
Ask HN: Why do I always waste time on the weekends? - oz
There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables. All through last week, I've been printing Excel tutorials and ebooks, telling myself that I'll do the spreadsheet over the weekend, so I can start earning immediately. I want to put the money towards a startup.<p>How did I spend my weekend?<p>Friday Night:<p>Listening to rap and channel surfing. I've got all weekend, right?<p>Saturday:<p>Spend half the day browsing, the other half watching about 4 movies. Still got all day Sunday, right?<p>Sunday:<p>Wake up @ 10. Watch a few World Cup matches, while surfing YouTube. I can do it later right?<p>Now I just got to work, and I'm <i>disgusted</i> with myself. I want to leave this job as soon as possible (one's soul can only be sucked so much), but my constant procrastination isn't helping things.<p>The worst part? This isn't the first time something like this has happened. I'll spend the weekday fantasizing about how productive I'm gonna be over the weekend, then spend the weekend watching movies. Then on Sunday night, while ironing my clothes for Monday, the self-flagellation begins.<p>Oddly, while I'm wasting time, I <i>know</i> that I'm wasting time. I'll spend 5 minutes doing the task, and as soon as I encounter any difficulty, I take a break to 'clear my head'. This ends up taking the rest of the day. This has happened several times.<p>I want to be rich. Filthy rich, even. I'm sick of working for others. I'm sick of getting up in the morning knowing my life is ticking away. But I know I'll never get there if I continue like this.<p>I'm 23, above-average intelligence (Dunning-Kruger FTW), and I don't want to waste my life, waking up @ 30 wondering where the years have gone.<p>I've been on HN long enough to know this is something quite a few of us struggle with.<p>Help. Please.
======
edw519
_There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a
fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables._

A "complicated spreadsheet" isn't a requirement, it's a roadblock.

You're making it harder for yourself by putting obstacles in front of yourself
and then wondering why it's so hard to make progress.

 _I want to be rich. Filthy rich, even._

Getting rich isn't the goal. It's a byproduct.

You never even mention what your startup is going to do, who it's going to
help, or why you absolutely positively must do it. If you have something you
_must_ do, identify it and focus on it. If you don't, find it. Everything
else, including money, is just a detail.

 _I take a break to 'clear my head'._

Clearing your head isn't a necessary step, it's an excuse. Again, if you have
something you _must_ do, you head is already plenty clear. If you don't, then
what are you clearing your head for?

In summary:

1\. Find what you _must_ do.

2\. Start doing it.

In case you don't have something you _must_ do, then just do something,
anything. The process of doing will probably help you find your mission. The
processes of thinking, preparing tools, and dreaming about money probably
won't.

A couple of minor pointers that have helped me:

1\. If you have 2 computers, make one for work and the other for internet and
_put them in different rooms_.

2\. Throw your TV set into the dumpster.

3\. When you have code to work on, be at your terminal, working on it (Mode
1).

4\. When you don't have code to write, by anywhere _but_ your terminal with
pencil and paper handy (Mode 2).

5\. Start every day in Mode 1 and end every day (probably in bed) in Mode 2.
Ending the day in Mode 2 in requisite to being able to start in Mode 1 the
next day.

6\. Take care of yourself.

~~~
oz
_A "complicated spreadsheet" isn't a requirement, it's a roadblock.

You're making it harder for yourself by putting obstacles in front of yourself
and then wondering why it's so hard to make progress._

This is true on so many levels. To get started, I really only need a basic
spreadsheet, but I've been fantasizing about complex Pivot Tables, sparklines,
VLOOKUPS, most of which I've never even used before! I think I do this so that
I can tell myself I'm doing _something_ even though I'm really accomplishing
nothing. Story of my life.

"In case you don't have something you must do, then just do something,
anything. The process of doing will probably help you find your mission. _The
processes of thinking, preparing tools, and dreaming about money probably
won't."_

I do this All.The.Time. Like the taxi driver in 'Collateral', I'm thinking how
everything has to be perfect, while 12 years pass by. I think, and talk about
money constantly: How nice It'll be to buy a Mercedes, get my own apartment,
and not having to answer to a boss. I'm hiding in the server room typing this
right now-he likes to sneak up behind me.

edw519, thanks for the kick in the rear. Hurts, but I need it.

~~~
cabalamat
> _I've been fantasizing about complex Pivot Tables, sparklines, VLOOKUPS,
> most of which I've never even used before!_

When writing software, I often ask myself, "what's the simplest thing that
could ever possibly work", and then proceed to implement it that way. You
might try doing the same.

------
charliepark
A few thoughts.

One: Short deadlines can be really effective. I know 37signals isn't always a
popular source here, but their idea of setting a deadline and then adjusting
the scope of your project down to meet the deadline and just _release the
thing_ is a powerful one.

Two: Do you have any sort of accountability? A co-founder? Having someone
you're answerable to can be really useful. Don't be worried about them taking
your idea and executing it better than you. Have someone who can challenge
you. Ideally, you can challenge them on a project of theirs.

Three: It sounds like a lot of your distractions are online. If your
spreadsheets don't require an internet connection, give your router / ethernet
cable / etc. to a friend. Or you can use a tool like Freedom to cut out
internet access. I'm working on a startup that will give you specific,
granular control of your internet connectivity (<http://monotask.com>), but we
haven't launched yet, so we're not going to be super-useful just yet. Existing
options include Concentrate, Freedom, Self-Control, and RescueTime's "block"
feature.

Four: The motivation you mentioned is being rich. While there's nothing wrong
with that, it's a bit of an abstract goal. I generally prefer for my projects
to solve concrete problems that I'm having. Is there any way to pivot your
focus, off of money, and onto solving the problem? That might motivate you
more than money. YMMV.

Best of luck with it.

~~~
oz
_"One: Short deadlines can be really effective. I know 37signals isn't always
a popular source here, but their idea of setting a deadline and then adjusting
the scope of your project down to meet the deadline and just release the thing
is a powerful one."_

I like this. In fact that's what I'll do. Tonight, I'll simply create a
functional spreadsheet and save the bells and whistles for another time. A
minimum viable product, if you will.

 _"Two: Do you have any sort of accountability? A co-founder? Having someone
you're answerable to can be really useful. Don't be worried about them taking
your idea and executing it better than you. Have someone who can challenge
you. Ideally, you can challenge them on a project of theirs."_

No accountability. I've always fancied myself as the Lone Ranger type. I know
in theory that it's good, and have even experienced its benefits firsthand.

 _"Four: The motivation you mentioned is being rich. While there's nothing
wrong with that, it's a bit of an abstract goal. I generally prefer for my
projects to solve concrete problems that I'm having. Is there any way to pivot
your focus, off of money, and onto solving the problem? That might motivate
you more than money. YMMV."_

Hmmm, I'll have to give this some thought

 _"Best of luck with it."_ Thanks.

------
ax0n
Dude. If you don't have some down-time regularly, you're going to wake up at
30 feeling like you're 70.

As for wasting time? Look at the 80 hours per week you're wasting at a job you
hate (counting wake-up, prep, commute, and winding-down) rather than the 30-35
or so waking hours you're spending on weekend recreation. Take a plunge.
Change your life.

~~~
oz
Thanks for the reminder. It's just that I set out to do something; yet do
nothing. If I'd consciously set out to relax for the weekend, I wouldn't feel
bad.

~~~
ax0n
I've been there. I spent the last half of 2006 through the end of 2009 doing
seriously soul-sucking work that was sometimes fun (as it's related to my
hobbies) but often arduous, and it left me very little time to do the things I
wanted to do, which were technical, work-like, and couldn't remotely be
construed as leisure.

I got laid off at the beginning of this year, and did a lot of cool things in
my down-time. I'm finally back on board with a great company that's well-
established (more than a decade old) but small and still has a startup feel to
it. I spend the weekends hanging out with family, fishing, bicycling, writing,
photographing stuff. Refreshed, I can truly welcome my Mondays now that I'm
doing what I love to do for work.

~~~
oz
Glad to hear it man. Any plans to do a startup?

~~~
ax0n
If I did, it would be more like a consultancy thing. I'm not a developer, and
I do security stuff (all kinds) for fun and profit. I'm 31, married, wife
needs insurance with lots of medical issues. It would be a bad time for me to
go off on my own full-bore right now. It sounds like you're in a great
position to make a leap of faith, though, and there's a lot of other good
advice from the HNers. Best of luck!

Also, I have to ask: With a name like oz, are you in Kansas like I am
(Lenexa/KC Suburbs)?

~~~
oz
No, Kingston, Jamaica.

I have to ask: Do you think marriage is/has been worth it? The only time I
ever considered it was when I was a Christian, and even then my mind rebelled
at the thought.

~~~
ax0n
I married a hacker. We met on a dial-up BBS way back in the nineteen hundreds.
She is awesome.

------
sp332
>I'll spend the weekday fantasizing about how productive I'm gonna be over the
weekend, then spend the weekend watching movies.

Here. You've conditioned yourself to enjoy fantasizing about making money.
Your brain (subconsciously) has an aversion to letting go of this pleasure. So
it resists any move you might make toward realizing your goal, since this will
remove the ability to derive pleasure from the fantasy.

Sometimes just realizing this and confronting it is enough to overcome it. But
if that doesn't work, it's pretty easy to reverse the conditioning. Just
consciously make yourself feel bad feelings (bitterness, sadness, frustration,
irritation, really anything works) when you start thinking about the
unfinished spreadsheet, and tell yourself how much better you'll feel when
it's done. A couple days of this and you should be good to go.

~~~
tjmaxal
That sounds a lot like basic Fear of Failure to me.

~~~
oz
I don't know. I've given it some thought, but I don't think it is.

My working theory is that there is no single, integrated 'I' that makes
decisions. Rather, we are the sum of competing drives and motivations. So a
part of me wants A and another part wants B (or simply resists A).

~~~
dctoedt
This is an age-old problem -- see Romans 7.15: "I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do."
(<http://goo.gl/p4hl>) [EDIT: Corrected the chapter from 1 to 7]

~~~
oz
The flesh vs the Spirit. I've always loved the writings of Paul, even though
I'm now an atheist.

------
angrycoder
I have struggled with this problem for all of my academic and professional
career. It was only until this year until I finally started addressing it.
After a lot of thought and reading, I've found that I procrastinate for the
following reasons:

1) The task is mundane or repetitive.

2) I think the task is trivial. "Oh, thats something I can bang out in a few
hours, and I've got all week to work on it"

3) There is a tricky problem within the task that I haven't figured out yet.

The key to it all was realizing I'm not as smart as I think I am. I needed to
make a plan. This is hard, I've never kept an appointment book, I don't make
to do lists, those are for dumb people. Not me, I can reason out any problem
and keep track of it in my head! Bullshit.

Sit down with a pencil and a stack of paper. Draw your problem out. Make a
list of all the gotchas. Make a list of all the 'easy' things. Quickly you
start to realize that even with trivial problems, there is a lot of stuff to
do. Yeah, you are smart, so most of those things will only take 2 minutes, but
when you see them all laid out on paper, they add up. Oh shit, no time for you
tube. I've actually thought about the problem, I've got skin in the game now,
I've got some motivation.

When you started this trivial task of making a plan, you thought it would take
5 minutes because you are so damn smart. Two hours later you are still pushing
papers around your kitchen table. Revising, looking for the common
connections, refactoring, making a better list, making better software.

~~~
oz
_"I have struggled with this problem for all of my academic and professional
career. It was only until this year until I finally started addressing it.
After a lot of thought and reading, I've found that I procrastinate for the
following reasons:

1) The task is mundane or repetitive.

2) I think the task is trivial. "Oh, thats something I can bang out in a few
hours, and I've got all week to work on it"

3) There is a tricky problem within the task that I haven't figured out yet."_

You've nailed it, especially number 3. I'll take out my pencil & paper, start
sketching out things. The moment something stumps me, I put it down and get up
'for a drink of water.' While I'm up, might as well see what's on USA. Maybe
White Collar or Burn Notice...and three hours pass.

If I may ask, how old are you? And why are you 'angry'

~~~
angrycoder
If you are getting stuck with number 3, the best thing I've found is to just
start coding the problem in isolation. You are probably trying to jump from
zero to the most elegant solution. Solve the simplest case first, in the
simplest way possible. Throw all your OOD/Design Pattern/Best Practices
knowledge out the window, and just solve the simplest case. From there, solve
the next case, and the next one, eventually you will start to see the pattern,
and the correct abstraction. From there, you can derive the elegant solution
that fits all cases.

That is the problem with most solutions you find printed in books or on the
web. They only show the problem and the fully refactored solution. Refactored
solutions, even when fully explained, are just another form of obfuscation.
Behind every tough problem, there are notebooks and whiteboards and
hundreds/thousands of lines of discarded code that you never see. That is
where the magic happens. You just have to do the work, you have to make your
own ah-ha! moment.

This process is a lot easier if you use a language that has a REPL - like
python, ruby, or the various lisp dialects. It is easier to work through
problems this way, regardless of what your final target language may be.

~~~
oz
_"You are probably trying to jump from zero to the most elegant solution."_

Oh god, yes. I realized recently that in practice, it's not done that way.
Hard habit to break, though. I used to think that being smart meant that
solutions were obvious.

------
ErrantX
> I want to be rich. Filthy rich, even.

In my experience (been there, done that, worn the shirt) this is a bad aim to
have (even if it is honest) because it ends up with you fantasizing about
future wealth while you fritter away Friday nights :)

~~~
oz
Tell me about it. Wouldn't you know it, part of those Friday nights are spent
looking up at the sky, dreaming about said future wealth...

My highest value is autonomy: ability to do what I want, when I want. This is
what I'm hoping money will buy me. Will it? I need to know.

In 'How to Get Rich', Felix Dennis warns against dedicating one's life to
wealth, and even says that warning is the most important part of the book. But
he correctly says right after that he doubts the warning will have any effect,
as the reader is probably young and tired of poverty. Boy was he right...

~~~
ErrantX
_ability to do what I want, when I want. This is what I'm hoping money will
buy me. Will it? I need to know._

Depends; you can do this on a lot less than you imagine - if you want to live
in a 10 bedroom mansion, drive sports cars and so forth then you're going to
need the big money.

Realize now you are _statistically unlikely to get it_ ; and, given that,
think about what you _specifically_ want rather than broad concepts.

Another consideration - are you thinking of wealth in the right terms? pg
points out in his essays that wealth is not only about money; it's just that
this is an easy way to gauge relative wealth. The point he makes is that you
can _make_ wealth by creating something that converts to cash (even if you
never convert it to cash). But there is another point; which is that you can
be wealthy without being financially super-rich.

I got lucky (am about the same age as you); as I dreamed about being super
rich I ended up messing around with something in my spare time which worked
out as being worth something. It was nothing stellar but in the right place at
the right time it made me some money - and I found it, actually, wasn't buying
me the "wealth" I expected.

Since then I've figured out exactly what I want to attain in life and my drive
towards that is _much_ more focused (I will post the list if you like, but
it's not really important :) after all, what you want is a personal matter)

~~~
oz
_"Realize now you are statistically unlikely to get it; and, given that, think
about what you specifically want rather than broad concepts."_

Funny, I was about to read a chapter on this very topic in Felix Dennis' How
to Get Rich' last night. I skipped it, because I didn't want to hear it.

I read PG's wealth essay in about 2006, when I was in first year at college (I
dropped out after first year to work at a telecom startup - anything to avoid
school!). I think he said something like wealth is whatever you want; If
you're a billionaire but there's no food for sale, your cash is useless. True
enough.

I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone financially
(I used to think I didn't need others for anything, but recently realized how
stupid I was). It's just that I've seen that almost everything in our lives is
related in some way to money. Many marital disagreements are about money. Many
lives get ruined by poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life
easier. Hierarchy of needs, you know? Although I've never been poor (more or
less middle class), I've come to realized that I, like most people, are only a
few wrong turns from poverty.

Please post the list! For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich
enough @ 30 to be a music composer. I sometimes procrastinate by researching
MIDI, Linux Audio software like Rosegarden, etc.

~~~
ErrantX
_because I didn't want to hear it._

"The first stage of any cure is admitting the problem. The hardest part of any
cure is facing the solution" :)

 _I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone
financially_

You could easily achieve this on very little money; but this is a very broad
and non-specific aim whioch covers anyone from the millionaire to the hermit
(and, arguably, better describes the hermit). I'm doing an Msc in project
management at the moment and we just did a section about why projects fail;
the number one reason was a failure to specify the problem to be solved in
enough detail.

 _Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by
poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier._

The important thing to remember is that having lots of money is not
necessarily a solution for this - or rather it certainly ain't the only
solution.

 _For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich enough @ 30 to be a music
composer._

Well, if you have a talent then there is a _lot_ of money in that area (my
brother is setting up to be a composer, does very nicely even while finishing
off his degree). If you don't have the ability to do that as a job then, yeh,
that sounds like a pretty concrete/specific aim to go for! Fix on that and
flesh it out as an idea. Write it down and stick it up somewhere prominent.
Break it down into steps/things you will need. Then really dedicate to
achieving it.

My goals are not particularly finance oriented any more and so might be a
little wierd :) Only one requires actual serious amounts of money (and,
really, that is the "long term dream" I allow myself).

\- live on a narrow boat for a reasonable period of time (status: looking at
buying one now, sticking point is decent but not insanely expensive internet
access)

\- have a successful company by 27 (status: working on it, but this is too
general at the moment and I need to concrete it better first)

\- marry someone amazing (status: found her but she slipped the net :) working
on that)

\- be respected by people [by which I mean earn a position of respect
somewhere important] (status: _very_ hard, harder than I thought. though I
have a little/growing respect in my work niche here in the UK)

\- be respected by my employees by a) leading the charge at the company and b)
being an understanding boss (status: requires my own company...)

\- write a piece of open source code that is used "universally" and is
regarded as awesome by at least someone :) (status: this could well be fluke
to achieve)

\- live in a small whitewashed cottage in Cornwall (I know the one I want,
currently a wreck)

\- learn to fly, fly a jet (status: problematic as it a serious piece of time
is needed to achieve it)

\- go into space (status: pipe dream, but am determined to achieve it in time)

~~~
tome
> > Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by
> poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier.

> The important thing to remember is that having lots of money is not
> necessarily a solution for this - or rather it certainly ain't the only
> solution.

In fact I wouldn't be surprised to learn from a wise old man that having lots
of it can be a _cause_ of marital disagreements about money.

~~~
infinite8s
The main solution to that problem likely lies in finding the perfect spouse
before getting the money.

------
hedgehog
An old teacher told me "yesterday is dead and gone, and tomorrow will take
care of itself, all you can change is what you do right now."

Start today, make the most of thirty minutes and stop. One hour every day is
more valuable than seven on Saturday, it'll let the lessons percolate while
you sleep and do your other job. A small daily goal won't seem so imposing but
it will maintain your mental momentum.

Most importantly, though, do something you really care about. Mess around and
try things until you fall into it. Build a cause and a story around it and
inspire yourself. You're only the first person you'll have to sell. When you
wake up in the morning with a burning desire to change the world your way,
don't worry, it won't feel like work any more.

------
jason_slack
umm you said: "I don't want to waste my life, waking up @ 30 wondering where
the years have gone." OUCH!

I am 32, turning 33 this coming Sunday and I think my best years are ahead of
me. I tried hard to in my twenties, but twenty-something distractions got in
the way. First wife, three kids, divorce, working hard to gain an inch.

Not I have wised up, refined my work habits, learned from my mistakes (even
the ones I repeated twice), found a woman that "gets" entrepreneurship and I
am doing better than ever.

When I am 40, I am going to be able to relax, listen to music on my deck while
holding my wifes hand and not worrying about my future.

Ask me when I was 23 and I would not had this same response.

~~~
oz
Happy Birthday when it comes!

Was there a specific incident that caused you to wise up? Some sort of
epiphany?

~~~
jason_slack
Well, yes, realizing that when I walked into the door of my job my mood
changed. I wasn't happy. I didn't smile. The only conversations going on were
technical. If I needed a new mouse I had to get 3 signatures.....They pay for
it with my own funds and get reimbursed.

We all have "Office Space" or "The Office" type situations at our jobs!

Now when I come to work it involves walking upstairs to my DEDICATED office
after a nice breakfast, some music and my two cats...

~~~
oz
_"We all have "Office Space" or "The Office" type situations at our jobs!"_

Damn, it feels good to be gangsta...

Seriously though, I'm happy for you. And I want that for myself. I spend the
day counting down the hours. Small office with no privacy, so I can't even
learn some Python to pass the time.

------
nerme
I have no idea why, but I'm not obsessed with getting rich.

I AM obsessed with doing whatever the hell I want to do, which I've basically
been able to do for most of my twenties.

Hell, I've been dead broke and still been able to do whatever I want to do.

Don't worry about money. It's a silly thing to fret over. You think you need
it to travel, to eat nice food, to be comfortable... but the most traveling
I've ever done was while I was the most broke... and I got to see the world
while playing music!

When I have had my most steady, high paying incomes, I've been content, but
not really feeling all that free.

See, you can worry about money, and then work really hard to get it, and be
around other people who want to work really hard for money... but... people
who only care about working hard for money are ridiculously boring.

They are so boring, in fact, that they have to use their money to buy things
and pay for interesting people to spice up their lives.

Whereas the people who are more interested in just living life typically have
pretty interesting friends who do, and most importantly, make interesting
things. Gourmet dinner potlucks! Hanging out at a friend's art studio! Touring
with a friend's band!

How do you get friends like that? You have to do and make interesting things
as well!

I hope everyone actually does take offense to this: When I hear someone say
they want to be filthy rich, I hear it as them saying they want to be a boring
douche bag.

~~~
oz
_"I hope everyone actually does take offense to this: When I hear someone say
they want to be filthy rich, I hear it as them saying they want to be a boring
douche bag."_

Straw man. Nobody _wants_ to be a boring douche bag.

I agree with Ramith Seti when he says:"I never want to have to make a bad
decision because of money (e.g., staying at a job I don’t love because of car
payments).

Isn't that the situation of most people? They stay in bad situations because
the rent has to be paid and the kids have to be fed. I just don't want to have
to worry about that.

Besides, many of history's great artists were able to achieve what they did
because they had patrons. What if daVinci had to work. Look what happened to
van Gogh.

~~~
nerme
It is not a straw man. I am not replacing "person who spent a lot of time and
effort to attain monetary wealth" with "boring douche bag", and then attacking
"boring douche bags".

I am merely pointing out the unintentional consequences of a lifetime in
pursuit of the only object whose only purpose is to allow you to do or get
things.

I'll put it another way: If you can't figure out anything interesting to make
while you're alive, make money instead.

If you want to talk about a straw man argument, how about the fact that you're
substituting "being filthy rich" with "having enough money to pay rent and
feed children", and then opposing someone who is opposed to "having enough
money to pay rent and feed children"?

------
chewbranca
I recently came to the realization that anything I put off until 'tomorrow' or
'the weekend' won't get done because there is always new stuff to get done
when tomorrow or the weekend shows up. Your best bet is to just do it right
now, or tonight, or as soon as you get off work or to devote yourself to using
a reliable time management system.

Take for instance this weekend, I had a whole vision of what I was going to do
over the weekend and what I was going to get done, it was great, it sounded
like a perfect plan, except none of it happened, life happened. I got caught
up doing other random things that are on my ever expanding todo list. That
doesn't mean I didn't have a productive weekend, on the contrary, I got a ton
of stuff done, and I'm sitting here on a monday morning calm and relaxed
knowing that I had a full and productive weekend and that I'm ready to get
more stuff done this week, whatever it may be.

The best advice I can give you is to get a solid time management system like
GTD setup where you dump everything, and then stop trying to allocate your
time exactly, but rather think of things in terms of actionable steps on a
variety of projects, so you can just jump in and get something done. I find
having a specific project that I've been hyping up getting done all week
rarely gets done because you've thought about it too much. You just need to
act.

~~~
oz
I've started some elementary time management in the past and gotten some
results, but I lacked the discipline to maintain it. How do you do it?

~~~
chewbranca
Its not easy, it really takes a mindset change. For me, the big thing that
really woke me up and got me to be very conscious of my productivity, was
having a baby. Now granted, this is not the normal course of action for
becoming more productive, but for me, it really woke me up because all of the
sudden I have no free time and efficiently making use of the time I do have is
a high priority.

I do have two more realistic recommendations for better time management.

1) Pick a system that works for you and use it 100% for everything, not just
work, or for home or any other subdivision, use it as your primary system for
everything you need to get done. For me, I'm migrating that into the GTD
system, and so far its worked very well for me. The important thing is that
you stay on it, because if you stop using it at all, it won't work.

2) Don't half ass anything. What I mean by this, is consciously make a
decision to fully engage yourself in whatever you do. Either be productive, or
don't be productive, but _never_ anything in between. You made this post on a
monday morning after spending a weekend watching tv and youtube and it bothers
you because you feel like you wasted a weekend. The problem is you _did_ waste
a weekend. Because you were sitting there watching tv and youtube while
consciously worrying that you sitting there watching tv and youtube instead of
being productive. Do one or the other, never both, if you're worrying about
something, put it on your todo list and let it be until you're actually
sitting down to do it. Its perfectly fine to spend an entire weekend doing
absolutely nothing productive, but you need to make the conscious choice to do
that and immediately drop any worries about doing other things.

I watched world cup over the weekend as well, I even played zelda on my DS
while watching world cup, and it was great, I had a lot of fun, because I said
hey, I want to relax and have some fun for a while, so I played video games
and watched soccer with no worries about accomplishing anything or not being
productive. I had made the choice to not be productive which allowed me to
have worry free fun and relaxation. After the game I decided it was time to
get stuff done, so I went to my list of projects that all have next actions
waiting for me, so without having to figure out what needs to get done next, I
had a task waiting for me and was immediately able to jump in.

So overall, it really is a mindset change, with the most important aspect
being able to focus solely on your current action without worry.

~~~
oz
I think this is _great_ advice. It reminds me of Ramit Sethi's 'Conscious
Spending' principle: Spend lavishly on what you value, cut ruthlessly from
what you don't.

------
dkarl
Has anyone considered that this guy is just _tired?_ Tired and overwhelmed
with the expectations he has created for himself. You'll never get anything
done unless you give up on all your planning and anticipation. You're
committed to driving yourself too hard, and some part of you is too smart to
make that mistake. You've set the bar so high that failure is inevitable, and
you've subconsciously picked the easiest way to fail.

Solution: don't spend the week fantasizing and setting up absurd expectations.
Resist planning; resist even thinking about it. When the weekend comes, you
want to be free to follow your own initiative. You don't want to wake up on
Saturday morning with your entire weekend already scripted out. Too
depressing! On Saturday morning, just start working at a relaxed pace and see
where the work takes you.

If you want to go balls-out on the weekend, find some way to slack off during
the week. Not recommended if you have a reasonable day job that you'd like to
keep.

------
forgottenpaswrd
Oh man, don't you know that you need to rest and relax for making something
productive?

Read Tony Schwartz and see this video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tke6X2eME3c>

The human body is not a machine, you know...

About the thing: "you want to be rich" Man, this is ethereal, an entelechy by
itself, you can't motivate yourself with an entelechy. Your subconscious mind
needs real, fixed things or goals, you know "not to be rich" but "4000", 5000,
6000, 1000eur/month rich, or getting a million, or two, whatever.

You don't want to be rich, you want certain things money can give you, write
it down in a paper what they are(as fixed specific goals). You will start
realizing that you could get them without "being rich".

You want so much money only for yourself?,IMHO that would be sad, the richest
kid on the block. Maybe you want to really help other people in the process.

The best money making people I know, and I know dozens of them, some are
famous, are very good at filling OTHER PEOPLE necessities first. People can't
stop giving them money because they did something for them. Money is only an
exchange of value.

Studying marketing is a way of getting what people necessities are.

If you are sick of working for others, work for yourself, every day. At first
it will be very hard, but once you get it you will love it: [http://www.john-
carlton.com/2010/06/congratulations-and-now-...](http://www.john-
carlton.com/2010/06/congratulations-and-now-stop-being-a-wuss/)

~~~
oz
Yes, my goal is too abstract. I know that I won't aim for Facebook or Google
rich, but I haven't decided what exactly I want.

Edit: Thanks for that John Carlton link. Love it!

------
zackola
STFU and just start to do it. Open a todo.txt file, write down small goals
that will eventually lead to the completion of your über spreadsheet. As you
finish items on your list move them to a done.txt file. Try to do at the least
one thing on your todo.txt every day. Don't wait for the weekend either, this
should be a daily exercise. Humans respond well to habitual activities,
however it takes a lot more effort for someone to get in the habit of
something that does not have an immediate reward (working out vs. smoking) but
once you get in the habit of that non-immediately rewarding thing, it becomes
part of your life.

For bonus points tell me how you plan to become filthy rich with an Excel
spreadsheet.

~~~
oz
I do this, but usually fall back into my old habits. But you're right. Habits
are God.

I'd rather not say what the spreadsheet is for, but it's not my end game. The
proceeds of that will go to my other startups; for example my greeting card
company (I hand-make greeting cards with paper and fabric, sold quite a few
for Mother's Day and definitely intend to make a huge company of it). Stay
tuned.

~~~
jtheory
About falling back into old habits -- you have to give those old habits some
respect. The very act of sinking down in the couch and grabbing the remote --
and letting yourself be dragged into a 2 hour waste of time -- is something
with roots that probably run much deeper than you realize.

You can't usually break old habits by just, you know, deciding _for real this
time_ that you aren't going to let it happen anymore. Sure, that works for one
decision (10:05am) and maybe even a bunch of them (10:09am, 10:43am, 10:44am,
11:05am...) but how long can you keep winning those battles through force of
will alone? Your will gets tired.

You have to take physical steps to make it impossible. If you give away your
TV, that's a real-world step that would force you out of that particular
addiction (and believe me, TV is addicting... there are an awful lot of very
smart people who've worked for decades making it that way). I haven't had a TV
since 2002 or so, and I've never intend to get another. So that's one down.

I still find plenty of ways to waste time even when my work is my own, and
interesting to me -- I'm doing it right now! -- but once you've successfully
knocked down your most serious distractions it gets a little easier to see how
it all works. Personally, I cut out TV and any and all gaming a long time ago
(because they just short-circuit my brain, it seems... I get sucked in even if
I'm not enjoying myself at all), and most of my time-wasters that are left
aren't so impossible to resist -- so I can use some of the methods other
posters are talking about.

Making lists (and explicitly reprioritizing) is great -- sometimes when you
hit a roadblock that would normally have you popping open a "timewasting"
browser window, or wandering off to the kitchen, if instead you grab the paper
& pen and go outside you can either scribble your way through the problem step
by step, OR realize that you don't have to solve it at all (or, not yet).

When you need a break, walks are also great -- instead of something like TV
(which fills your head with stuff that completely blocks most useful thought)
you can just follow your feet for a bit, enjoy the weather (there are pleasant
aspects to most weather) and clear your head and your thinking.

Also allow yourself time to recharge (again, TV is bad for this because it
fills up your head with a flood of images and messages designed to stick
there...) but hanging out with friends & loved ones is great, getting outside
is great, going for a run is great.

One final thought -- if you actually make some changes (like blocking web
access part of the day, tossing the TV, etc.) it takes a while before you
actual benefit from the changes -- you'll keep popping from your chair and
heading to the TV for a good while, for example, or find yourself pacing
around just thinking furiously about whatever time-wasting thing you'd
_normally_ have been doing at that moment.

------
eelco
I'm sure this sounds disappointing, but basically there's nothing you can do
other than start. There are several ways to trick yourself into starting,
though. Some random ones:

* Break big tasks into small pieces, make a list.

* Visualize yourself taking (and completing) the first (physical) step.

* Take a time based goal instead of task based one, e.g., just spent 5-10-15 minutes on the task.

* Start with big rewards (for small things) and try to make them smaller as you go.

* Set deadlines, plan backwards (but don't abuse it to procrastinate ;)

I think of discipline as a muscle that you have to train. Don't expect to be
able to lift a complete weekend of productive work if you usually 'slack off'.
I definitely recognize your behavior.

~~~
oz
_I'm sure this sounds disappointing, but basically there's nothing you can do
other than start._

I've been giving this same advice to others, and I have started, but like
edw519 said, I'm using the spreadsheet as an excuse.

Thanks eelco.

------
b-plus
pretty sure I wrote this, except I'm 34, not 23.

It's so easy to be all talk and no work. No one will make your dreams come
true for you. If you let yourself be held back, at least be honest with
yourself and admit you're doing it to yourself.

No one but you will make you succeed in achieving your dreams. Trust me. I'm
wondering where the years went, and all my cool domains names lay there, half
completed.

As for practical advice, if you feel the need to relax, try watching movies
you've already seen, and working while they are on in the background. For me,
it's The Goonies and CB4. Anything you know like the back of your hand, so
you're entertained, but can fade in and out of paying attention and keep on
cracking on the work. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. This works
especially well with "gruntwork" but it's probably not going to be something
you want to do when really working on new, core aspects. There you just need
to buckle down and do it. And if you don't... well, then you want to eat
cheesy poofs and lay around more than you want this other dream.

How you spend your time _is_ your dream. You might not like your dream, but
there it is. In the long run, we all end up with the level of productivity we
want, and that we deserve.

I don't mean to be negative, but having your hand held and being told it's OK
isn't what you need. You need to get your ass in gear. So do it.

Take a sick day to get started if you feel like you can't get started on the
weekend. Get the ball rolling. Do whatever you have to do to get started, or
you'll end up where you deserve - nowhere near your goal.

You have to make it happen.

~~~
oz
You're not being negative; you're being brutally honest. I'm the same way with
_others._ It's needed.

I've already started, but the gruntwork is like a Roman phalanx in my path.
Guess I'll just have to shut up and fight.

Excellent, helpful response. Thanks.

------
faramarz
Wow, the similarity to my situation is striking!

I'm struggling with this as well. It's even putting a strain on my
relationship with the gf.

For example, I tell her no, I can't go out this weekend. There's a ton of shit
to be done (and there really is) but I end up not doing any of them. When I
tell her about it, she brings me back to reality and gives me good advice. But
I can tell there's only so much a person will put up with.

Then I get excited about what I need to do to get there. I lookup productivity
methods (currently trying the pomodoro technique) and do some case study
readings about successful people. Exciting stuff. The world is all mine.

Then I sleep, wake up the next morning and I'm totally blanked out. The
motivation is lost. The fire is gone. nothing gets done again.

I have sort of figured out why though, but I haven't done anything about it
yet. I think it's my work environment. I hate being where I work and it makes
me _day-dream_ of all the other possibility of doing something different. But
the dream is never realized until I do something about it. and thats the state
I am at right now, figuring out what to do about it and where to start from.

My biggest issue is that I'm fully aware of my options and potential, but i'm
still not concerned enough to make a change. :S

~~~
oz
Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Cycles of motivation then crashing.

------
yupp
I don't really have any advice, I'm just in the same boat as you are.

What I've done is renting myself an office, a place of business - where I
conduct work and don't watch the last season of Family Guy while "clearing my
head".

The other positive side of this, is that I will be flat out broke, and in
quite some debt, if I don't have a positive cash flow within a couple of
months. I think that kind of pressure will be good for me.

~~~
oz
I find that I don't like to work at home: It's easy to get distracted, plus I
value my privacy. It's almost 5; I'm waiting till everyone leaves, then doing
my spreadsheet.

I agree that the pressure will be good for you. Good luck, and keep us posted.

------
Tycho
I know the feeling but I think the human race is under this collective
illusion that 'the weekend' is a vast expanse of time where you can complete
tasks at your leisure. It's not really much time at all once you factor in
unwinding from work, catching up on sleep, having decent meals, running
errands and preparing for Monday morning!

My weekend plan was to read a substantial chunk of _GEB_ , watch a few World
Cup games, visit my cousin, spend time with my family, complete my preliminary
reading for my MSc, get a draft MSc specification typed up, and in a spare
moment or two work through some programming tutorials.

Oh and I have to build a website for somebody. I'll fit that in 'at the
weekend.'

 _Totally realistic._

Maybe a better strategy is never plan to do any work at the weekend, but when
the Saturday/Sunday come you might have some interesting project from during
the week that you've already started and can't tear yourself away from.

------
dmfdmf
I think I learned this in Given's book "Super Self"; the basic idea is that
the subconscious mind will generate fatigue or excuses to avoid work. Why this
would be so nobody knows but I found it to be true. The other problem is that
if this pattern becomes a habit or automated it can be very difficult to
break. The only way to break out is to consciously decide to ignore the
excuses and fatigue and do the work anyway. In your case, set a limit -- I'm
going to work on x for 30min no matter what and ignore the distractions,
excuses, false fatigue, etc. The idea is to retrain your self to work on your
goals and build up from 5 minutes to 10,20,30,60 minutes until you relearn
goal focus.

~~~
oz
As I wrote in another comment, I think there are competing forces within us.

------
pcestrada
You need to start a habit of being productive. I like to tie going to the gym
with working on a personal project. I find getting up and going to the gym
first thing on a Saturday morning makes it much easier to sit down after and
work on something productive. If I sleep in and ease into the weekend, it's
almost impossible to overcome that initial inertia and get something done.

------
whyme
<http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html>

_I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight
pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project
you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you'll leave
the right things undone_

Maybe you could write an application to automate the spreadsheet work....
which might be more motivating?

------
steveklabnik
Others have given great advice, but here's something else, too.

If you need to find more time, then you have to cut something somewhere. Time
is a zero sum game, right? You're already living 24 hours per day, it's all in
how you slice it. So what took up the most of your weekend?

> channel surfing > watching about 4 movies > Watch a few World Cup matches,
> while surfing YouTube.

If you'd throw out your TV, you'd have saved at least 10 or 15 hours, right?

------
jarin
I suffer from the same problem, and I find that the #1 motivator that actually
works for me is having someone besides myself holding me accountable to a
short deadline. Barring a client or other stakeholder checking in on progress,
one trick that I've used is making plans with friends to go out for dinner or
drinks and committing to finishing my task before meeting up with them. That
way, I'm driven by the thought of being late and having a friend sitting at
the bar angrily waiting for me.

If you don't have any friends available, the 2nd best motivator is to break it
up into smaller and smaller tasks until you have something you can take care
of quickly and easily enough that there's no way you can procrastinate
(Pomodoro method also helps with this approach).

If you're feeling overwhelmed, it's also important to take Saturday off and
actually go outside and do something fun (sitting at home or going to the bar
does not count as a useful day off). You'll find that Sunday is a lot more
productive.

~~~
jarin
Another good tactic is to have a like-minded entrepreneurial friend over for a
coworking session. It makes it harder to sit on Google Reader or HN when you
have someone else in the room.

------
bpourriahi
Trust me. I've been dealing with this for years. I have somewhat of an unfair
advantage in this department. If you don't take care of what's most important
(i.e. most of your time), then the little time you do have will be of little
value to you.

I will give you an example. My friend wonders why he has a poor diet. He says
he knows he should eat better, but he still makes poor food choices. The
answer? Because he is failing at the most important things in life. His
career. He's desperately confused on the inside, lost, and scared. At 25,
living at home, having a pointless and worthless degree, I would be too.

It's like that story... here: <http://www.wow4u.com/theprofessor/>

Once you take care of the most important, all the less important stuff is
easy. In your case, take care of most of your time... your mentality in your
spare time will change completely.

(And start journaling your fears and beliefs)

Peace.

------
msg
At 23 I was less than one year married and working at a textbook publisher for
$8 per hour. It was an ok job, I guess. It got me into CS, so I'll be forever
grateful.

But I was going nowhere. It took me a while to find what I really cared about.

Let me give you a hint. Anyone who cares about money as an end in itself has
not really thought the thing out.

Now at almost 30, I have satisfying, challenging work. My wife doesn't have to
work because we live on my salary. My son is six and happy. I'm paying off the
grad school debt and the mortgage that happened in between. And I have some
inkling about what I'll do next.

Figure out some purpose in life. It's an investment that will pay off way
better than VBA macros.

~~~
oz
I don't really want money just for its own sake. The freedom, the
possibilities are what I'm really after. And I think money makes that a lot
easier.

~~~
msg
I suppose I buy that money is a kind of gateway.

But what does it open into? What freedom? What possibilities? If you begin
with the end in mind, you'll have a reason to suffer for the money to buy the
freedom you want. Without it you'll just dream about dreaming.

------
rezrovs
Break down your goal. You have one statement which is 'Make Complicated
Spreadsheet'. That alone sounds daunting. Rather break it down into smaller
chunks to make it sound more manageable.

That said, you can then spend all day making more and more detailed plans and
this turns into it's own form of procrastination. Try to figure out what
motivates you and then draw from that.

Also, why wait until the weekend - what do you do with the hours before and
after work?

------
starkfist
Being rich and being sick of working for others are different goals. Many
people in my family "work for themselves." They are freelance artists and
musicians and make almost no money. Another family member is in finance and as
far as I can tell he is pretty rich by most measures.

If you really enjoy excel as much as you imply in one of your other posts
perhaps getting into banking or trading would be a good way for you to become
rich.

------
ryanwaggoner
<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/>

Seriously, who can't work on something for 25 mins? Give it a try.

------
aamar
I've watched a lot of movies, and the time which went into that has been
enormously paid back in the form of increased wisdom, self-awareness, empathy,
aesthetic sense, and interpersonal skills. And depending on how intently you
watch YouTube or World Cup, you may be getting volumes out of those activities
as well.

You may be calling these activities time-wasters automatically, or because
that's a common way to look at media consumption. But they may instead be
important learning activities for you, useful in some of the ways college is
useful.

I agree very much with others here that "doing" and "doing as a means of
learning" are fun, fulfilling, and important, but sometimes the emphasis on
those methods disparages other important activities we engage in.

Try planning your weekends and incorporating a sense of balance, e.g. figure
out during the week if there is a game or movie you might get a lot out of on
Sunday and fit time for other goals around it.

------
MisterWebz
That's why i'm more productive when i know there's school the next day.

A few things that helped me:

1\. Making a list of productive things to do and start doing one of them. If
you notice you're starting to procrastinate, choose something else from the
list that seems to be more enjoyable to do. This way, you might not finish
what you planned to do, but you would still have done something productive and
you won't beat yourself up for procrastinating. Then just cycle through the
list and eventually you'll end up doing everything on the list.

2\. If there's a very boring task that i need to do, i just tell myself i'll
do some work for 5 minutes and then do something else, but once i get started
i'll probably work until i get the task done.

The only thing that really bothers me is when i have very productive days
followed by a sequence of very unproductive days. It feels like i have some
sort of bi-polar. Does anyone else experience something similar?

~~~
patrickk
Another way of saying:

" _if you want something to get done, ask a busy person_ ".

------
oops
Break your complex project down into a list of tasks.

You want list items specific enough that you have a clear idea of where to
start.

Now do the first few tasks. After 2 or 3, you'll have built momentum and
that's the hard part.

To keep your momentum, stop before an easy task so tomorrow it's easy to start
up again. Do the same when taking breaks. Tick/strike your tasks as you go, as
it's satisfying to see your progress.

Set specific and realistic timeframes for each task, keeping in mind they'll
all take you three times longer than you think they will. Always be able to
answer "where will my project be 1 day/week/month from now" to keep yourself
on track.

Rinse/repeat, get enough rest, get enough exercise and time away from
computer. Especially if you're doing dayjob AND side-project sitting at a
computer. Resist the urge to pull all-nighters.. although you're 23 so once in
a while is probably OK :-)

------
NEPatriot
The things that you avoid most are the ones you must attack the hardest. Read
the War of Art by Pressfield.

~~~
oz
Already had it in my Amazon wishlist, from researching this problem. I think I
need to put this up on my wall.

Thanks.

~~~
NEPatriot
Step 1: Give the problem a name. In the war of art that name is resistance.
You have to grapple with it every day. Attack it - make it your enemy.

------
drawkbox
Get started (hardest part), music, and rescuetime. Find tasks within larger
tasks that you can check off so it feels like progress. Create a game with
your tasks and as you complete them you advance (RescueTime can help create a
productivity game).

Success is breaking past all these walls. Everyone goes through it.

Also it might be better to tell yourself you are going to chill every weekend
and when you do actually work it will feel more rewarding. You may also be
propelled to work because you are wasting time. If you think all week that you
will work this weekend, your mind feels like it has committed and dome
something but your actions don't complete it in reality. So reverse that by
planning to waste time, when you do stuff you'll feel better.

~~~
oz
_"Success is breaking past all these walls. Everyone goes through it."_

Thanks. I really needed to hear that.

------
chipsy
Two things.

1\. Try taking up a meditation art; you can do that instead of watching TV and
movies. It tends to act as a "multiplier" on whatever you want to do next,
rather than sapping your energy.

2\. You're probably visualizing too many results at one time, which makes the
work seem big. Whatever you're doing, the plan/execute/feedback cycle has to
be kept short, or else you lose touch. This doesn't change even if you have
all the time in the world or are guaranteed trillions of dollars at the end -
the work itself has to be something you can take satisfaction in. So don't
worry too much about a goal for the day or the weekend. Just _get started_ and
you're sure to make progress.

------
crosvenir
I also have this problem. I spent a large part of the weekend creating a tool
for my developers at work to make their live easier instead of spending those
precious minutes with my wife and 8 month old sweet girl.

Some argue that we already spend time on what is important to us. If it wasn't
important, than we wouldn't be spending time on it. In my case, my work is
more important than my family at times. In yours, the argument would go,
having fun is more important that pursuing your "dream".

I think it takes a lifestyle change. A rehash of what is _actually_ important
to us and redirecting our attention and energy to that.

Good luck, oz. I hope you make it!

~~~
oz
Thanks. Good luck to you as well.

------
khafra
Most of it's based on existing studies and introspection rather than original
research, but I find PJ Eby to be one of the best around at understanding
motivation and akrasia: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpS_cJP5nzs

------
volomike
Because you need to hit bottom first on this issue before finding that bottom
and deciding, enough is enough, and moving on. Just like you're beginning to
do now, in fact, by making this post.

Trust me -- many people have been here where you are.

You appear to have the entrepreneurial spirit. The world needs more of us,
actually. But get there wisely. Plan, prepare, make the exit, feel the "sink
or swim" period, get used to it enough in the lows so that they don't scare
you as much anymore, and then you'll soar just like I did.

Of course, having a spouse with a stable income sort of makes it a lot easier.
:)

~~~
oz
_"Just like you're beginning to do now, in fact, by making this post."_

I was a bit reluctant to post-didn't want people to know I struggled.

Maybe pride really is a deadly sin.

------
lappie
There is something called a decision making reserve. You consume this over the
weekdays. During the weekend you are bankrupt and all the 'time wasting' is
actually critical for you to build up the reserves for the coming week.

This system exists for your own good. Do not try to fight it. Understand it,
instead.

Understanding your power/limitations is the first stepping stone to realize
your dreams. Once you do that and internalize it, you will know how to unleash
the power.

Lastly, always remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

------
aero142
This is what works for me. Get up Saturday morning and go edit you hosts file
and block off the 3 most common sites that you waste time on. Now, pack up
your laptop and go to a coffee shop. This will eventually lead you to break
the habit for short stimuli and eventually you will learn enjoy longer term
projects. Leaving the house prevents you from turning on the TV or finding
some other random thing to waste time on. It's all about habit forming.

~~~
oz
I think this is a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't have a laptop.

------
freshfey
I really can relate. What is holding me back from starting to work on
something or learning for a subject I'm not interested in (for college), is
the fact that I'm afraid to fail/not complete/not understand. But the thing is
after I start and work through the problems I tell myself, why haven't I
started earlier?

Anyway shoot me a mail, maybe we can help each other out and create something
great!

------
istari
Haha, I suffer from much the same illness.

Oz, are you in the Bay Area? I wonder if a "pair programming" setup would
work? By that, I mean 2 people tell each other what they're going to work on,
then sit beside each other and work on it.

In my experience, the social context prevents the brain of having any notions
of desertion. It'd be too embarrassing for either person to open up a youtube
tab.

~~~
oz
No-Kingston, Jamaica.

Confession-I can't program! I can talk with you about it for hours, from
calling conventions, concurrency methods. I started messing around in Python
when I was about 14. But because I've never sat down and finished something, I
don't have the practice.

I'm smart, but I don't Get Things Done.

~~~
istari
I wasn't talking about programming either, pair programming is just an
example. Your spreadsheet will work just as well.

You wanted a solution to you wasting time. Get someone to sit besides you as
you work. Find someone who has something of their own to work on, so you don't
distract each other by talking.

Run a mental experiment. Can you see yourself goofing off with someone besides
you? If not, try it out!

~~~
oz
A few hours ago, I made plans with my best friend to meet up Saturday and get
some work done.

------
csmeder
The only thing that has worked for me is the Pomodoro technique
<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com> and the Hemming Way Hack

Read the ebook:
[http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/resources/cirillo/ThePomodo...](http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/resources/cirillo/ThePomodoroTechnique_v1-3.pdf)

------
nileshtrivedi
Make a system to reward yourself for actually executing your plans. Buy
yourself a treat or the gadget you always wanted when (and ONLY when) you have
successfully exercised every day for 30 days in a row. Enjoy 15 minutes on
HackerNews AFTER 3 hours of real actual work. Come up with your own system.

------
nopassrecover
Small note: it could be conditioning but you also do need "mental recovery"
time

------
orblivion
Here's one quick consideration: you have to relax. You will do it one way or
another. Perhaps you should try to do stuff after hours instead of the
weekend, and not even worry about being productive on the weekend?

------
bpourriahi
I will tell you the answer: It's because you spend the other 5 days doing
crap.

------
csbrooks
>I'll spend 5 minutes doing the task, and as soon as I encounter any
difficulty, I take a break to 'clear my head'.

This is one symptom of ADHD. You should see if you have any others. (I'm not a
doctor, etc, etc.)

~~~
oz
I self-diagnosed myself with ADHD approx. 3 years ago...

~~~
csbrooks
Have you seen a psychiatrist, or tried any medications for it?

------
dmfdmf
How's that novel coming? Almost done, I'll bet.

[http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2009/12/how_to_create_motivat...](http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2009/12/how_to_create_motivation_for_2.html)

------
jdavid
Just do it.

you don't need any help from us. if you start doing things, even failing at
them, you will one day succeed. don't give up and just remember there is only
one obstacle between you, and your chosen life.

you, so i say again

just do it.

------
starkfist
Your bad habits are not so bad on the grand scale of things. A lot of working
stiffs split the weekends into getting hammered and nursing a hangover.

------
bwr
This is silly, but I think I am less likely to slack off if I wear shoes while
sitting at my desk.

------
bpourriahi
Oz, what's your email?

------
getonit
Fair of failure - welcome to the club.

All the other alternatives you have covered. It even sounds like you're
looking for confirmation, rather than an answer you don't know. I'm with you -
I procrastinate, blame other stresses, take breaks, stop working in order to
organise what I'm working on, etc. Every now and then, I manage to just shake
it all off and do something useful, and then it's blindingly obvious what I've
been doing and I swear I'll never do it again. It's about time I got a grip
and practiced what I preach more often, but there you go.

Good luck, wish me the same!

~~~
oz
Have you been lurking outside my bedroom window?

I always swear that this is the last time. I hope today can be a turning
point.

~~~
getonit
Forgot to mention that I have the words "Just stop stopping" on the wall
behind my monitor - it might be the hardest thing in the world for me to do,
but knowing how simple an instruction it all boils down to really helps me to
guilt myself into actually doing it, rather than just promising myself I'll do
it.

------
ddemchuk
Most of this sounds like I wrote it. I hate time, I'm 23 and feel like I'm so
far behind where I want to be.

Think about it this way: 15 years ago, we were in 3rd grade. I don't even
remember anything in third grade. Since then, I've gone to and finished middle
school, high school, college, worked multiple jobs, had multiple girlfriends,
cycled through different groups of friends, partied hard, and lived life. All
of this while my mind and brain were still developing.

Now we're 23 and smarter than the average person, technically and
entreprenuerly aware, and impatient because we aren't where our 30+ year old
friends are in life. I regularly am spoken to like I'm equal in age to my 30+
year old coworkers, who even make fun of "dumb college kids just out of
school" but don't consider me in that group.

We're not as old as you think man. I waste time on the weekends all the time.
It's because we think we can handle 100+ hours a week and hate ourselves when
we break down and veg out.

Cut back your hours, wake up and stand in the sun every morning for 30
minutes, and take yoga or go running every day. Write in a journal.

Remind yourself that there is a world that doesn't give a shit what we think
of ourselves or where we want to be, and the only thing that can get us
farther in life is our own determination and willpower. Start thinking long
term and tell yourself you are badass.

Feel free to hit me up if you want to chat more, sounds like we have some
stuff in common.

~~~
oz
Wow. I haven't experienced a tenth of what you have.

 _"Now we're 23 and smarter than the average person, technically and
entreprenuerly aware, and impatient because we aren't where our 30+ year old
friends are in life."_

Yes, yes, yes! I am eternally grateful about being entreprenuerly aware. I
keep telling myself to be thankful - many people only start thinking this way
when they're ten years older. This is one of the major contributions of HN to
my life: pulling back the curtain on entrepreneurship.

 _"We're not as old as you think man. I waste time on the weekends all the
time. It's because we think we can handle 100+ hours a week and hate ourselves
when we break down and veg out."_

How did you know? Especially when I read so many stories of founders working
100+ hr weeks for three years, I'm ashamed to be finding it difficult to do it
for a week! I really want to 'compress my working life,' as PG put it.

 _"Remind yourself that there is a world that doesn't give a shit what we
think of ourselves or where we want to be, and the only thing that can get us
farther in life is our own determination and willpower. Start thinking long
term and tell yourself you are badass."_

Willpower and Will To Power. Nietzsche FTW!

 _"Feel free to hit me up if you want to chat more, sounds like we have some
stuff in common."_

Email sent.

~~~
sgentle
I think it's too easy to blame. We wouldn't look at a watch that was running
slow and say "that watch is lazy", and we shouldn't look at ourselves when we
don't achieve what we want and treat it as some kind of failure of will.

Psychologists have a term for when you overestimate the actions of a person
rather than the environment they're in: the fundamental attribution error. We
attribute results to the ego even when it's not really responsible.

Your mind and body are incredible machinery that you spend most of your life
figuring out how to operate. The difference between 20 and 30 is ten years of
operating experience. If you've blown it this weekend, it's not because you
were lazy, it's because your machinery's not quite running right.

The advice given elsewhere in this thread is great, but at the core is an
understanding: the results mostly come from your environment. Not just the
external (distractions, workspace, tools etc), but also the one in your head,
defined by goals and motivations and ruled by systems and working rituals.

You can't change it all at once, and if you expect that the next time you sit
down on the weekend you'll just have a new lease on life, you'll be
disappointed. If you do this right, you'll just slowly start finding it
easier. The distractions less appealing, the tasks more approachable.
Eventually it will be harder to fail than to succeed. To get there, you just
need to stop blaming the watch, and start listening to the machinery. What
does it need to run on time?

PS. About founders working hundred-hour weeks without breaking a sweat, I
think you'll find the number changes significantly depending on how you define
work. I'm currently working 168 hours including scheduled rest breaks and
group-oriented social activities.

------
unclebob
Motivation and self-discipline will trump intelligence any day of the week.

