhuis
No, he asked him to do 80% of what he would normally do (something like 95%)
because the last 20% usually takes the same amount of the effort.

Development example: cover 80% of the possible file types an application might
need to ingest. If users start asking for one of the 20% of filetypes then you
can add said filetype later on.

Mowing the lawn: it's fine to skip the absolute edges of the lawn. You can
come back with a strimmer later on to tidy up.

------
seesawtron
Reminds me of the old saying "The only difficult part is to get started". So
when I am struggling with starting a huge task, I tell myself that this task
consists of parts "a+b+c+d..." but I am only going to do part 'a' today/now.
And the surpising part is that when I am finished with part 'a', I am eager to
keep on going! You don't have to but you just might.

------
juskrey
I'll say it again: procrastination is a bullshit detector of the free and cry
for the help of non-free.

~~~
mrspeaker
Can you say it again, but with some more context? I have no idea what that
sentence could possibly mean!

~~~
daffy
The claim seems to be: (i) if you are economically independent,
procrastination is an indication that the postponed task is not worth doing
after all; (ii) if you are forced to do it for money, procrastination is just
a natural reaction to being forced to do something one doesn't want to do,
namely not doing it for as long as possible.

------
oblib
Coding has always been humbling for me. I'm reminded daily that I'm very low
on the totem pole. But I don't really procrastinate with what I think will be
difficult for me, or beat myself up over stuff that I really cannot even grasp
(higher math).

I don't feel any pressure to bullshit about my skills or depth of knowledge so
I have no problem admitting I don't know squat about something, and I'm
fearless about diving in to learn what I need to know because it's really not
that hard to admit when something is over my head. In my experience everyone
I've worked with appreciated it when I told them "I can't do that". The
tangible upside to that is when I say I can do it they have complete
confidence it will get done.

------
Accacin
I’m not sure what my problem is, but I find it incredibly hard to focus on
some things for any meaningful amount of time.

For example, I’ve been diving back into C recently and going through and
exercises takes me forever.

I notice I’ll do one, switch to YouTube to swap song, find an interesting
video about literally anything, watch that, and then do another exercise.

I’ve looked at ADHD but I’m not sure I fit, in pretty good at getting my work
tasks done by the deadline, but if I focused I could probably do them a day
earlier.

For reading, I use an old Kindle and can stay focused easily, so maybe it’s
just not opening a web browser is what I need to try.

~~~
diegoperini
I assume you do programming in your day job. If so, no matter what HN crowd
claims about side projects, picking another programming task as your extra
curricular activity can be the main reason why you are easily distracted.
Maybe by the end of the week (or work day) you are simply tired of looking at
screens with small and dense text.

~~~
ehnto
It may be cliche, but I found a bunch of non-computer hobbies and it helped a
lot. Unfortunately it also gave me a glimpse of life not spent sitting in
front of a screen, and while I still love programming, I am looking for a way
to escape using computers for a living. Sorry, software industry, it's not
you, it's the screens.

~~~
andai
I love programming but it's starting to get to my spine. I'm self employed
which is great cause I get to spend my micro breaks on a mattress (and
stepping away from the screen seems to help me think over what I'm working on
-- diffuse mode thinking).

Considering getting a real job but something tells me most offices aren't
suitable for lying down. (I read about someone on a polyphasic sleep schedule
who took her afternoon nap during the lunch break and she had to hide in the
server room!)

------
tasubotadas
Summary:

"Here's the magic — the next time you face a task that your whole body is
screaming, "I don't want to, I don't feel like it," ask yourself: what's the
next action? What's the next action I'd need to take to make some progress?
Don't break the whole task down. That will be sure to overwhelm you. I think
if most of us broke our whole task down, we'd realize that life's too short,
you can never get it all done. Instead just say, "What's the next action?" and
keep that action as small and as concrete as possible. "

------
qqj
i found that at least in relation to tech and software engineering,
procrastination happens when you need to do mundane work, or worse - work on
code you know is ultimately meaningless. another factor is stress, which is
usually generated by management via deadlines or constant harassing to get
things done (tm). it's basically oppression, it's just hard to see or admit
because you're being reasonably compensated, and not doing hard labor. but
it's oppression nonetheless.

free yourself, before you have a nervous breakdown or get fully domesticated
by the system.

------
reacweb
I procrastinate. I am not sure there is a single reason, but one that I have
clearly identified with a psy is the fear to be judged. By working in a hurry,
it gives me a good excuse if the result is not perfect.

------
tenpoundhammer
I thought I was terrible at time management but I was actually terrible at
saying no. I would just agree to do everything for everyone and then realize
there was no way I could do it and then do none of that stuff and work on
something I actually wanted to do.

I learned to say no to other people and that didn't work. Then I learned to
say no to myself. That helped a lot.

Turned out I was saying yes to everything cause I liked the feeling of being
important because I had a lot to do.

------
kfk
Interesting topic. Any of you doing everything right - work, sports, cooking,
some reading, etc - but procrastinating social life? I feel like that's what I
do. I always have excuses not to go out to meet new people or meet the people
I know. Meeting people in general feels like something I should do and thereby
not that enjoyable. Work feels like something I should do less - because I
want to have a life! - and thereby is highly enjoyable.

------
londons_explore
People wouldnt procrastinate if there wasn't some evolutionary advantage...

Personally, I have found that if I get on with certain tasks in a team
environment with too much vigor, I start to get other team members feeling
left out or feeling their input isn't adding value. Keep doing it and the team
will fall apart. Sitting around and being lazy for a bit helps keep the team
together and has more forward progress overall.

~~~
lazyjones
> People wouldnt procrastinate if there wasn't some evolutionary advantage...

That's probably not a reasonable assumption. Evolution doesn't work so fast.
Procrastination might simply be an indication that we're not living under
liveable conditions. Why do octopuses eat their own limbs under some
conditions? Does it give them an evolutionary advantage?

~~~
abiogenesis
Not sure how authentic it is, but here [1] is an explanation:

> It is believed that it is caused by a virus/bacteria which can manage to
> take hold on a stressed octopus. The biting is said to be due to irritation
> and biting alleviates the affected area. An octopus can lose an arm without
> harm and regrow it. By biting it off, the octopus loses the infected arm and
> hopefully a healthy one regrows, but in captive situations, probably caused
> by bad water quality, the infection can't be shaken off.

[1] [https://tonmo.com/articles/do-octopuses-commit-
suicide.47/](https://tonmo.com/articles/do-octopuses-commit-suicide.47/)

------
EGreg
Procrastination is often the result of a form of perfectionism.

Or rather, knowing that a half assed job will only backfire when we have to
present it.

The solution is to break things down into smaller units and increase
collaboration with others. This is also true of solitary things like working
out or quitting a bad habit.

Lower your client’s expectations of a first draft etc. and involve one of
their low level stakeholders in a collaboration.

Then you will stop procrastinating.

------
alexashka
This article was _really_ light on facts :)

It's important to recognize that not all 'procrastination' is created equal.
Not wanting to do a homework assignment is not the same as putting off asking
a girl out on a date.

One is not wanting to do what you're not interested in but feel like you have
to, another is wanting to do it but feeling anxious about the outcome.

I'm sure there are many other types too, I haven't given it much thought.

For each type, you need a separate approach. For school assignments for
example, what worked for me was figuring out what my end goal is, once I knew,
I felt fine getting a slightly above passing grade in classes I felt were not
useful for me, and spending more time on classes I was interested in.

I'd still procrastinate but the burden lifted somewhat simply because it takes
less work to get a pass-grade than try and get a good grade on every
assignment.

Regarding the girls situation - I wish somebody had just told me that women in
highschool and their 20s are largely looking for novel experiences and
somebody they feel comfortable with to do them with, because there is a great
deal of uncertainty in their life.

Once you understand that, you can align your needs with theirs and so much of
the thinking and trying to figure it out and procrastination goes away.

Long story short - most problems are solved by seeing the bigger picture and
having some very simple tactics in place - procrastination is a by-product of
those problems, not a 'disease' that needs a treatment and guess what, _some_
amount of procrastination is _always_ going to be present in your life, it's
just part of being a human being :)

------
ppeetteerr
So here is my approach to procrastination. Let yourself work on something for
15 minutes and stop if you don't want to continue after that. If you do, set a
hard limit on how much time you spend doing that thing.

For instance, cleaning the house. Spend 15 minutes doing it but no more than 2
hours. See how long you can go. This simple rule gets me to the gym and for
runs in the morning, doing my taxes, etc.

------
treeman79
For me, being bored is painful. As in an almost physical sensation of pain.

It’s strong enough that I’d prefer most levels of pain to being bored.

Adderal took that pain away. (I am diagnosed ADHD)

I no longer “avoid” stuff that I used to in the past. Even when I’m off
adderal. Focus is not as good, but I don’t have that fear of pain anymore.

I use audiobooks when I have housework to do. An interesting story makes a big
difference

------
wuliwong
>It's not just a matter of buckling down and getting it done. There are
negative emotions associated with doing a set task and we know how to get rid
of them: avoid the task.

I have been procrastinating on all types of home projects and they've been
piling up. I'm not certain what is meant by 'negative emotions' in this case.
One specific task I have is hanging up towel holders. The negative thoughts I
have are generally around what happens if I do it wrong; are they crooked or
do I have a bunch of holes in the wall. Is that what they are talking about? I
didn't listen to the 22 minute audio clip, I'm guessing it is explained
further in there.

~~~
ehnto
The fear of failure is a very powerful feeling. Even if it's a subconscious or
subtle worry.

------
torsday
I created a transcription for my notes, thought I'd share:

[https://gist.github.com/torsday/258250b13996a686fb615ee04a55...](https://gist.github.com/torsday/258250b13996a686fb615ee04a55ee6a)

------
tartoran
I find myself somewhat procrastinating, I end up reading up HN posts and
comments when my work task is utterly boring and repetitive and when I learn
nothing new from it. When it’s something repetitive the hardest part is to get
myself started. When there is an interesting problem to work on I don’t
procrastinate. Can anyone explain to me how is this emotional? I love doing
the dishes and that is repetitive too but at least there is a phisical element
in it. I think I am alergic to bureaucratic processes but I do somehow see
their utility, they’re just not suited for me.

------
abiogenesis
> What's the next action I'd need to take to make some progress? Don't break
> the whole task down. That will be sure to overwhelm you.

Isn't this the idea behind Getting Things Done in a nutshell?

~~~
andai
Yeah :) The two key questions to always keep in mind:

(1) What's the desired outcome?

(2) What's the next action?

------
Ma8ee
I'm hesitant to share this, considering Aaron Swartz tragic end, but this [0]
post helped me a lot to learn to tackle procrastination. The following is a
key quote:

> Yes it’s painful, but the trick is to make that mental shift. To realize
> that the pain isn’t something awful to be postponed and avoided, but a
> signal that you’re getting stronger — something to savor and enjoy. It’s
> what makes you better.

[0] [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dalio](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dalio)

------
throw1234651234
The best explanation I have ever heard for procrastination is this - it allows
you to maintain an illusion that "you could do it, if you just tried." You do
no work, you don't risk your self image.

When you try in earnest, you spend a lot of effort, all for the potential
reward of "All your effort isn't good enough, you are a proven failure."

I am not saying that this doesn't conflict with "It is the mean in the
arena...who dared greatly...", but it makes perfect sense to me.

------
op03
As in games I hope we one day come up with an Energy bar.

With teams or family it feels like a question of regenerating Energy in Others
whose tanks are drained or not that large in the first place.

------
melvinroest
> Here's the magic — the next time you face a task that your whole body is
> screaming, "I don't want to, I don't feel like it," ask yourself: what's the
> next action? What's the next action I'd need to take to make some progress?
> Don't break the whole task down. That will be sure to overwhelm you. I think
> if most of us broke our whole task down, we'd realize that life's too short,
> you can never get it all done. Instead just say, "What's the next action?"
> and keep that action as small and as concrete as possible.

I'm actually handling this area in my life right now, and I decided I'd use my
intuition rather than my intellect to handle it (and analyze with my intellect
if my intuition came up with something interesting).

It did.

Here is my idea: be playful about the tasks your procrastinate on. Don't cater
to your intellect, cater to your emotions.

I have 2 examples with flexibility training and lifting weights.

Flexibility training: ask yourself questions that stir up curiosity, such as

"how does this feel?"

"what do I like about it?"

"what do I dislike about it?"

"will I think similar ideas the next day if I answer these questions (spoiler
alert: I personally don't)"

And then focus relentlessly on the fun (if you have some of it) and really
indulge in it. I've likened flexibility training to a lot of things I find
fun.

\--- Example 2 ---

Strength training: ask yourself questions that stir up curiosity _and fun_!
Such as

"How does it feel fun?"

"How does the pain feel fun?"

"What is it that I don't like about it? Why?"

"Are there moments when there's a part of the activity that I dislike or like
and it flips to the other side, why?"

In practice: I mostly ask "how does it feel fun?" and shamelessly focus on it.

\--- Some theory ---

I'd want to ask the professor if he considered playfulness and curiosity as
potential moderators or mediators that could enhance motivation to
procrastinate less.

I believe that playfulness and curiosity are related to the competency and
autonomy aspect of self-determination theory, so to me it makes sense that
those aspects heighten motivation in general and therefore reduce motivation.

Another idea: talk with people about your workouts that you've done (then you
also bring in the "relatedness" part of self-determination theory).

------
TimSchumann
Just came here to post a link to his podcast.

[https://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com/](https://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com/)
[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/iprocrastinate-
podcast...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/iprocrastinate-
podcast/id129144284)

He hasn't been very active with it in the last 3+ years, but it was a great
listen.

~~~
mercer
Maybe he'll get to making another episode later...

------
larrik
One reason I procrastinate is because a decent % of my tasks just go away on
their own, so if I did everything as soon as I was supposed to, I'd be wasting
time.

------
LeonB
I have a sheet I use for beating procrastination -- and I see how it fits with
this model. The idea of the sheet is that you record four things
(dreams,goals,actions and fears) -- and it's the fourth thing: fears (or
problems) that really helps you uncover and overcome the emotional component
of procrastination.

I've put the sheet online here:

[https://dgaf.secretgeek.net/](https://dgaf.secretgeek.net/)

------
barelytrying
I'm way too tense and can't deal with emotions at all. I procrastinate about
everything because I get overwhelmed when things go wrong. I'm learning to
just accept who I am and change my goals so there are less things to
procrastinate about. This means giving up a lot of fantasies about what I
could accomplish, things that other people can manage but somehow I can't.

------
jakebaker
This service is magic (disclosure: started by a friend) -- Focusmate [1] -- it
is basically productivity as a service. The service does video co-working
sessions and it honestly works like magic. Incredibly helpful for
procrastination -- it just instantly gets you in the zone.

[1] [https://www.focusmate.com/](https://www.focusmate.com/)

------
mjklin
As David Allen says once on a podcast, the real crisis comes not in the thick
of a project but after you’ve finished and need to decide what to work on
next. I think it was this one [0].

[0]: [https://www.humanmedia.org/product/horizons-
attention/](https://www.humanmedia.org/product/horizons-attention/)

------
watwut
Procrastination is an act. The pop-psychological theory that assumes that
everyone procrastinates for the same reason is as ridiculous as theory that
would assume everyone is violent for the same reason.

What about one person procrastinating without any difficult emotions just
cause she is lazy and other people procrastinating for variety of reasons from
difficult to simple.

------
lucozade
Speaking solely for myself. It bloody well is laziness.

I had to think twice about whether or not I'd be bothered to write this
comment.

------
_sbrk
Emotions my a$$. I procrastinate because it's easier to do something else more
interesting.

I find that if I can identify something that needs to be done, which requires
more work than the task currently at hand, then I can get done what needs to
be done by procrastinating on the harder task.

That's the secret to my success. YMMV.

------
gbasin
Almost everything we do can be explained by desire to seek rewarding feelings
and avoid uncomfortable ones

------
A4ET8a8uTh0
I can relate to the article. Whenever I take on a bigger project, it feels
like procrastination lets me defer failure.

I am lately able to convince myself that you can only get better by trying,
but was not always the case.

So yeah. Some procrastination is definitely driven by emotion.

------
DennisP
> if you've ever tried to do some mindfulness meditation, you realize we're
> not very good at it.

Well that's the point, to get better at it. It helps to have some good
instructions; the book _The Mind Illuminated_ is fantastic.

------
anon_protest
I’m a procrastinator that used a schedule to help minimize it but this work
from home has really hindered it.

Keeping a schedule when I work eat and play in the same space is a lot harder
than I imagined.

------
akeck
If you aren't traditionally a procrastinator, but have been under stress
(especially after recent events) and are now procrastinating, try getting
evaluated for burnout.

------
joshspankit
Fun (interesting? predictable?) fact:

I’ve been putting off reading this since early yesterday. I’ve kept it unread
in my RSS reader and looked at it at least a dozen times now.

------
protabot
I’ve found that if it feels like crap, so to speak, you’re doing it right!
We’re not SUPPOSED to be content all the time, and that’s okay. Next time you
feel bad emotions when you’re starting something, think, this is an indicator
that I’m doing it right. After a while, the feeling is not as intense, it
becomes a habit, then after you have had it as a habit you should use that
uncomfortable feeling to guide your next move. Usually the thing you don’t
want to do (the thing you are lazy about) is the right thing to do! Wishing
everyone an awesome day :)

------
akayoshi1
The best advice I've heard from hacker news in a while. I've been
procrastinating this business paper for a bit.

------
5cott0
I'm not procrastinating I'm practicing Intermittent Dopamine Fasting.

------
Rallerbabs
It was never a time issue.

------
signa11
yup, coursera's 'learning how to learn' mentions _just_ that in the first week
of the lessons. excellent, excellent, excellent course, btw, _heavily_
recommended.

------
mihaaly
To me it is also a conscious choice avoiding premature actions.

~~~
mbeex
That is rational postponing, but both can be connected. Procrastination by
definition has always something to do with negative feelings. But IMO not so
much in the sense of the article. Only a few people care about future
emotions, they may come or not. Real are only the ones in the present,
characteristic for this trait. To unveil the underlying problem by lifting it
up to its rational core might or might not help (not all are within yourself).

------
mooneater
Randy Pausch was of CMU not MIT as stated in the article

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krick
Procrastination expert? That's hell of a skill.

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JGM_io
Interesting read! Thx

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dmtroyer
this is a very helpful perspective.

