
Structured Procrastination (1995) - rbanffy
http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/
======
marban
My personal warning sign that I'm off track is whenever I feel the urge to
_research_ a new to-do list tool.

~~~
edjroot
Same here, except my urge goes as far as _writing_ to-do list tools (but
obviously never actually getting to the point of having something usable). I
guess it's easier to blame current solutions for not having {insert essential
feature I just came up with that would finally turn me into a productive
individual} than actually working with what I have and focusing on what needs
to be done.

I wonder if there is some kind of all-encompassing solution (software-based or
whatever) that actually manages to conduct you into a so-called "flow state"
in some way. I've tried automating things like blocking websites, turning the
computer off at certain times and so on, but it always either feels too
constraining (which just makes me disable everything after some time) or too
"manual" (which I never have the discipline to maintain). And ultimately, it
doesn't really make me want to do the task any more than I would otherwise.

~~~
losteric
Discipline is the solution.

I'm not being facetious, the bottleneck to individual human productivity is
usually the human. Over-planning and focusing on tangential problems are
frequently just rationalizing away procrastination... "maybe this mountain of
work will take less effort with a better organization system" \- probably not.

These days I prefer using org-mode for notes, MoSCoW for triaging, and
Omnifocus for execution. It took months to become proficient, but now getting
in the zone is effortless.

~~~
TeMPOraL
> _I 'm not being facetious, the bottleneck to individual human productivity
> is usually the human._

This too, is my realization, after a lot of introspection (and observing other
people).

Sadly, I never learned discipline. Given the anxiety issues I'm struggling
with since late-teen/early-adulthood, I can see that my average performance is
about 10% of my peak performance.

I hear discipline is trainable, but I wasn't able to find something I could
execute as an adult. I wish there was a training regimen with benefits that
transfer to the rest of one's life (and not just making someone better at
executing the training tasks).

~~~
losteric
Every adult has some discipline, what we often lack is _practice_. Discipline
is not a binary skill, there are levels - at minimum, most adults know not to
impulsively buy candy when checking out at a store. Leveling up is just a
matter of exercising discipline to ignore greater impulses.

Start by calibrating yourself. Where do you already have discipline? Going to
work every day at the same time? Paying bills as soon as they arrive? Or maybe
something harder, like cooking healthy meals every other day, going to the
gym, or practicing an instrument?

Understand your level, then find something just a little harder. Ideally, it
should be a recurring task which you recognize requires discipline (ie
something you want to have done, but don't look forward to doing). Find that
task, then do it. Keep doing it until you can effortlessly climb over that
mental barrier. Then, continue doing it while challenging yourself with
something harder.

As someone with ADD, it took a _long_ time for me to become disciplined. I
started out by going to the gym every other day, eventually working up to
climbing mountains, learning instruments, and becoming one of the most
organized people at work (while still being ADD).

It's not easy. Of course not, discipline is the skill of doing hard things
despite the difficulty. But if you're looking for "a training regimen with
benefits that transfer to the rest of one's life" \- this is it. Discipline is
a higher-order skill that transfers to learning or doing everything else.

------
ClassyJacket
As a person that grew up with standard western schooling, video games, and
sports, and to some extent simply because I'm _human_ , I'm trained to have
these well-defines lines of when I accomplish something, which set off the
reward centres of my brain. I have attempted to exploit this in regards to my
to-do-lists to increase my productivity:

\- The to-do-list is no longer just there to make sure I remember to do things
- it is its own reward for doing things. Often I will add something to my to
do list when I am already about to start it - and need no reminder - _just_ so
I can check it off when I'm done. Occasionally I have even added something
_after_ I've finished doing it, just for the psychological reward.

\- I break things down into smaller parts to make it seem like a larger number
of accomplishments than it otherwise would be. For example, today I need to
make two similar online purchases - I could have easily put "Buy A and B" as
one item, but instead I put "Buy A" and "Buy B". Of course, one has to draw
the line somewhere, or we would end up with "get out of bed" "walk towards the
door" "open the door" on our lists, and checking off tasks would mean nothing.
Use your judgement.

\- I put "Work on my coding project" on there, even tho I'll be unlikely to
have much time for it. This means, in order to avoid having a single
outstanding item at the end of the day, I will at least do _some_ work on it,
keeping it fresh in my mind, keeping me in the habit, and inching me towards
completing it - and preventing me from outright procrastinating it until
tomorrow. Even if it's five minutes work.

These are of course silly psychological tricks that _directly_ accomplish
nothing, made even stranger by the fact that I'm using them on _myself_. Of
course, one could say the same about drugs, but nobody would argue that
caffeine or amphetamine never give you a genuine boost just because you don't
strictly need them. And, I feel that it works.

Now here's the challenge - stop the structured procrastination of writing this
comment and go do the things on my to-do-list.

Hmm... should I add "write a comment about to-do-lists" to my to do list...?

~~~
sonnhy
Insightful for sure. I should start using this exact same method, but my
problem is to fragment activities in smaller ones, which I find hard and
sometimes even too much time consuming.

------
jonkiddy
I've realized that I spend most of time focusing on the second most important
task I need to accomplish at any given moment. And since most of my work has
been handed to me by other people, most of them think I'm amazingly efficient
and end up exceedingly happy with the timeliness of my work, all but the one
who is currently waiting for their high priority request.

~~~
GauntletWizard
I've found that the secret to this is to find someone who's the sort of
obnoxious person who always has a "high priority" dumb request, and to make
sure you're helpful enough that you'll always get that request, which you can
safely ignore for the rest of the day knowing that you'll draw their ire but
the fact that you solved it at all means they'll keep coming back.

------
lonk
Bookmarked to complete reading later.

~~~
PeterStuer
ditto

....

Well, to be completely honest, I meant to, but then got stuck on what would be
the best place for it.

...

XD

------
Twisell
This is an terrifyingly accurate description of what seeems to be my actual
workflow.

~~~
Giroflex
It is both terrifying and comical at the same time.

This made it click for me about why the most productive times I have are also
the busiest ones. I thought it was due to "inertia". That is, if you don't
stop rolling, it'll be easier to roll. This theory has been contradicted by
the fact that it still really is quite easy to stop rolling very shortly after
busy times pass.

I had noticed this effect before, but only now after reading about it I'm
completely aware of it. I wonder how that came to be part of the human
psychology.

~~~
kqr
> I thought it was due to "inertia". That is, if you don't stop rolling, it'll
> be easier to roll.

This is a very common idea, and also potentially somewhat dangerous. A lot of
people chase the inertia with ever increasing workloads and burn out. I have
come close to that multiple times.

------
jwilk
Previous discussion:

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

------
olingern
I think the minimalist approach could be a companion to this style behavior
augmentation.

Rather than adding things that _could be_ done, I only add tasks that _have to
be_ done. Overtime, my "bandwidth" for tasks I don't like doing become much
greater and, in some cases, I begin to enjoy them.

Adding accountability around the tasks helps a lot (in my experience) as well.
I frequently use my guilt as a way to motivate me.

Ex:

    
    
      - If you don't write these tests, your co-worker will assume you don't know how.
    
      - If you don't clean your room, your guests will think you're a slob.
    

Admittedly, it leads to sort of a masochist style of thinking; however, that's
my brain by nature.

------
gymshoes
I now just use the todo app in my phone to keep tasks deferred.

The important difference is I don't let it get longer than 10 items.

------
agumonkey
related: trying to trade bitcoin made me structure my activities a lot more. I
hated trading, but it put negative pressure on itself leading to better use of
time.

------
__david__
I live by structured procrastination. My most productive day this month was
the 16th—the day before my taxes were due.

