
The Psychology of Dreaded Tasks - danicgross
https://dcgross.com/accomplish-dread-tasks/
======
Dowwie
Additionally..

1\. Give yourself permission to just try, for a little while

2\. use fear-setting for really tough moments

A technique that I've found helpful when dealing with anxious thoughts is I
become mindful of the anxious feeling, realize what I'm feeling anxious about,
and then give myself _permission to just try_ , regardless of the outcome.
I'll explicitly granting myself permission to "just try" and even throw in
"just for a little while, see how things go". This at times has turned into a
productive, multi-hour session.

Tim Ferriss talks about a technique use to confront fears, called "fear
setting" [1]. Essentially, I put together a 3-column table and think through
the worst that can possibly happen. It helps me think about risks and realize
what I can handle. This helps to manage worry.

[1] [https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-
setting/](https://tim.blog/2017/05/15/fear-setting/)

~~~
Bizarro
I would add take care of some low-hanging fruit to your "just trying" item.

Get the menial, "paperwork tasks" out of the way before you to get to the
hard, problem-solving stuff.

Also, know when to walk away and think about things away from sitting in front
of a monitor and keyboard. Showers are great for thinking. I also like to swim
laps to do hard work - thinking work.

~~~
Dowwie
I do some of my best work while walking my dog! :)

~~~
gloriousduke
Gardening for me. These are good examples of one of the main benefits of
working from home. At many workplaces you need to simply be present at your
desk hammering away at the keyboard to signal productivity, but it's easier
for remote workers to get up and do their coding while engaged in something
like walking or working outside. It's amazing how clearly the solutions for
programming problems can come in those scenarios.

------
TrainedMonkey
The best way I found of actually getting through the dread tasks is to cheat.
Ask for help from someone else (presumably they do not have the mental block).

1\. Identify the dread tasks.

2\. Ask someone who cares (about you) to help you.

3\. Do them together, with the other person not letting you get distracted.

For big tasks asking other people to help you chunk them also helps. After
that avoid thinking about whole thing and just look at the small chunks.

~~~
ajiang
I came to comment the same. I think there could be a business for "dread task
buddy on demand".

On second thought this sounds like a life coach

~~~
djmips
Yeah but 'life coach' has negative connotations whereas dread task buddy
sounds awesome. This is one reason pair programming is good at times.

------
tofflos
In the "Learning How to Learn" course, that was mentioned in the MOOC-
discussion a while back, they suggest tackling this by focusing on process
over product and tying a reward to it:

"I'm just gonna sit here and do taxes for 25 minutes and then eat some
chocolate" rather then "I'm going to finish my taxes".

The reasoning is that by removing the pressure of completing the whole task
you can sometimes convince yourself to stop procrastinating.

If that still doesn't do it for you then at least you have the chocolate.

~~~
afarrell
Also, in that 25 minutes, you can discover the _actual blocker_ to doing the
task. Oftentimes, I find that my dread about a task is because of some
ambiguity. By committing to a certain chunk of time working on it, it becomes
obvious what that ambiguity is.

Of course, then I have to push through the discomfort of resolving that
ambiguity. But that is easier now that I'm an adult and:

1) Know how to frame questions in a way that sets the answerer up for success.

2) Can ask "why are we doing this?" (better phrased "what is our goal in doing
this?") and get an actual answer this rather than "because I said so".

3) Have the backbone & confidence to push back when someone says "stop
procrastinating, just write the damn essay." and press until I get the
question answered or decide that I'm not going to do the task.

~~~
scandinavegan
Yes! What's stopping me is usually that I'm not entirely sure how to do
something or I'm afraid that I will uncover some really hard or time consuming
problem when I start doing the task. Instead, often only a short time is
needed to get an overview of the task and realize it's not that hard.

For me, the first step is to commit to only a five minute overview and
information gathering session. During those five minutes I will figure out
what output is expected from me, write down a couple of concrete tasks, and
then start with the one that either looks like it will add the most value or,
if I'm low on energy, the one that's most fun. When I tick it off, I'm at
least closer to completion and hopefully has enough momentum to start the
another task on the list.

All of the above are best case scenarios, as I still usually put off things
for way too long and have to work through the night to catch up. I constantly
try to improve this, but as soon as one deadline has passed with a marathon
work session, I relax because the next deadline is far off.

------
eudora
I must say, just last night I had a bit of coding to start and it seemed like
I was being asked to kill a kitten or something, the thought was so incredibly
depressing.

I forced myself, through the resistance, just to start.

I said I'd do it for an hour then I could stop. Note that this was beginning a
new, big task. If I was in the middle of it I probably wouldn't have had such
a huge urge to resist it.

Anyway, once I started it was cripplingly painful for about 5 minutes. Then I
couldn't stop for the next few hours - I think because the thing I was working
on was incrementally rewarding - every 5 minutes or so I could see the
progress I was making.

Also, it helped a lot that I put on an interesting podcast that makes me feel
great.

I suppose my point is that this guy is pretty correct, at least for me: it was
pain I was avoiding, and just starting was the biggest hurdle.

I'm a bit ADD-ish, I think, so YMMV.

~~~
an_throwaway
There is this crazy swimmer here - he swam down 50 miles of the ganges river
in some iron man contests - and he constantly swims between islands.

The way he visualizes is splitting down the goals to smaller portions. "I only
think about the next 15 minutes, if I would think about the whole thing I
would go crazy.".

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
I've found that's the best for any sort of physical task - for running it was
"ok, I'll run to that light post" \- a run could be an hour and a half of
light posts. And for strength training it's always a lie on the bad days. "I'm
not feeling great so I'll only do three sets today." \- I always end up doing
my prescribed five, but the size of the lies change as I need it to.

------
jl2718
There is a point not addressed here. Some tasks are distasteful by nature,
like cleaning manure out of horse stalls. It’s disgusting but I don’t have a
problem with it. Other tasks are neutral by nature but infuriating by their
very existence. Taxes fit into this category, even when owed a refund. Any
kind of job/school application or process that takes a lot more of my time
than the person who will evaluate it. I know that negative thought will come,
and I don’t want to have them. Also, there are arbitrary decisions to be made
that are irreversible and can have huge negative consequences if done wrong.
These are also avoided. The idea that a task is avoided because it is
distasteful by nature is really saying something about the simplicity and
inconsequentiality of it.

~~~
tokyodude
Not really a "task" in the sense that it only takes 5-10 minutes but I hate
that in 2018 when I visit many medical offices I have to fill out lots of
forms, even when it's an office I have a history with and none of my data has
changed. Ideally they'd show me a screen and say "has anything changed?" the
end. If a screen is too expensive they'd print out a piece of paper will all
my data and just have me sign that it hasn't changed. When I've asked though
I'm told "it's the law" and that it has to be handwritten. Maybe Estonia is
better at this?

~~~
rainbowmverse
The library manages this the 1-2 times a year I go to a branch. They show me
the latest information in the PINES database, ask me if it's all current, and
input any changes. Of course, they don't have the same regulatory and
liability concerns as a doctor.

~~~
konradb
Weirdly it feels like it might lead to more inaccuracies to have everything
re-keyed many times, due to variances in how people remember things and enter
subtly different information in forms on subsequent occasions.

------
dataisfun
This is particularly hard for people with ADD. That said, I think it’s
potentially dangerous to give advice that’s in any way titled the “Psychology
of...” without actually basing it on evidence and the literature because
people might confuse it for rigorous or clinically appropriate guidance. I
recognize you couch this in your experience, but if you’re going to write
about something that in anyway dovetails with a pathology, it could be helpful
to include at least some even abridged literature review, since this will be
viewed by thousands (given you’re a shoe-in for HN’s front page).

~~~
interfixus
Exactly!

> _Don’t “do your taxes”. Just change the label to “gather finance documents”_

Finance documents? What finance documents? Which ones? How would I know
without having started on my taxes? Wherever did I put them? They're all over
the place. This is hopeless. Maybe tomorrow.

~~~
coroxout
You've been downvoted but I laughed because this is exactly the inner
monologue I have whenever I try to start a Dreaded Task.

"I don't know where to start! Well, I could start with document A, but then
I'd need some information from document B, which requires document C, but I
can't do C until I've done A -- oh no, a loop! I can't see how to get round
this at all; maybe my head will be clearer tomorrow. Time for a break.

(NB the "loops" often aren't really 100% circular, but seem insurmountable in
my head; this is the point where talking to someone is invaluable, if I can
get past the usually correct suspicion I'm going to sound stupid for making a
big deal about a block which seems totally trivial and non-blocking when I try
to put it into words)

...Also, didn't I already work on document B? But I can't remember where I got
to, or where I put my notes, or what they mean..."

I do suspect I might have AD(H)D but I live in a country where adult ADHD is
not really recognised, so I guess I'll have to do the best I can using some of
the good tips posted here instead.

------
rabboRubble
I've a theory for nasty work, the "Bikini Wax Theory of Nasty Work". The
theory goes like this, a bikini wax and nasty work are exactly the same
because:

1 - Nasty work and bikini waxes are both painful to do.

2 - you must move decisively and quickly for both nasty tasks and waxes,
getting it over as quickly and competently as possible.

3 - if you fail to execute #2 properly the results will be a bloody and even
more painful mess, likely taking more time to achieve the desired results.

I've shared this theory with close colleagues. Nobody has told me I'm wrong to
my face.

~~~
cm2012
Most people just wouldn't do a bikini wax given the options above. So maybe
not the best advice for getting dreaded things done.

~~~
cimmanom
And yet thousands of women get them every day, so there must be a reason.

(Yes, they're painful. It's about 5 minutes of ripping off band-aids at
30-second intervals. Then it's over and it doesn't hurt at all any more,
though the cortisone cream is soothing.)

Oh, the reason to go through that? It saves 6-8 weeks of shaving a very
sensitive (and awkwardly shaped and difficult to inspect) area and dealing
with 5-o'clock shadows and stubble and ingrown hairs and razor nicks. If
you're self-conscious about wearing a swimsuit (or, for some, about your
appearance in the bedroom), it's totally worth it.

Now, that nasty work that you're procrastinating on: why do you want it to be
done in the first place?

~~~
rabboRubble
And yet thousands of women get them every day, so there must be a reason. >
Yep!

------
gnud
Some good mind hacks here, but I have to say that changing wording from "do my
taxes" to "organize my finances" is not a way to reduce dread.

I have done my taxes about 18 times in my life. I have yet to organize my
finances.

~~~
gm-conspiracy
Also, this is a unique US problem, no?

~~~
gnode
It's certainly not a problem for me in the UK; PAYE is automatic, and I've not
yet had to do a tax return. Although I did once need to get an adjustment,
which I did with a short letter. I do wonder why the US puts such a tax
administrative burden on individuals.

~~~
jimmaswell
Lobbying by tax preparing companies is part of it.

------
nnq
Does anyone else have _an absolute dread of FIXING / REPAIRING something?_ And
a solution for this dread?

Sometimes I'm at a point where I would put my hand in a running blender
together with a live kitten or something painful and horrible like that, just
to get _NOT to have to FIX something that needs fixing_ and instead to _START
something new_ or to _completely replace or refactor something_ or to _buy
something new and set it up in the place of the thing needing fixing_...
anything, just _not repairing_ , _not debugging_ , _not fixing_ or _not
optimizing_ one more little half/broken thing.

The only thing I similarly dread is "going the last mile" from 80% to 100% and
finishing any project/task, but for this at least I have a big bag of tricks
that works most of the time.

But fixing / repairing instead of replacing something or starting with
something completely new... This is HELL for me. Even visually, a blank piece
of paper or a blank screen pumps me up with energy. But when I see something
already half-working / half-written but know that there are some serious
bugs/defects that I need to hunt down and repair somewhere in that. It
sometimes fills me with so much dread that my subconscious makes me "forget"
that that task exists, or forget what its components are so I end up miss-
estimating by factors of up to 100x (with obviously horrific consequences for
everyone's budget and sanity).

~~~
Klathmon
I've had very similar feelings before, and in my experience that fear of
"fixing" is telling me something, that i'm not in a good position to be fixing
whatever it is.

You mention that "refactoring" doesn't give you the same dread? Could it be
because you know the problem better if you are tackling a refactoring but you
don't when you are bugfixing? I've found that that dread wasn't from
bugfixing, but was from a lack of confidence about the part of the codebase
i'm working on.

Personally, I've found good results with tricking my brain into thinking i'm
"refactoring" while really "bugfixing". Schedule the time to review the
codebase that i'll be bugfixing, talk to the author if possible (and it's not
you). If I want to indulge myself I'll sometimes "mock refactor" it, I'll open
a new tab in my editor and almost pseudocode rewrite the component or module
that needs fixing/debugging. Then once I feel I understand it enough, I can
actually dive in and fix the bugs in the original code. And by that time i'm
familiar enough with that section that i'm not fearing every letter typed as I
know what will happen, I understand the intent behind the code.

I also struggle with the fear of "wasting time" a lot with this kind of stuff.
I have this incorrect feeling that if I was able to develop these 300 lines of
code in 6 hours, that I can't possibly devote 6 more hours to fixing a few
lines. But the reality is that often the small 1-2 line bugfixes are the
largest timesinks of all, and that I can't be afraid to schedule those 6 hours
to look into that bug. Once I get over that hump that I'm somehow "cheating"
the system by allocating so much time to what ends up being so little change,
I feel a LOT better about actually doing it.

------
thinkingemote
When I was a little child I used to hate going for a bath, but really enjoyed
being in the bath, and didn't want to leave. I remember thinking to myself
then, "why do I hate getting in the bath when it's so nice in it?!"

I still don't know why, and it's still both amusing and puzzling when I
encounter similar things with coding and other tasks as a grown up.

~~~
cimmanom
I think exercise can be like this for a lot of people. If you do figure out
the solution, let us know, would you?

------
mikece
Essential reading on this topic: "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield
[https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-
Battles/dp/1...](https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-
Battles/dp/1936891026/)

~~~
tonyedgecombe
This has to be the most disappointing book I've read this decade, I came away
with nothing actionable. It was like reading the advice "just eat less" as a
way to loose weight.

~~~
donquichotte
If you crave for further disappointing books, I can also recommend "Do the
Work" by the same author. Instead of actually doing the work, I read the book,
and it hasn't helped me a bit.

------
hyperpape
This sounds nice, but given that the title is "The Psychology of Dreaded
Tasks", I'm saddened there's essentially no reference to psychological
findings. The references to the brain in the article are completely
unreferenced. They sound fine given what I know about predictive processing,
but I can't really tell whether they're just a nice sounding story, or
something scientific. There a lot of psychological work on procrastination
(I'm not sure how much neuroscience there is, but there's bound to be some).

This post would have been less impressive but more honest without the veneer
of psychological authority.

~~~
kyleperik
I don't think whenever someone says "psychology" they're going to have
extensive knowledge on the subject. Sounds like he's speaking from his own
experience. What would you call it? He's talking about the brain isn't he? Or
are these terms reserved only for those who've gotten their PhD?

~~~
hyperpape
Make the title something like "How to approach dreaded tasks", or maybe
something a little more creative than that.

The topic really doesn't have to be about the brain. We all have experience
confronting tasks we dread, but we don't have to know anything about the brain
to talk about that experience.

Now, maybe neuroscience comes along and tells us something new about how that
dread happens, how to confront it, etc. If so, that's great--but it should be
properly cited. Also note that simply invoking the brain does not necessarily
add anything: if you find out dread involves the XYZ subsystem of the brain,
that is irrelevant to a discussion of the experience of dread, until you say
what we've learned from it being the XYZ subsystem.

So my demand is intellectual honesty. Which parts of your post are grounded in
science, which are personal experiences, which are just fluff?

------
redmaverick
I created a terminator script at work. It shutdowns my system if progress.txt
is not updated in the next 3 minutes. If I am dreading any task, I launch
this. All I have to do is make _any_ progress and record it in the
progress.txt file. It forces me to focus.

Shutting down the system is not a life threatening situation but it is
annoying and a minor inconvenience. Especially since it takes a few minutes to
restart the system and load all the applications.

~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
What job do you do where you can be productive while interrupting yourself
every 3 minutes to update a text file? Or am I misunderstanding something?

~~~
redmaverick
3 minutes is an arbitrary time limit, you can set it to anything. This forces
you to act. Once you get to a flow state you can turn off the program.

------
plankers
Personal gripe, but he just had to mention coffee, didn't he?

Are there any folks out there who like to get difficult things done without
caffeine?

edit: I guess not.

edit #2: You're sending me mixed messages, Hacker News.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
I don't like to get difficult things done at all, that's the problem. I will
take any advantage I can get. Sometimes caffeine helps, and in those cases I'm
not gonna leave it on the table.

------
pipio21
I have been doing that for years form me and for others(managing people) so
they do not procrastinate with the team like they will do if alone. I do that
without telling them I am doing that.

I will add some things I consider very important:

Use paper, write things down. Dividing a big task means nothing if you have no
external memory you could trust to free the brain short term memory but you
could recover it later. Paper today is the cheapest and more advanced external
memory there is.

You could also use a tape recorder if you prefer audio memory.

After creating small sub task(tactics) from your general strategic thinking,
put a checklist square near it. When you finish the task, check it.

Every hour of deep work, mark it on a calendar like a prisoner does with
sticks. This provides visual feedback for your brain of your accomplishments,
specially with hard tasks that takes months to complete.

The word for managing to do dread task is "reframing" into something that is
important and positive for you.

Of course if you have money and power you could delegate most of the dreaded
task, like googlers do with most of their domestic chores.

There are more things but the important thing is that you need practice,
practice and practice until you get it. And like in anything else you will
learn it much much faster if you personally know someone who "gets it" and
learn from this person directly.

I have met some "naturals" of this processes in my life but I am not. I
developed this skill over a long period of time, making me super productive
compared to when I started.

~~~
sturakov
I generally enjoy using paper for this reason as well, but I struggle with
organizing the paper. Or, sticking to some form of organization.

I've tried setting up bullet journals, but paper discourages me for a few
reasons.

\- What if I need to edit or add extra content? I generally write in pen so
that what I write down sticks around.

\- I prefer to write in a stream of thoughts. To organize the paper, I try to
think ahead and categorize my nebulous thoughts. This extra effort discourages
me from writing and eventually, from using any organization system with paper.

I like Evernote because I can throw it in there and search will eventually
help me find it.

------
pmoriarty
This article assumes you're just going to follow the advice it gives. If you
can in fact do that, you're half-way there.

But some people have strong resistance to doing anything that will get them
closer to the dread task, and will instead distract themselves (say with video
games or any number of other distractions), or by doing some other less-
dreaded task, etc.

There could be some underlying cause for such resistance which no amount of
visualization, coaching, coffee, or workouts could touch.

This is where working with the right therapist might help. "Right therapist"
being the key phrase there. There are so many different therapists out there,
and so many different approaches to therapy too. What might work for one
person might not for another.

~~~
Someone1234
> This is where working with the right therapist might help.

What exactly would a therapist do? Saying consult a therapist seems a bit like
a trope. It isn't within itself an answer.

Simply talking through the mental block as if it is a rational decision isn't
particularly helpful, a lot of the bad roadblocks are something deeper than
your conscious mind or inner monologue.

For example, there are many people who have read the books, followed the
steps, and still struggle daily with these kind of dread task problem that
seemingly get worse the longer you avoid them.

~~~
gnode
> What exactly would a therapist do?

Diagnose your ADHD and prescribe you medication.

~~~
jayliew
Only a psychiatrist (an actual medical doctor) can prescribe medication.

A therapist is usually what people refer to as a licensed marriage and family
therapist (LMFT), who does "talk therapy". They are typically NOT MDs, so they
do NOT prescribe meds, because they can't.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=cbt+as+effective+as+antidepr...](https://www.google.com/search?q=cbt+as+effective+as+antidepressants&oq=cbt+as+effect&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.2779j1j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

~~~
gnode
I'm not from the US, so I'm not familiar with that system. Although I would
have expected "therapist" to mean a psychiatrist in the context of attention
control (as opposed to interpersonal relationships).

~~~
jayliew
One way to think of the difference is: whereas one focuses on helping you feel
better through mere conversation[1], the other focuses on achieving the same
goal but through the use of chemicals.

They are not mutually exclusive, and everyone's thoughts and bodies are
"wired" differently, so it's very common to have a combination of both
solutions (talking & meds) to achieve the same goal.

I think too many people think "therapy" == meds 100%, and that is absolutely
not true. Many people can benefit from just the "talk" therapy (no meds) and
feel better about it.

[1] I say "mere" conversation in jest, but it is no less significant (IMHO),
than that of a lawyer's output (mere words too, right?)

------
nurettin
>> Break down a big idea into small bits.

I'm not getting this. Of course you would start by breaking down the task.
This is what you do with every task. You don't just gulp down an entire task
without planning ahead or thinking about steps. So this is no different than
saying "now start doing the task". It is silly self-encouragement, trying to
trick your brain into thinking that you did something to alleviate the
problem. You did not. You just started the dreaded task and made yourself
focus.

I am tired of seeing these kinds of "advices from experts" online and in self
development books.

~~~
svat
Comments like this make me realize there's an entire universe of people who
don't have the problems I have, and I wonder what it's like to be like them,
and have learned the things that are so obvious to you.

For example: Is it obvious to you that faced with a task you're dreading and
procrastinating on, it helps to replace it in your mind with something
smaller? It was not obvious to me, and was learned after years of misery, and
even now I have to consciously remember to do it, and whenever I _do_ do it, I
find it helps immensely. (For example, when there's an email I'm dreading
replying to, and have been procrastinating for weeks—it hanging on my mind
every day of course—it helps when I replace “reply to Ram's email” with “just
write a reply to Ram's email” or (if that doesn't work) even “write a garbage
outline of a reply…” or even “reread Ram's email”. For another example, I had
to apply for a travel visa and was procrastinating for months, and what
finally helped was mentally replacing “finish the rest of application process”
with “create a travel history document” with (when that didn't work) “collect
all travel history”… along with the “talk to people” trick.)

And yes, the idea is indeed to “trick your brain“ into doing the dreaded
thing. At least, I have found it to help.

The matter-of-fact way in which you say “You don't just gulp down an entire
task without planning ahead or thinking about steps” is really inspirational,
because that's not my mental model of doing things, and I have to consciously
practice it. I wish I learned these things in school, instead of just coasting
by and now struggling with getting anything done at all.

~~~
nurettin
>> For example: Is it obvious to you that faced with a task you're dreading
and procrastinating on, it helps to replace it in your mind with something
smaller?

I am not immune to procrastination, I did it for five years straight and
dropped out of a college. I just don't experience frustration or anxiety when
trying to figure out how to do something in general. It isn't really education
or upbringing, but perhaps I watched carefully when I saw people trying to do
things that are hard for me and easier for them.

~~~
svat
Thanks, that's interesting. [And hi! I dropped out of a degree too :-)] Did
you mean only “when trying to figure out how to do something…” as you said, or
do you include even “when trying to do something”? Because not experiencing
anxiety or frustration in the former is something I can manage too (a
challenge is always fun, especially when it's a purely cognitive task like
figuring something out), but the problem arises when one thinks one is in the
latter situation.

To take the example from the OP, “do your taxes” is probably something that I
have done a few times before: so I don't think of it as something to figure
out how to do. (Maybe the fact that I'm so unsuccessful every year at doing it
until the last minute means that I really do need to figure out how to do it,
but it doesn't seem that way: it seems that I know roughly what it involves.)
The mental model is that I'm just going to sit down for a few hours to “do my
taxes”, and do all the things it usually involves. And it causes dread,
avoidance, resistance. And the OP's suggested fix, the one you're commenting
about, of replacing it in one's todo list with things like “gather bank
statements” (or something smaller and concrete like that) seems to help
immensely. Does this not fit your experience? (Maybe not with doing taxes, but
with some dreaded task… or is there usually nothing you dread?)

~~~
nurettin
>> And the OP's suggested fix, the one you're commenting about, of replacing
it in one's todo list with things like “gather bank statements” (or something
smaller and concrete like that) seems to help immensely. Does this not fit
your experience?

Therein lies the distinction. I don't figure things out roughly. Perhaps it is
a habit of generalized thought about Todo lists that I got rid of at some
point. Instead, I keep in mind just the first exact thing I need to do,
avoiding the thought of seeing the whole picture instinctively.

------
blt
The highlighted sections on this page drive me crazy. They really interrupt
the flow of the text.

~~~
cimmanom
Most browsers these days offer a "reader mode" \- great for reducing those
distractions. (Also for dealing with sites with awful fonts or layouts.)

------
Bakary
There are so many articles on productivity on the internet that I'm starting
to wonder whether there isn't a deeper problem at hand here.

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Bizarro
Coffee will give you a boost for a limited amount of time, then you feel worse
then before. I still drink coffee, but I don't do the morning routine anymore.
I have energy in the morning, the afternoon is when I need the boost.

Working out and the resulting endorphin rush is great, but once again that's a
temporary fix. You probably got a couple hours of the endorphin rush until
you're more tired than you normally would be. Don't overdo the workouts, know
when the best time for you to workout is, and get plenty of rest.

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cookingrobot
My instinct is always to talk about my goals for the reasons listed in this
post. But research suggests that talking about goals makes it less likely that
you'll follow through: [https://www.inc.com/melissa-chu/announcing-your-goals-
makes-...](https://www.inc.com/melissa-chu/announcing-your-goals-makes-you-
less-likely-to-ach.html)

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keyle
I'm a big believer in attacking a big problem after a workout and a good
coffee. Also set a time for it. "8 am tomorrow, I'm doing this thing"

After a work out, I can clean the entire house, pumping music in my ears, for
example.

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hosh
The idea of a prediction being painful matches my experience. I never thought
of it that way, but now that I do, that makes things a lot easier. (I
meditate, so just knowing about this helps me a lot).

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brokenmachine
I'm avoiding a dreaded task by being on hn right now...

