
I trick my well-developed procrastination skills - robbixcx
https://wolfgang.gassler.org/trick-my-procrastination-skills
======
dnh44
When I’ve done a great job of procrastinating, I normally have a lot anxious
energy that I feel I need to get rid of so I go for a 30 minute walk or run.
During this outing I repeat the Mentat Mantra from the Dune film to myself the
entire time.

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that
thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion."

I then arrive home ready to work, feeling like I can accomplish anything. I
take a quick shower if I’ve been for a run then go to the kitchen and go
through the ritual of making a cup of tea. I sit down at my desk, finally
ready to begin. Then I’ll pick one last HN comments section to read. I
normally pick the one that has the most comments. After that’s done I
desperately search for anything else that I could justify doing. Then I’ve got
a pretty good chance of starting unless it’s close to lunchtime.

In all seriousness though I’ve learned to just accept it without guilt and
stop torturing myself. I’ll spend a couple days out of the office and not even
try being productive, maybe have a long weekend. There’s no point in suffering
in front of a computer screen if I’m not going to be productive anyway. Might
as well sit in the sun with a cup of tea and listen to the birds.

~~~
m463
Reminds me a little of:

 _" I believe in taking care of myself, in a balanced diet, in a rigorous
exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll put on an
ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now."_

 _" After I remove the icepack, I use a deep pore-cleanser lotion. In the
shower, I use a water-activated gel cleanser, then a honey-almond body scrub,
and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub."_

...

~~~
ChuckNorris89
_' Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now!'_

Fun fact, apparently the creator of American psycho said that if it were to be
remade today it would be about SV instead of Wall Street. Having been around
the tech block for some years now and rubbing shoulders with various people
from the industry I'm really starting to buy this.

~~~
chownie
What is SV? I don't know this initialism

~~~
creamyhorror
Sillycon, ahem, Silicon Valley.

------
dijit
I'm a master procrastinator. Mostly because I have so many things I could do
that I have this background feeling that I'm neglecting everything else if I
focus on one thing. And I get distracted easily and I hate trying to come back
in the middle of something.

However, for some things, I have systems to cope.

I make -very- simple unbreakable rules.

I got fat, decided I needed to fix it, so now I set an alarm at 6am every
second day and go to the gym.

No excuses, no fighting, the only thing I -have- to do is run for 10 minutes
and then I can go home, if I do that, then I'm fine. I allocated an hour for
training. What I find is that after I've started, I can continue without a
problem. It's just the getting started.

I have other rules, if there's 4 forks in the sink, I stop everything and wash
the dishes. No postponement.

If the milk is 1 day to expire, I stop everything and go shopping, I take the
trash with me. (part of the rule)

If there are six or more t-shirts in the laundry I will remove my bed-sheets
do a laundry load.

If the day is Sunday and I am about to eat I water my plants.

When I want to go to bed, I have to write down the first thing I will do the
next day.

Incredibly simple rules that stop me in my tracks is the only way I can kick
my own arse into doing something, otherwise I'll just let things go.

The simple rules thing only works because I convince myself that I cannot
break the chain that I have set in motion. "all those other times I did it, I
can't break it now, how pathetic is that". (alternatively when I start one: "I
only lasted a week, wow, that's terrible, I have to be better than that")

\--

caveat emptor: this does not work for my day job, because my job involves
focus, and you might notice that most of my rules are about doing something
mundane.

~~~
non-entity
See, I'm good at making "unbreakable" rules, but I'm _much_ better at breaking
them.

~~~
dijit
See my advice about trying to make it a chain.

Once you've done it twice maybe three times, you don't want to reset the
progress. Over time it gets easier (because you're making a habit) and because
there's even more of a ritual involved.

You'd be undoing all the hard work you've done. You won't break it.

Just get 2-3 iterations of the rule under your belt..

~~~
yurishimo
This happened to me with my weight loss. I made a chain of it and did
intermittent fasting for 9+ months with maybe one hiccup, but even on that
hiccup day it was not a complete break, but just a bending of my rules (16
hours vs the normal 20, etc).

However, when Christmas came around, I started traveling and relaxed a lot
more, feeling good about my progress from the months before.

It's not May and I'm just now hopping back on the train with the same
intensity I had before. I usually got to 16+ hours, but my food choices were
shit and I was overeating. Every time I ate when/what I wasn't supposed to
though, I felt like an even bigger failure and used those emotions to justify
my bad behavior.

It's been 1 week now since I've gone back to my more strict regimen and last
night I really really really wanted to go out and get a burger around 1am. I
managed to wait out the craving but it was insanely difficult and it's
affected my work performance today.

All that to say, the chain is powerful in both directions. After you break it
the first time, it's a lot easier to break again.

------
Tade0
I read the whole thing, but knew from the get go that these tricks wouldn't
work on me.

Mostly because I know the source of my procrastination and it boils down to
two things:

1\. I've gotten away with a lot of stupid shit in the past.

2\. Because of that I think too highly of my skills.

I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've
come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last minute.

~~~
grawprog
>I have no incentive to start preparing tasks or being organised because I've
come to enjoy the thrill of doing everything in the last minute.

I tend to do this a lot and so far it's managed to work for things that
actually have deadlines, though it always ends up being more stressful. I find
though, with things that don't have deadlines it kind of falls apart and last
minute just becomes never happens.

~~~
mjayhn
Doing what they said (and I'm good at it) just stresses me out to the point
that I don't even sleep the night before. I'm sure it's terrible for my
performance the next day of said stressful thing, too.

It also causes my work to back up which leads to even more stress.

I forgot where I read it but there was something about ADD people getting so
used to living in constant anxiety that they need it to thrive. I've been
trying really hard to live with less anxiety and knocking my work out early
has really helped.

~~~
grawprog
Yeah I find it's usually the stress itself that finally pushed me to actually
do that last minute rush to actually do the thing. Which probably isn't the
healthiest way to go about completing tasks in the end and doesn't necessarily
lead to the best quality work.

------
scep12
For me, the source of my procrastination usually falls into one these buckets:

a) Not motivated or interested enough in the work

b) Not feeling mentally sharp

c) Overwhelmed and disorganized

I don't find it useful to spend time building productivity systems, because
productivity comes and goes for me based on many factors. That's usually OK.
But when I do find myself in a productivity rut, the solutions are usually
straightforward:

a) Not motivated? Take a step back and find a new angle on the work that seems
appealing. Might require seeking new perspectives from others. In some cases,
it will require a competitive angle.

b) Exercise and read more in place of technology time

c) Simple to-do lists, with basic categorization and priority does the trick
for me here. This is especially true when leading a team on a project. At its
most primitive, this is a spreadsheet with columns for "TODO, category,
priority, blocked-by, assigned" etc.

------
blisterpeanuts
Like many here, I'm also a procrastinator (and my wife is much worse). My
strategy, somewhat similar to Mr. Gassler's, was honed over decades of
heartache and failure and occasional successes:

\- write down a plan

\- break plan into very detailed micro-steps

\- do at least one of the micro-steps. Feel a sense of accomplishment. Now the
rest of the steps seem less formidable.

\- accept that my brain is often foggy and slow, so give it a few hours or
overnight to mull a plan. Don't beat myself up for not getting it done today
(and possibly screw it up).

\- exercise a lot (I love running and get a high from it, so it's not hard to
incorporate)

\- lately I've been using a mantra "Don't think about it, just do it!" It's
how I got myself to the gym 5 days a week, back before the virus anyway.

\- To force myself to read a book, I'll assign myself to read _one page_ (or
Kindle screen), knowing that usually I can get sucked in and read several
pages.

\- fantasize a world in which I have already accomplished something. Visualize
it being done. Realize that I'm perfectly capable of doing it.

They sound like somewhat childish tricks, I suppose, but it's what works for
me.

~~~
johnwangdoe
not childish. They are really practical! I do the micro-steps too!

------
dghughes
I am King Procrastinator. I've been off work since October 2019 and have done
essentially nothing. I planned on doing a lot like getting my CCNA, practice
programming, overall practice of an IT stuff.

But I deflate into a blob on a chair and argue with people on social media. It
used to be gaming but now it's social media that fills hours of my day. I
don't even like it.

My task to study networking to keep up my skills resulted in a single side of
a page with basic subnetting practice.

I turn on all the lights to make me feel alert and it does but I always work
better in the dark.

When I do start some task my head feels like it's going to explode and the
only relief is a mindless task. I don't know if you call it procrastination or
depression but it's resulting in zero results.

I see some common habits in the comments here only I do the opposite. Laundry?
I'm going on two months wearing the same thing. Underwear? There's two sides
to that coin. Exercise? Non-existent.

Procrastination seems to be the result of something that's much deeper. I
don't think mopping the floor is the solution to the hole in the roof.

~~~
rishav_sharan
"My name is Yoshikage Kira. I'm 33 years old. My house is in the northeast
section of Morioh , where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as
an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8
PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11
PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a
glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to
bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I
wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no
issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes
to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies,
like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is
how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness."

Sorry but I couldn't resist! Its not often that we get light hearted threads
in HN. :D

~~~
_0ffh
"Although, if I were to fight, I wouldn't lose to anyone." :D

------
errantmind
Only one approach to procrastination has worked for me: lack of rational
thought. The only conscious deliberation I allow is the decision of whether or
not I should do something, after that i just _do_. No further thought
required. If I catch myself thinking about it, I stop myself and just act, the
decision was already made. Sometimes, rational thought is overused.

~~~
fossuser
Yeah I can relate to this, I think having two mindsets is effective.

The 'architect' that's deciding long-term goals and plans to follow.

The 'implementer' that follows the guide from the architect. The implementer
is not allowed to vary the plan in any way and if the implementer fails then
the architect has to reevaluate the strategy.

This way you're able to consider long-term goals with feedback loops that are
not immediate. The return from eating cake right now vs. being fit in 6 months
for example. The reward of the cake is too extreme and too immediate to be
able to easily make rational short term decisions on that kind of thing (you
end up rationalizing why this exception is okay, it's one time, etc.)

I find a lot of things fall into this kind of category.

~~~
uoaei
In Robert Anton Wilson's book _Prometheus Rising_ (1983) he describes a mental
model of the mind as "Thinker & Prover" in Chapter One. This is a duality
where one part of the mind manifests thoughts and the other one rationalizes
them into a consciously comprehensible concept.

Under this model, what you describe seems to be a way to turn this duality
against itself, hijacking the proving step by shutting down the thought,
putting idea into action, and seeing the proof when you're done. If instead
you over-rationalize the initial idea, and you're anything like me, you will
add unnecessary complexity until you've turned yourself around so many times
that right looks wrong.

------
melvinroest
I started my first workday today and I prepped for tricking my procrastination
skills. I can't post on how it worked out yet (I might do 2 months from now),
but here is what I did to trick myself:

\- When in the shower, do one yoga stretch to get acquainted with yoga. I do
this one [1], but then really really badly. I keep asking myself the question:
what do I find fun about this? And relentlessly focus on that. It took a while
to develop, but one answer is now: it feels relaxing. And yes, I'm still
terrible at it.

\- Whenever I walk in and out the door of the living room I have to do one set
of weights (8 reps). Again, I ask myself what I find fun about it. Over time,
I'm noticing that I like the adrenaline rush. But I first needed to get used
to the intensity part of it.

\- I'm a bit of an insomniac, so I go to bed around 22:00 (which was 20
minutes ago, hehe) and wake up at 06:00. The reason for this is to have a lot
of wiggle room for my insomniac tendencies. Even going to bed a bit too late
is much less of an issue ;-)

\- When I wake up around 06:00, I reward myself with a morning run (I love
running), no one is out on the streets at 6 AM where I'm from.

I am now experimenting with using my positive momentum to get into full
workout/stretching routines.

I really like the idea of acquainting myself with topics by having a simple
place (shower, living room) and trigger response (end of shower, leaving the
living room). I thought of it myself, I never heard anyone about it. And it
feels quite unlike doing a "30 day experiment", because I am actively looking
for the fun of it.

I hope it works. I got inspired by it by reading Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Everyone has their own system as the author said, so I'd encourage more of us
share our systems. As having more systems to read from might be more inspiring
to some procrastinators to take action and experiment.

[1] [https://www.verywellfit.com/thmb/gliK2-_bmUZk-
YpGJRua9YSEtTk...](https://www.verywellfit.com/thmb/gliK2-_bmUZk-
YpGJRua9YSEtTk=/1500x1000/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/StandingHamstringStrethBothLegsAtOnce2-d6fde12460994b968dc65e63f5fa4dc6.jpg)

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _I can 't post on how it worked out yet (I might do 2 months from now)_

A wise choice. Over years of trying different productivity hacks, I've learned
that most of them have a lifetime of about 3 weeks for me (which is about how
long it takes for the novelty to wear off), after which I regress to the mean.
However, the rare trick that survives longer becomes a slight but permanent
improvement.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your new system!

~~~
james_s_tayler
> I've learned that most of them have a lifetime of about 3 weeks for me
> (which is about how long it takes for the novelty to wear off), after which
> I regress to the mean.

Can relate to this extremely well.

------
hnick
> Finish every task immediately which takes less than 2 minutes to do

OK.

> Categorize tasks by project, time, and context, and store it in a tool that
> you can trust

That takes more than 2 minutes :(

Occasionally I'll start a todo list, but usually I just stop using it because
it gets too big and scary. My current system is calendar notifications in
Outlook, it's good for hard deadlines but terrible for open-ended issues like
"research new flooring for the garage". Even if I set a deadline I know it's
not real.

> Yesterday, as every day in the last two weeks, I was brushing my teeth in
> the morning and recognized that I have to replace my quite used toothbrush.
> It is a quite simple task to buy a new toothbrush, however, every time I go
> out of the bathroom, this thought and task is gone immediately and during
> the day I do not think about it.

This happens to me a lot. We carry the ultimate note taking device (smart
phone) yet the friction is still too high to make a quick note before the
thought goes. Maybe I need to carry a pen and paper.

------
ChuckMcM
If you have ever used the Franklin Day Planner series of tools you will see
the value in this advice. Make a list every evening, prioritize it, check it
off during the next day. Everything goes on the list. Rinse and repeat.

I'm not disciplined enough to do all of it but the list making has helped me
stay reasonably current.

~~~
rhizome
> _Make a list every evening, prioritize it, check it off during the next
> day._

Some procrastination derives from a difficulty in prioritizing, and a
difficulty in prioritizing can itself be a symptom of depression, where all
tasks have equal (or no) importance and so can't be prioritized.

I mean, it's not like people _forget_ all that needs to be done. Often as
above, it's all of the tasks bouncing off each other like balls in a bingo
machine.[1]

So, a lack of prioritization means the next day might be spent in analysis
paralysis where nothing is done because the person can't figure out a good
place to start. John Cage said, "begin anywhere," but even that can be
difficult in the moment because it also takes discipline to stop _trying_ to
prioritize.

1\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJV-
vUFFvoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJV-vUFFvoY)

------
hrayr
Reading this article reminded me that I had signed up for Remember the Milk
Service years ago to try to beat my procrastination habit.

I signed in and found only ONE task (buy milk, due 01/05/07)

I have yet to buy the milk...maybe later...at what point do I seek
professional help?

------
klausjensen
A tip for those who might buy in to the "write tasks down in a place you
trust" from the "Getting things done"-system, but who feel the todo-list
becomes overwhelming, I highly recommend the tool Todoist.

[https://todoist.com/](https://todoist.com/)

It is a todo-list, where the default view only shows tasks that are due TODAY.
You can also create views (aka. filters), like a "WORK" view where you only
see work tasks etc.

This means you are much less likely to be overwhelmed by the amount of tasks
on your list.

So if I need to remember to pay a certain invoice next week, I will make
myself a task for next week - and since I trust the system, that is now
cleared from my mind - and will re-appear next week - when I need to action
it. If I put it in the calendar and ot NOT action it - it is lost. If it is in
Todoist, it does not disappear until I say it is done.

It means I end most days with an empty todo-list.

Todoist took my using a todo-list from not really working - to a very
integrated and trusted part of how I do everything.

(I don't have any association with Todoist - I have just been a very happy
user for ~4 years. I hope others will benefit as well.)

------
renewiltord
Faster way is to just use Modafinil (barely addictive) or Adderall (very
addictive).

~~~
lowdest
Seriously. After 15 years of struggling with various self help programs, an
ADHD-PI diagnosis and medication fixed 90% of my problems. I feel like that
movie Limitless was inspired by someone who really needed ADHD medication and
finally got it.

~~~
robmerki
Other than meds, did you do anything else that was helpful?

~~~
lowdest
Yes: Hydration is a little important. Sleep is very important (white noise
machine, blackout curtains, melatonin when needed, regular schedule, no
alcohol near bedtime on work nights.) Exercise is a little important, but too
much is detrimental. Learning meditation, specifically body-scan, was really
helpful for me though indirectly. It helped me better notice my internal
states, which then helps me remove blockers to focusing. A low-carb diet also
helped, but is rather high-effort to maintain so I don't follow it anymore. I
make great use of reminders on my phone, and appointments on my calendar,
because I have no faith in my ability to remember things at the right times
despite having a great memory.

~~~
robmerki
Is this a fair "tier list"?

Most helpful: Sleep

Somewhat helpful: Meditation

A little helpful: Low-carb diet, Hydration, Exercise

~~~
JshWright
I wouldn't pay too much attention to the "tiers". Consider it a general list
of things that may be helpful, and assume that the relative importance of each
is likely to be different for you.

~~~
lowdest
I agree with this comment, but with the addition that sleep quality is very
important if you don't have it. If your sleep is pretty close to optimal
already, you may not notice a slight improvement.

~~~
IneffablePigeon
I agree - I think sleep is the only universal here. I find different things
may help at different times, too, or become more important to counter
different external stressors and anxieties.

I've never found exercise to be a particularly important part of my mental
health, but in lockdown I've become utterly dependent on it. It provides
routine, structure, control and a sense of progress - all of which I was
getting more of in other places before but which I'm now lacking without the
exercise.

------
seph-reed
I don't understand the obsession with "fighting procrastination". It's like
you have to be doing something always or else you've wasted time. There's no
finish line here. You can't win.

[http://subgenius.com/](http://subgenius.com/)

Go ahead and procrastinate, then don't feel guilty. Do nothing "useful" and
enjoy it. Whoever/whatever it is that's making you feel like you have to do
more, it's probably just abusive manipulation of labor forces.

We have most of the technology we need for a "Fully Automated Luxury Space
Communes tm", and who's fault is it that we're all still working our ass off?
Someone probably.. but now is the time for pointless, meandering, meta
procrastination posts on some special corner of the internet.

~~~
robotresearcher
> Whoever/whatever it is that's making you feel like you have to do more, it's
> probably just abusive manipulation of labor forces.

That's not procrastination. Procrastination is having a final exam tomorrow,
knowing you need to study, being perfectly able to study, have nothing else at
all you need to do, wanting above all things to study, and yet somehow despite
everything being aligned towards studying, not studying.

~~~
seph-reed
Maybe it's not the part of your life where you should be studying. If you
don't really want to, it seems like your mind isn't going to make the positive
associations with learning that information that it kind of needs to have in
order to develop an actual vested interest and move the subject forward.

This world is full of people who market knowing stuff they don't care about
and it might actually not be that great.

~~~
robotresearcher
But you _do_ really want to. It wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't a terrible,
painful conflict between what you want to do and what you do.

~~~
seph-reed
I feel like maybe you're confusing what you want to do with what you think you
should do. Or with what you want to want to do.

It's pretty normal, most people are pretty oblivious to what it is they really
want. That's why we have corporate jobs, and cars, and empty relationships
when really our favorite things in life are community and taking naps in the
shade.

------
stared
I used Remember The Milk for years, on and off (I live its interface, clean
and up-to-the-point). However, each time I stopped because of the "wall of
shame" of unfinished tasks.

Is there a way around it?

Right now (1.5 year) I use Evernote, in a Bullet Journal-like style, that is -
if I don't do a task, it is gone. Only if I take a conscious effort to write
it down again, it is a task again.

This 1.5 year time means a lot. As a person virtually resistant to routine
(vide
[https://twitter.com/tricina/status/1261690289812467712](https://twitter.com/tricina/status/1261690289812467712)),
it is a single exception that works.

------
ebj73
Another possible trick is to focus on time slots, rather than the task itself.
When I procrastinate, it's because the task itself appears too big, too
complex (or maybe even too boring) to even start on. The trick, then, is to
say to yourself that you're going to spend 4 hours working on it, rather than
saying that you're going to complete it. Completing the task may seem
overwhelming, for various reasons, but setting aside 4 hours to work on it is
not overwhelming.

------
jackallis
one thing i have learned and helped me deal with life long procrastination was
that it is about emotion regulation. procrastination is a symptom of something
deeper that is going on in you emotionally. Deal with that emotion and
procrastination will go away. how? Be your own student. Watch why you are
procrastinating.Be brutally honest yourself. you have to be ok to admit that i
am procrastination because eg. i am scared, coward, afraid, sad what ever.

------
m0zg
My approach is to start something exciting to get into the swing of it, and
then gradually mix in the less exciting things that nevertheless need to be
done. I consider any kind of "inbox zero" or list writing an absurd waste of
time. The only list I do is a broad strokes plan for the week, which I email
to self at the beginning of the week, but I don't stick super close to it.

------
Bedon292
One technique that was working for me for a while was Bullet Journal. Using an
actual physical notebook to write down all the tasks right away in a simple
list. Review at the end of the day. Review at the beginning of the day. Having
a list of tasks I haven't forgot allows me to actually get stuff done. Review
and migrate tasks each month. Its like a backlog grooming for life. Sometimes
tasks just linger and you have to think about why that task has been there for
months. Being able to see the list, and get the satisfaction of physically
marking it off is definitely beneficial for me. And if you are going to
procrastinate, at least you have a list of other things on your mind that you
might accomplish.

Unfortunately this whole situation of working from home threw me off and
haven't used it in a while. But I think I might revive it, and put into place
some of these rules, like just doing things immediately if they are under 5min
in the morning. Rather than continuing to put them off.

------
taurath
Not able to focus on tasks for long periods of time? Get distracted easily?
Just use this system constantly for everything you’re doing. I jest but
sometimes that’s how these come off.

That said, the GTD stuff has helped me a lot - I’m not great yet on doing the
most important things, but I’m at least doing more.

------
atemerev
All these “integrate X in your daily rituals” kinds of advice absolutely don’t
work for people with ADHD. There are no daily rituals for us. Life is chaotic.

I am trying to categorize things that might work in this condition, but you
know, “categorizing” anything is also quite a challenge.

------
rambolik
I have severe severe ADHD.

There is only one way out of procrastination for me.

Rules. Rituals. "OCD" like rules. These rules are born out of personal pain,
trauma and disappointment with myself. Stupid Rules that I must follow even
when it doesn't make any sense to follow. Inviolable rules. Unbreakable rules.

Here is how a rule is born. Be natural and live your life without any rules.
Whenever you screwup and feel a deep emotional sense of failure you create a
permanent rule that lasts for ever as long as you live. The beauty about this
approach is that the Pareto principle kicks in. 90% of your screw-ups come
from 10% of causes. As you start integrating rules into your life your life
becomes dramatically better. Your mind doesn't care about intentions. It
understands intentions but it bypasses them. Your mind doesn't care about
rules that you import from other people. It doesn't care about rules that are
not deeply connected to your personal experience. If you find yourself
violating rules repeatedly you must discard them for they are not for you at
this stage of your life.

There is only one key insight regarding procrastination for me.

Procrastination only occurs when there is something else more important that
is in a "live" state in the background. Procrastination is like the branch of
a tree. The trunk is the main task.

If you get rid of the trunk the branch cannot exist. This was the key insight
for me.

The only reason you are browsing HN or Reddit or Facebook is because you have
something else in the other tabs that you are not doing actively.

For example: You need to work on your PhD thesis. You have it open in one tab.
This gives your mind the permission to procrastinate via HN/FB or watch
motivational videos without feeling guilty.

So, if you install a tab limiter and limit yourself to one tab or two tabs
where the second tab is for listening to music, you will be forced to close
the "work" tab. Now you won't enjoy reading HN or FB anymore because you are
consciously not "working" on anything else.

Coming back to RULES.

I frequently run out of gas and then I panic and reach the gas station just in
the nick of time. I find this very annoying. I hate the feeling of the anxiety
because it is self inflicted.

The rule that I created is that I must always (regardless of the circumstance)
as soon as the fuel reaches below 20%. I have to get it to 100%. There are no
exceptions.

After I created this rule, I never ever ever encountered a situation where I
was running out of gas.

For a normal person this seems very unimportant and ridiculous. And it is. But
for me I feel great joy and happiness because I know I avoided so much
personal pain and anxiety just with this one simple rule.

Coming back to conquering procrastination.

The way my mind works is that it will at any moment ALWAYS choose the most
interesting option of the available options automatically. And I don't really
have any control over my mind. I can't tell it to focus any more than you can
you tell a husky or a raccoon or a wild monkey how to behave properly. This is
something you need to respect and understand.

Strangely, my mind follows rules without any issue. These rules must be formed
out of personal experience and must come from deep within and must be
acceptable to my mind ahead of time.

This is what I do. I create a ritual that combines two different things: This
ritual is unbreakable and it can't be reasoned away. I follow this ritual even
when it doesn't make any sense. Especially if it doesn't make any sense
because the alternative is this: I will lose my job/friends/social
support/money and will end up on the street or worse.

So, the choice is really between: a) Following the ritual and choosing life b)
Self Destruction or Death.

1\. Rules + 2. Cutting off the Tree Trunk == Life.

So here is how I create my work ritual.

There are only two major sources of distraction: 1. Phone 2. Internet. 3.
(minor) chatter inside my head.

Step 1. Setup constraints.

I use the Forest App/Flora App to disable my phone for 2 to 3 hours.

I use the tab limiter to limit myself to a max of 2 tabs. One for the main
task and the second one to LISTEN to Youtube music.

Step 2. Rules that are acceptable to my mind.

These are the Rules. a. I can choose to work on the main task. b. I can choose
to not do the main task and do nothing. c. I can choose to not do the main
task and listen to music. d. I cannot browse on multiple tabs. If I do want to
browse HN, I can do so but not within the 2 to 3 hour time window. e. There
are no restrictions. I can read HN all day. I can watch Netflix all day. I can
only not do them in this particular time window.

Because I already decided these rules in advance ahead of time and these rules
are born out of personal pain my mind accepts it. Another reason it accepts it
is because it is cognizant of the fact that these rules have worked well in
the past and I am building a new track record of success. Past success breeds
more self confidence regarding future success.

Coming back to the most interesting option theory. My mind always chooses the
most interesting option out of available options.

So, lets say I want to do my taxes today. This is work. Which means it
triggers ritual in my mind. I don't work without a ritual and that's the rule.

I create a 2 hour major window which contains the above mentioned rules.
Because the option to browse HN/FB is not there my mind has a choice of
choosing between doing nothing or doing taxes. Doing taxes is very boring but
only when compared to reading HN. Once my mind realizes that the only options
are doing nothing or doing taxes it will choose doing taxes delightfully.

And here is one final key: The 2 to 3 hour window seems big but 2 to 3 hours
passes by quickly like a few mins. And when you realize you are getting things
done you will be filled with happiness, joy and accomplishment because you
KNOW how miserable you felt when you procrastinated on things and achieved
nothing.

The 2 to 3 hour window is a major window. And within this major window you
have minor Pomodoros. You spend 5 mins creating a precise 30 mins action plan
and you start your pomodoro. Even if you are distracted it is fine but how
will you get distracted and by what? Your phone is disabled and you only have
1 tab. You will be distracted by your internal chatter which is an issue but
you will be massively more productive and much happier when you compare
yourself to your past self.

This HN Story was posted 11 hours ago. I am only posting a response now. Why?
I was working within a Time Window of 5 hours that blocked out my use of HN.

If you struggle with ADHD or procrastination I urge to try creating rules and
see how your life changes for the better. I seems very stupid and obvious but
it worked really well for me.

------
lemonberry
Years ago Merlin Mann, on his website, recommended Niel Fiore's book.

I just reread it recently and it's a gold mine, for me anyway.

My biggest takeaways were:

1\. Recognize how I procrastinate ( more research, figure out the best place
to start, another meeting, etc. ) and when

2\. Chunk things: I can't build the whole project now, but I can work on
feature x, y or z right now.

------
mehdix
I used to maintain a zero inbox, until I read an article by the author of the
technique (apologies for not remembering the source) that my mailbox is a TODO
list that anyone can put an item on that. Since then I'm okay with with unread
mail.

~~~
ashishb
I wrote a tool to snooze my emails (like newsletters and payment reminders)
automatically. Regarding emails from others, I snooze them manually if I am
not going to address them in an hour or so.

------
zabil
An earlier article referenced on hacker news talks about how procrastination
is about managing emotions not time. It changed my perspective. I now prefer
habits and rewards over tools and methods.

------
rubatuga
Favorited, will read later.

------
sys_64738
I want to read this article but haven't gotten to it yet.

