
How to Get Things Done When You Don't Feel Like It - denzil_correa
https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3280677
======
fersho311
I've seen these tips before, but unlike most people here I've tried them
without any long term success. Breaking tasks down and gamification sounds
beautiful in theory, but usually I don't have the discipline to do that.

In case someone else feels the same way, what worked for me is to talk to my
coworkers. I usually go out for coffee or long walks and let my mind wander.
I'd talk about work, politics, our families, and usually the conversation
wanders back to work and what we are doing.

Many scenarios usually come up from those talks. Sometimes I'll find what my
coworkers working on pretty interesting and get involved (which sometimes
makes coming back to my work easier). Sometimes I ended up talking about my
work (explaining my problems to others helps me clarify and solidify what I
needed to do). Sometimes I realize that another team has already done the work
and all I have to do is ask them for a library. Once I realize that my work
was meaningless and purely a political play and I left the company soon after.

So going out for long walks and just talking with different people in my
company has worked out really well for me.

~~~
manmal
Sometimes, brain function is actually to blame for procrastination, and not
attitude or perception of the work before you. When I‘d slept too little, or
am going through caffeine withdrawal, my procrastination goes through the
roof. I‘d just rather sleep than do anything productive then. My anti-
procrastination toolkit is:

\- Like you said, going for a walk (activates beneficial genes, helps
circadian rhythm)

\- Stop caffeine as soon and often as you can. Sometimes situations force me
to use a pick-me-up, but I try and stop the day after.

\- Go to bed early (10PM ideally)

\- Vitamin D, Magnesium, etc. also check out near infrared therapy to improve
mitochondrial function

\- Moderate exercise (overtraining has a bad net effect on nearly everything,
so stop if working out makes you feel worse; if you have a heart rate
variability monitor, you can use that as a metric for overtraining)

\- Small talk (works for me to „wake the brain up“)

But really, 90% of the time I just have to sleep more. The others are just
hacks to keep me going if I can’t get enough sleep (sometimes not easy with 2
kids).

~~~
eponeponepon
> 90% of the time I just have to sleep more

I don't know about a lot of the rest of your post, but this bit is key. If you
aren't getting enough sleep, _nothing_ will help. The legends of politicians
and executives who sleep 3 hours a day are either outliers for whom 3 hours
genuinely _is_ enough, or speed-freaks, or often enough both.

~~~
toyg
I _can_ function on 3 hours a day -- if the only thing I have to do is
_talking and reacting to incoming stimuli_. Which is precisely what high-
flying politicians and execs do: talk, talk, talk, with some occasional
reasoning thrown in. They don't have to break down complex problems or create
complex artefacts, there are aides doing it for them. They just go through
briefing after briefing and react to what is thrown at them.

Actual creative workers and engineers require a different set of brain
functionality, which requires deeper concentration, and hence need more sleep.

~~~
josephjrobison
Great distinction that doesn’t get brought up enough. At the same time, we
also want politicians and CEOs making optimal decisions rather than just
surface level ones.

~~~
dotancohen
That is often a function of having good (or convincing) reports available to
them.

------
drawkbox
Couple tricks on getting started:

\- Use the 15 minute rule to get started, only agree to do 15-20 minutes of
work to see if you are flowing in that project, most of the time once you get
started and loaded up the project in your mental space you can easily flow on
it. Pomodoro is nice as well, but the 15 minute get started rule has less
commitment needed and usually works, or just plan to do at least one tomato
and you end up doing many.

\- Leave a currently solved code part partially done or leave a compile issue
on the area you were working on, then wake up the next day, finish that part
and you can flow right into other work because the domain is in your mind.

\- Multiple projects and work on another project during procrastination or a
thinking spot of the current project. Have main work projects, side projects,
fun projects, some are more fun, more work or just tedious/rote that you can
use depending on your productivity or work style of the day.

\- Motivators and triggers: music (usually a playlist that is used during work
to make it more regular), coffee/gum/work food, focus by turning off
distractions except for breaks, stand up regularly and walk around when stuck
on any issues that need to be done, and visualize shipping.

\- Creative Open/Focused Closed state: do creative work in the open state,
block out time and explore, do must be done work in the closed state, minimize
distractions and exploration [1].

\- Start the day right, work on something simple or one check in for instance
before reddit/HN/news or distractions, sometimes the first thing you do in the
morning can influence your whole day, reward yourself with distractions but
base yourself in production at least 2 to 1 productivity to fun/distraction.

Ultimately be a pro, a pro can start working to a high level even when they
don't want to, sometimes you need to jump start or get a rolling start but you
can develop a habit to get moving and ship.

[1] [https://genius.com/John-cleese-lecture-on-creativity-
annotat...](https://genius.com/John-cleese-lecture-on-creativity-annotated)

~~~
peteretep
Some additions to this I find useful:

> \- Use the 15 minute rule to get started

I like to take this a step further, and I think I read it in a Brian Tracey
book once. If I have a list of things that need doing that I am not especially
excited about, I'll go through them doing five minutes max on each. This
normally sufficiently unsticks each, but if it doesn't, then do a round of 10m
on each.

> \- Leave a currently solved code part partially done or leave a compile
> issue on the area you were working on

One way I handle this is by forcing myself to keep and update a "Next Work"
list (in an outliner) that keeps a very current todo list for each project.
Generally I'll update it each morning and break down the immediate next work
into tasks that only take a minute or two to get that momentum going

> \- Motivators and triggers

I'm only slightly ashamed to admit I make heavy use of:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6OwnNe9nMU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6OwnNe9nMU)
(usually while walking, or very very first thing in the morning -- I
downloaded the audio only)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjZ0KbJcav0)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkNKEHC8Pg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkNKEHC8Pg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjP9r-HU4fk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjP9r-HU4fk)

and Apple's Think Different advert

I also really like writing out the answer to "What'll be different in a
week's/month's time due to what you're about to do?"

> \- Start the day right, work on something simple or one check in for
> instance before reddit/HN/news or distractions

Phone goes on airplane mode overnight, and comes out of airplane mode once
I've completed my morning ritual, which takes about an hour and a half.

~~~
swah
> Phone goes on airplane mode overnight, and comes out of airplane mode once
> I've completed my morning ritual, which takes about an hour and a half

Yeah, no. How are people going to contact in case of an emergency?

~~~
baselined
This will not work for everyone as I do the same with airplane mode. I figure
if it is that much of an emergency, a police officer will show to my door with
terrible news.

------
edoo
This feels like someone discovered that multitasking doesn't really work (some
studies show it causes brain damage). I've grown to hate multitasking. Do not
try to design your project while building it. Do not try to understand what it
is supposed to do while debugging it. Separate all things, focus on them
individually. I've found without effort it is easy to find yourself working on
several tasks at the same time that would each be completed much faster if
focused on one at a time.

~~~
6nf
> some studies show it causes brain damage

What? That can't be true, are you sure?

~~~
PinkMilkshake
This is what I can gather from skimming some articles in a lazy research
attempt:

* Almost all evidence shows multitasking is not actually possible

* Some evidence shows attempting to do so anyway results in IQ reduction and loss of ability to focus

* Some evidence shows this reduction lasts even after you are done

* Some evidence shows this reduction is due to permanent physiological changes in the brain

'Brain damage' might be going to far.

~~~
Pyxl101
I can have a conversation with someone while driving a car. Is that not
multitasking?

To anticipate an objection, I would agree that the competence of both tasks
diminishes somewhat. However the overall competence of both is sufficient.

My brain also seems capable of detecting when more attention is required, and
automatically stopping the lower priority task. For example, if I had to
quickly merge across many lanes on a busy freeway, then I would likely cease
conversation during that maneuver. I don’t have to think too much about this
consciously. The brain understands that driving is paramount and it will
automatically preempt anything lower priority when more cognitive attention is
required.

I would be interested to know what the research says about phenomena like
that. There must be research like this supporting aviation, space flight, and
nautical activities.

It seems easiest to multitask across different modes, e.g., I can work with my
hands or drive a car while listening to an audiobook. I can have a social
conversation with friends over voice chat while playing a video game.

Maybe the degree to which you can multitask depends upon the type of task and
to what extent your brain can perform it automatically. The rote tasks
involved in driving for example require very little attention to perform
safely and correctly.

~~~
PinkMilkshake
Yes, I had a lot of similar questions. Maybe 'task' is a misnomer? Maybe it's
context switching that is the issue. Like talking and driving and having music
playing in the background all exist in the same context of operating a
vehicle. Just like using a calculator, reading a textbook and writing in a
notebook are all different tasks you switch between to study, but are all in
the same context of studying.

Side note, Wikipedia claims you can multitask between tasks you are already
highly proficient at.

------
cowpewter
If you have really serious procrastination issues, not only in your work, but
in your life in general, if you lose your keys or phone a lot, have trouble
keeping up with bills, forget appointments, if you're late to things
constantly, zone out at meetings, forget things people say to you almost
immediately, concentrate better when either tired or stimulated, have a bad
habit of interrupting people cause you'll forget what you wanted to say
otherwise, if your house is a constant mess...

Do yourself a huge favor and see a psych who specializes in ADHD. You might be
undiagnosed, and treatment could make a significant difference in your life.

If you were smart enough to coast through schooling as a child, and have the
inattentive-type ADHD, it's quite likely your ADHD was missed as a child. It's
not something you "grow out of" as an adult.

Even if you aren't ready for the psych step yet (it took me years of
suspecting I was ADHD before I took that leap), read up on Adult ADHD. If you
see yourself in everything you read, see a psych. It's worth it, even just to
know you're not "broken" you just have ADHD. Once you know, you can get
treatment, and find strategies that work for your brain.

~~~
borkt
I am this exact way. I've come to the conclusion that I seem to be addicted to
stress, and my mind purposefully avoids important tasks until almost no time
is left, and then it is so much more easy for my brain to concentrate on the
task and I achieve a level of focus that honestly produces much better work
than when I've deliberately tried to work on a task in a timely manner. I have
no idea what to do about this, and my family would be incredibly dismissive
and judgmental if I ever tried to seriously see my doctor about this. Any time
I have mentioned the potential for ADD I am scoffed at and called lazy. I am
not lazy at all, I actually can't stand being unbusy and will find something
to do to always be busy. I just have a huge problem focusing on what I
actually should be focusing on until the last minute, and my brain is often
somewhere else which causes me to forget where I put things all the time. Yet
I am the person people seem to trust most if they need help with a critical
decision

Does this sound like it could be an issue? I am on Kaiser and I hear they have
a TERRIBLE program for psych stuff in general. I hear I would need family to
be interviewed or asked if they feel I have issues which, again, they will
just say Im lazy and have no problems. Is there a place I can identify a
doctor in my area that is either reasonably priced or does not require visits
frequently? Even a web based doctor that you visit infrequently?

~~~
Eleopteryx
>and my mind purposefully avoids important tasks until almost no time is left,
and then it is so much more easy for my brain to concentrate on the task and I
achieve a level of focus that honestly produces much better work than when
I've deliberately tried to work on a task in a timely manner

This was high school for me. I would have weeks to finish a significant paper.
I would inadvertently wait until the night before, stay up all night working
on it, and generally I would get a good grade, often an A. It was like the
time and effort I would have spent on it was concentrated into a single
12-hour rush where the deadline pressure squeezed my best efforts out of me.

At no point did I think "I should work on this paper, but, nah". In my head I
was always getting around to it, but never did. Same was true for homework. I
would be trying to finish first period's assignment on the school bus, next
period's assignment in homeroom, another assignment in study hall, another
assignment at lunch, etc. A lot of copying people's work.

Also I have crippling ADHD and can barely hold a job.

------
PankajGhosh
Below are two questions that I ask myself, when I need to do a task I do not
feel like. My experience has always been that the impedance is higher at only
start of the task, and if the answer to any of below two questions is Yes,
then the value of outcome would supersede my initial uneasiness.

1\. Would the value created by this task reduce over time? In other words, is
it better to do this task today than in future?

2\. Does the effort required by the task increase (or remain same), if
delayed? In other words, is it easier for me to do this task today than in
future?

~~~
dtujmer
That's a good strategy. What if the answer is no to both questions?

~~~
PankajGhosh
In the case, where answer is No to both the questions, I have come to terms
with being comfortable with procrastinating on that task. If I cannot convince
myself of value added vs effort required today vs in future, it is okay to
delay the task.

Also, choosing not to do a task now and procrastinate can be a powerful and
useful tactic.

------
hliyan
Strangely, the one thing that worked for me doesn't appear to be on this list:

 _The resistance to starting a task is geometrically proportional to the SIZE
of the task._

So I try to break everything down into tasks that take no more than a few
minutes. I wouldn't have tasks like "Write FooBar architecture document", but
rather "Write FooBar intro", or "sketch connection diagram on paper" or "copy
connection diagram to Visio/Draw.io".

~~~
quentinp
The article does mention your trick:

> My solution was to approach a project by turning it into as many tiny steps
> as possible. That way I could get a few really easy wins under my belt. For
> example, each step would be a task such as "Search for ______ on Google" or
> "Have a conversation with ______." Crossing things off your to-do list gives
> your brain a happy little dopamine hit, even if the tasks are tiny—it keeps
> your motivation up and your excuses down.

~~~
hliyan
You're right. I think one of my other tricks failed me: reading paragraph
headings, following by the minimum number of sentences per heading required to
get its gist.

------
rb808
I have procrastination problems. I have a theory that I haven't heard other
people that seems to work for me - its that my brain works too quickly for
coding and gets frustrated then moves onto "more interesting distractions". I
find I am most productive when I get tired at night, or I'm not feeling well,
or I have a few beers.

I love coding and getting in flow state but it just seems much coding is too
boring a process.

Could this be true? Or maybe I'm just a classic procrastinator on HN again.

~~~
WalterSear
You are describing attention deficit disorder.

~~~
jobeyonekenobi
Agreed. I was recently (6 months) diagnosed as an adult with ADHD. The
experiences of the parent are in line with mine.

~~~
cowpewter
Yep, just diagnosed a week ago at age 38. If you did well enough in school,
and have the inattentive-type ADHD, it's really easy for it to get missed in
childhood.

If you were smart enough to coast through school despite your procrastination
and attention issues, definitely go see a psych for an evaluation.

------
lhh
When I find myself procrastinating, it’s usually because the problem feels to
me like some combination of unclear and overwhelming, in the sense that it
will take a lot of mental energy to even get started and then I’ll have to
maintain focus for a long time after that.

What helps me a lot in that case is to break the problem down into simpler
pieces. Then the first piece doesn’t seem so bad, and then I’m rolling.

------
trukterious
You can't do a thing you don't feel like doing. Ask David Hume, or ask any
depressed person.

In reality our ideas about what we should be doing _co-evolve_ with our
feelings about doing those things.

~~~
diminoten
I dunno, sounds slightly circular, prone to the "If you did it you must have
felt like doing it" kind of response.

~~~
comboy
> "If you did it you must have felt like doing it"

That's exactly correct. Every action you took voluntarily was your choice.

You are always doing whatever you want to do. You may tell yourself many
stories in your head, and we can dispute free will, but as long as we assume
it for the purpose of this discussion, what you do is your choice.

So to me the biggest step in fighting procrastination seems to be deciding
what do you really want to be doing with your life and eliminating wishful
thinking (i.e. thinking that you can get foo without doing bar in case where
that is not possible)

~~~
dwaltrip
> That's exactly correct. Every action you took voluntarily was your choice.

> You are always doing whatever you want to do. You may tell yourself many
> stories in your head, and we can dispute free will, but as long as we assume
> it for the purpose of this discussion, what you do is your choice.

I understand what you are getting at, and I agree with the basic fundamental
idea within a certain context. However, we have to be careful with how we
extrapolate and attempt to re-interpret words and phrases such as "choice",
"want", "feel like doing [x]", "deciding" , and so on.

The part quoted above basically makes those words meaningless. Regardless of
what one thinks about free will, those words have great utility and fulfill
roles in the human experience for which there isn't really any replacement.

You yourself demonstrate this quite plainly in your last sentence, when you
say we should "decide" what we really "want" to be doing with our life.

~~~
comboy
That's a fair point. I think we inevitably end up in a discussion about free
will if we try to pin those words down. That part of the last sentence could
have been written as "thinking what values are important to you".

But yes it's just rephrasing. I explained myself in a bit more detail here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17524210](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17524210)

------
jddj
Something which I have found helps me when I'm in one of those motivation
funks which last longer than a day and which I can't seem to shake is to spend
a bit of time consuming impressive work that other people have done in fields
outside of software development.

There's something about spending time in an art gallery, a library or even
taking a walk around the central business district of a major city checking
out the more impressive buildings and absorbing the pace and atmosphere that
seems to wake up what I would almost call a competitiveness (in the sense of
"shit, all of these people are doing such amazing, focused, long-term and
brilliant things. I should get back to work", but truly without any elements
of self-pity that might be read into that if I don't spell it out) on top of
the other more general inspiration which these things give me.

For whatever reason, it seems to be more effective if these works are outside
of software development.

------
nstart
I'm going to share my tip which has worked excellently for me in the past few
months (this is after years of iterating to find a solution).

I have a note book, and I write timestamped logs into it as I go along. The
emotions I feel when I take some extra time to do a tiny task because I got
distracted by HN or something else is quite strong. I feel like this has had a
very positive effect on self accountability. I can't bear to look at a log
where it's written:

10:12 - Discovered that a file is missing locally. Which one is it? (extra
note of file name)

10:14 - Going to check github to see if the file exists still and if not, when
it got removed.

10:50 - (Insert expletive). Got distracted with Twitter. Back now. Checked
file. It was removed in the last commit.

There are lots of other little elements I've included in my workflow like
regular reflections and end of day planning for next day. But I feel like the
physical logging activity is the element that actually makes it all work.

Happy to share more details on this workflow if anyone is interested. My build
just finished so it's back to work before I become embarrassed by my log ;).

Edit - I was in a hurry to write this because of a build about to finish. I've
got another build going and wanted to add that one other important effect of
this process is forcing myself to think of the next step _without_ the burden
of keeping the previous contexts in my head. That's all written down so I can
always pick up where I left off even in the case of an interruption.

~~~
nefitty
I presume you don't log when you're in flow. To clarify, you only begin
logging your actions when you notice you're procrastinating?

~~~
nstart
Good question. No. I log during every stage. To clarify how it works, it's not
a minute by minute logging. It's logging at every stage that one might
normally pause and think. "Hmm.. ok that step is done, now on to the next..
which is..." . So when I'm in the flow which happens rarely, it'll be like:

11:47 - Alright. Time to implement the functionality to read the JWT token and
store it and cache it for future requests.

11:52 - Test has been setup and is failing as expected. Let's pass this!

12:20 - Phew. Finally got that working. Making the function testable was a
little harder than expected. Had trouble mocking the call to requests so that
I don't actually get a token from the service for each test. Any way, that's
done. Now I need to test if it actually works when running. How should I do
that though?

12:26 - I have an idea! <there's be a flow chart diagram here and a bullet
point list>

12:40 - NICE! It worked!

Does that help clarify how I might go about logging? I find that the flow
doesn't come all that often and most tasks I'm working on requires me to pause
and think often. And the maximum time of work to pause is usually 20-25
minutes.

~~~
Charlie_26
I have a notification with a timer set at every n:15 time of the working day,
e.g. 9:15, 10:15, 11:15. This is because I find meetings rarely fall on to
this time at my current place of work. The notification works well and
constantly reminds you to keep an active journal.

------
mscasts
My best tip is to get more sleep. It is way easier to complete stuff and do
stuff you don't want to with a well rested mind.

When I am sleep deprived, I procrastinate a lot. When I get about 8 hours I
don't.

------
awkward
One thing that I didn't realize until I was in a work environment that
prevented it - I need procrastination or I can't get things done. Without
multiple irons in the fire - not that there can't be too many - I can't keep
myself in the interesting part of work, and if I can't batch administrative
stuff the interrupt time dwarfs the actual effect of what I'm doing.

------
welanes
To help 'gamify' getting things done, I recently added the ability to set the
timer in Lanes ([https://lanes.io](https://lanes.io)) to sync with any Youtube
video.

So instead of tidying for 10 minutes, for example, you can tidy for the length
of your favorite track - the timer will match the length of the video, the
audio will play and the time will be logged. If you have routine tasks this
turns out to be a pretty effective way of breezing through them.

How it looks:
[https://gfycat.com/HonoredHatefulIndianelephant](https://gfycat.com/HonoredHatefulIndianelephant)

~~~
TeMPOraL
What's the rationale behind Lanes using a round radio button in todolists,
where you'd expect to see a square checkbox? I know it's a trivial thing, but
for some reason it jumped at me.

~~~
welanes
Aesthetics mainly. Circles feel neater.

------
ericd
Something I've found very helpful at breaking the habit of going to
HN/Reddit/whatever when I start waiting for something to finish running - set
up a cronjob that checks what time it is, and if it's within working hours, it
adds a bunch of sites to my hosts file, pointed to a server I control. It also
grabs my current todo text file, and formats/pastes that into the index page
of that server. The page also does some light shaming. Outside of work hours,
it removes those host file items automatically. It helps in those cases where
you reflexively visit a time waster without really meaning to.

~~~
dzek69
Having todo on replaced website is a great idea, thanks!

------
dukoid
Listening to ambient music somehow seems to makes me seek other distractions
less, allowing me to actually get started with or focuns on the task at hand.

~~~
Kaveren
I find this to be the case too. I prefer listening to rain ambient, like A
Soft Murmur [1] or lofi hip hop beats.

Apparently, there's even some research that shows that ambient music which
isn't at a high volume level can boost creativity [2], and that it can also
improve performance in performing repetitive tasks.

 _Edit: Also found a reference to a 2005 study which is said to show that
music can increase performance in software developers. [3]_

[1] [https://asoftmurmur.com/](https://asoftmurmur.com/)

[2] Mehta, Ravi, et al. “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient
Noise On Creative Cognition.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 39, no. 4,
2012, pp. 784–799. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/665048.

 _Edit:
[3][http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735605050650](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735605050650)
_

------
petercooper
It might sound a bit more extreme, but I just think of not having any money,
me and my family being thrown out of our house, and my kids thinking I'm a
failure. That usually sorts it out.

------
whatgoodisaroad
Although I don't think it's an extraordinarily novel concept, something about
the framing of "Gumption Traps" [1] in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance resonated with me strongly, and sensitivity to them has helped me
get a lot more done.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption_trap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption_trap)

------
HillaryBriss
Worthwhile reading, IMHO. Every idea is one that has worked for me at one time
or another. I haven't seen them all together in a single article before.

I especially like the explanation that taking a break to successfully complete
some other straightforward task (e.g. sweeping the floor) creates dopamine
which gives rise to more creative thinking which can help you reach a break
through on the original task.

Well done.

------
cr4zy
What works best for me is to meditate during the inevitable downtimes -
compiling, training, uploading, downloading... Find beauty in the scrolling
logs. Take a look outside. Before you know it, you'll be excited about the
next important thing you can do while waiting on the first. Also makes for a
much happier work day!

------
movedx
When it comes to project work, more so in a corporate or team environment, I
also like to consider the people involved as a motivating factor: by not doing
the work involved, you impact the people around you. Ultimately everything we
do, have done, or ever will do is all about people and society.

Who are you hurting by not doing the work?

------
nathan_f77
"Get other people involved" has been really helping me over the last few
weeks. I have a new customer who needs a new feature, and they've basically
been my temporary co-founder while I'm working on it. I'm a solo founder, so
it's been really helpful to listen to their feature requests, and they're
helping me with a lot of QA.

I didn't really feel a lot of motivation to work on this feature before,
because I had many other things to do. But once I started, I really got into
it, and now I'm excited about launching it. It should make a huge difference
to my company.

------
tobyhinloopen
How to procrastinate: Read an article about procrastination

------
127
Build your projects in such a way that the difficulty of diving back in is
easy as possible. Nothing enables my procrastination quite as much as not
remembering how to get back to working.

------
lisper
One strategy that has consistently worked for me when there's something I need
to do that I really don't want to face: set aside some time to work on it, and
then start casually _thinking_ about it _before_ that time arrives while I'm
doing something else. That seems to help a lot with "swapping in" the mental
state for the task, and when I actually sit down to work I find I'm a lot more
productive than if I have not pre-loaded my mental caches this way.

------
mosselman
"Talk about it to others" may seem intuitive, but apparently there is some
study to the contrary:

[http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009...](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02336.x)

So, as the article suggest, the talking should be with regards to problems you
have during a project, not so much your intentions to complete your tasks.

------
shitloadofbooks
I like Adam Savage's approach:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnoTrJNAtc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnoTrJNAtc)
which can be summarised as "future me is really happy when past me takes care
of their crap."

Thinking about what the future will be like when this task is done (and done
properly) almost seems to bring some of the gratification/reward into the
present.

------
irrational
And here I am reading HN instead of doing the work I don't feel like doing ;-)

------
Pxtl
Take up running. Running is about learning the power of decisions, because
it's one long, agonizing decision to better yourself. With every step your
body tells you to stop, and it's up to you to choose not to stop.

That's what worked for me. I was terrible at procrastination until I took up
running. Now I just apply the lesson I learned from running:

Every moment is a choice.

------
heinrichhartman
Mirror: [https://archive.is/MVT4y](https://archive.is/MVT4y)

------
fwoty
Good tips... setting timers really helps me. It's mini-accountability.

Start a timer and say "I'll finish this task in 30 minutes". It helps my brain
skip the random "new tab twitter.com" behavior.

------
hyperpallium
On HN stories (ie here, not the article itself), I can get a "readable"
version on mobile firefox (ie the icon left of the tab square). All but this
one. Weird.

EDIT and now, an hour later, I can. Also weird.

------
vbuwivbiu
We have evolved mechanisms that direct attention and make most efficient use
of our energy. When the brain turns its attention away from a task don't fight
it, go with it. Listen to your intuition and you'll find there's something
else that needs attention. Once that's been addressed, the motivation to
complete the task at hand will naturally renew. You might think you can simply
do what you want when you want, but life's not like that: you can't have what
you want when you want it.

------
natvod
What works for me is being able to toggle between a few different projects
that requires slightly different skills and tasks. If I get stuck or tired of
one, I can toggle to another project and still accomplish something.

Something else that works for me is letting go the guilt when I don't feel
like something something (that's not urgent or time sensitive). If I'm not in
the mood, I take a long break and allow myself to properly enjoy it without
the guilt. This usually restores my motivation.

------
jmartrican
One thing I like to do to motivate myself and get stuff done is mini-
hackathons. Its essentially a mixture of setting time aside and gamyfication.
Essentially you have a task and you challenge yourself to get a workable
solution complete within a short period of time, say 15 min or an hour, or
maybe even a day... really depends on the task. Basically a hackathon but for
a shorter period of time and maybe smaller predefined task.

~~~
jschulenklopper
Back in university, I rewarded myself with one attempt at 3-ball juggling
after 30 minutes of studying. So, my hackathons were throwathons :-) Worked
great, and I learned to juggle within a week.

Somewhere else I read that someone did push-ups, squats or planks during
breaks. That would be a great tip for me nowadays. Pushathons?

------
punnerud
“procrastination is a bad thing. It comes from a fear of getting started“

Is it really from fear?

I believe it comes from a basic human need for constant changes, or often
called ‘news value’.

~~~
jen729w
I see it as a fear for sure. “I can’t do this thing”, “if I do this thing it
won’t be any good anyway”, that sort of thing.

~~~
TeMPOraL
I feel sources of procrastination need to be discussed somewhat separately. I
know a fear like yours is frequently reported to be one. But myself, I don't
have such fear for the tasks I procrastinate the most on. Hell, I'm usually
_overconfident_ about doing them (that's why I agreed to do them in the first
place). For me it's closer to "news value", but it really boils down to sudden
anxiety attacks and desperate need to do _something else, anything else_
whenever I face a task I actually should be doing.

So, different people, different flavours of procrastination.

~~~
punnerud
I feel the same way. By being overconfident I mean that I am sure I can plan
every aspect in my head, and the work boils down to ‘boring todo’. When I
first start I find new ascpects that I believe give me the necessary news-
value/flow to continue the task, as long as there is such a value when you
work on it.. basic routine work is the worst and I often find my self want to
automate the task, even if it is faster to do it manually.

------
jhabdas
We always make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the
time. The more time you have to make a decision the more information you will
acquire to make it. Procrastinate and use it to build and balance a healthy
anxiety before you start your work. Sharpen that axe until you really need to
start cutting and the task will seem significantly easier with the right
informational tools to perform it.

------
Hard_Space
I work remotely, and being allowed by a friendly tech company (for whom I also
occasionally do work) to use their offices as a working hub has transformed my
procrastination tendencies. The context just takes over: there is nothing else
to do there, but work, so I get on with it. It's maybe a different argument
than the OP discusses, but I think for a lot of us, it's a related one.

------
stewfortier
Regarding accountability, I’ve found Focusmate to be indispensable:
[https://www.focusmate.com](https://www.focusmate.com)

I often enjoy it even more then being accountable to a co-worker because it
frees you to be a bit more honest with the challenges you’re facing and how
you’re genuinely feeling.

------
Leigho15_M
You could use consequential thinking strategies. In other words, motivate
yourself by reminding yourself of the consequences of not taking certain
actions. Really imagine the bad things that will happen if you don't take
action.

------
nkkollaw
This is horrible advice.

If you have the discipline to do that, you have the discipline to complete the
task.

------
foobiekr
Of the suggestions on this list, only the "precrastination" one makes any kind
of sense to me. In fact, most of the others are anti-productive for me and I
have tried them.

When I was young I read a quote that basically said, "you aren't ever going to
feel like it." This struck me immediately as true: given any list of tasks,
basically, there is always a fraction you won't want to do or which some form
of constructive procrastination will prevent you from doing _even if you are
otherwise productive_. This realization has been incredibly helpful for me in
my career.

Later on, years ago but years after I was already pretty senior, I ran into
the blog that Robert Hodgin used to have where he made a point that just
plotting the first pixel was the hardest part of any of his projects.

So .. plot the first pixel, write the first line of code, write the first
sentence, do the first set of squats, walk down the driveway, ... forcing
these simple first steps make it substantially easier to do the next steps.

TL;DR: the most valuable solution to getting things done when you don't feel
like it is to _start_.

------
JohannesH
I often find that when I'm tired I'm much more effective and less prone to
procrastinate. I've always wondered how to achieve this effect while not
messing with my sleep.

------
sytelus
TLDR;

\- break task in to tiny steps

\- allocate time on calendar

\- buddy up with someone

\- Talk about it to others

\- just relax and something else you want

This article is not deep study but just someone’s opinion.

------
S7012MY
In my opinion this article misses the two most important points: having a
clear long term purpose and learning how to be present and love your life.

------
nilsocket
These tricks work sometimes but ultimate solution is to control your brain,
through mediation.

Then you will be one who is in control, not the other way around.

------
DrNuke
This is daily life at work, though... you just divide your job in smaller
tasks and keep going one by one up to the nearest milestone.

------
epynonymous
i think the author mentions divide and conquer (not by name), breaking things
down to the smallest scope.

it's harder for me to keep track of all my things to do, for work, home, etc,
i've actually created a tool to use for this, there's an iphone app if
anyone's interested:

[https://getsdone.xyz](https://getsdone.xyz)

------
keyle
I've had great success with a pomodoro timer that forces set breaks, and an
actionable todo list for the day.

------
randomsearch
FAO all procrastinators: read “the Now Habit”.

------
draw_down
I'm terrible at "tricking" myself into doing things. It's like trying to
tickle myself, it just doesn't work that way. If I don't want to do something
it's simply very difficult to motivate myself to do it. Maybe imagining the
repercussions of not doing the thing, if they are sufficiently grave, but
that's all I can think of.

------
anon7429
Heavy doses of atomoxetine, clonidine, mirtazapine and procrastination. WFM.

~~~
escherplex
To translate: alleviate ADHD > reduce BP + alleviate ADHD > antidepressant >
but there's always tomorrow > sounds good to me :)

But did you find the mirtazapine really does counteract any side effects of
the atomoxetine that crop up?

~~~
anon49124
I also took terazosin for a couple of weeks due to insane sweating (secondary
hyperhydrosis; cold sweating) and goosebumps response (shiver) when not cold.

Overall, the effects of atomoxetine (80 mg/day) are slight (IME) but helpful:
reducing by an order or two the magnitude of tracks my mind wants to wander
in.

CBD (10 mg 4x/day) has been the biggest help.

Also, I take heavy doses (~200 mg/day ER in the morning) of propranolol.

Mirtazapine (60 mg/day at night)

Clonidine (0.1 mg/day at night)

I would avoid SSRI's at all costs (Maslow's hierarchy of need habits
optimization: exercise, sleep, diet, caffeine (which is a mild
anticholinergic) elimination, CBT, regular socializing, etc.) because the
vestibular and discontinuation side-effects are horrendous and possibly
permanently-damaging.

