
Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate - wallflower
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/opinion/sunday/why-i-taught-myself-to-procrastinate.html
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justusw
Very interesting. Especially regarding the starting a task, e.g. writing a
sentence, and stopping midway only to return a day later. It resonates with
me.

I think an important distinction in procrastination, that was not explored in
this article, is that a task has to be started or at least prepared in order
to successfully procrastinate upon it. For example, it won't help to put off
finishing a university assignment until the last minute if you haven't read
the task description. In that case, the thought processes that were mentioned
in the article would never have a chance to start. On the other hand, if you
have read a task description, even if you are procrastinating while binge-
watching Netflix, a background process is still running and working on the
task. The author of this article describes it as "Our first ideas, after all,
are usually our most conventional" vs "When you procrastinate, you’re more
likely to let your mind wander."

This ties in with a work methodology that works for me very well. Instead of
working on a project non-stop as soon as it starts, I prefer to work in small
chunks that give me enough time to "background-process" the task at hand while
I'm not working on the given task. It is similar to practicing or physical
exercise, in that the time that you spend on the activity is as important as
the time that you are not spending on the activity. Your brain and muscles
need time to regenerate and help strengthen the abilities that you are trying
to nurture.

~~~
pcurve
Glad you called that out. It was alluded to when the author mentioned the
minesweeper example. People were more creative when they were given time to
play the game but only after task was assigned.

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LifeQuestioner
Procrastination and creativity, cause or effect though? Are people who are
creative more likely to procrastinate? Does procrastinating make you more
creative?

I don't find when I procrastinate I all more likely to let my mind wander AT
ALL. The thing is, my brain is trying to ignore what i'm trying to do by often
absorbing in something else. I feel, my mind wandering reduces. Positive mind
wandering, for me, happens when i'm relaxed, chilled out on the way home on
the bus, bored, many other conditions. Not when i'm chronically anxious trying
to hide away from the world and the tasks at hand.

Purposely waiting...is not really procrastinating...it's purposely
waiting...it's thinking...

But it's nice to see a different outlook on procrastination. And to hear about
precrastination.

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aninhumer
If you're able to structure your "procrastination" time, it's not
procrastination, it's just enforced breaks.

~~~
artmageddon
I would say that this is better thangaving no breaks at all.

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andrelaszlo
I so wish I had this "problem".

"But if you’re a procrastinator, next time you’re wallowing in the dark
playground of guilt and self-hatred over your failure to start a task,
remember that the right kind of procrastination might make you more creative."

On the other hand, if you're not procrastinating you might end up being a
professor, a published author and writing articles for The New York Times...
I'll just stick to the guilt and self-hatred, for now.

~~~
Eupolemos
I read an article once with a professor who claimed that all his interesting
and good work was done as procrastination from his proper duties.

~~~
andrelaszlo
I think you might be referring to John Perry :)

[http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/](http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/)
[0]

I really liked his book "The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective
Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing". I read a lot about procrastination, as
a form of procrastination.

It's not all bad, of course. But it can be a problem. These professors writing
about it clearly has managed to make it work for them somehow. I guess the
grass seems greener on the other side of the procrastination spectrum.

[0]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151481](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151481)

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pcurve
"So I woke up one morning and wrote a to-do list for procrastinating more. "

This guy had some good punchlines. Lol

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nickjj
I am definitely guilty of being a pre-crastinator. It's really hard to turn
off anything when you're like this. You just go at something 100% every day
until it's done, otherwise you can't enjoy anything.

On the flip side, I've been the total opposite for the last 6 weeks. Maybe
it's the definition of burn-out having had just shipped multiple things that
took a lot of mental effort.

I found progress to be the 1 thing that helps me balance both. Work for an
hour or 2, meet some short term goal and take an hour break (reading, walking,
video games, whatever you want).

Also the best thing I've done recently is to start taking full days off rather
than work every day. Being able to flip the switch off and actually enjoy
yourself is a big deal.

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known
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-
driven_development](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development)
can fix procrastination

~~~
ambrop7
But YAGNI.

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heraclez
Too much contradicting stuff on the internet, it's hard to know what to
assimilate and what to filter out.

-To procrastinate, or not to procrastinate. That should not be a question

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Sounds like you've got a severe acute case of Epistemic Learned
Helplessness.[1] Previous discussion on HN.[2]

1\.
[http://squid314.livejournal.com/350090.html](http://squid314.livejournal.com/350090.html)
2\.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10279864](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10279864)

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kiloreux
Shameless self promotion: I just wrote a blog post about it yesterday [1] and
while this method have been effective for me, I try to stay away from
procsatination and do some non-mental activities that make part of my routine,
and thus give my brain the opportunity to subconsciously organize its ideas an
thoughts to make it a one piece that fits together.

[1][http://blog.kiloreux.info/my-approach-to-
problems/](http://blog.kiloreux.info/my-approach-to-problems/)

