
Resistance to Being Productive - mobitar
https://listed.standardnotes.org/@mo/408/why-you-re-resistant-to-being-productive
======
larrik
I was hoping for something more scientific or at least psychological, but
alas.

I would say these reasons don't line up with my observances at all.

For instance, one of mine is "this project is so big, I don't know where to
start". Once I find a piece that seems like something I can get done quickly
and ease me in, things tend to go a lot easier.

Another is "I have so many (different) things to do that I don't want to do
any". Presumably this is not so different than the earlier one, and it's hard
to get started without an obvious plan of attack that having only one or more
tasks ahead of you brings with it.

Lastly, as a lifelong procrastinator, I've noticed that waiting until the last
minute to do something you need to do OFTEN results in never having to do it
at all. You end up doing only things that _really needed_ to get done.

In the end, I don't really worry about it, or I hunt for tiny tasks to get my
momentum going.

As for the article's "I'm not sure how doing that work will take me to the
next step" I guess? Maybe? But "I'm not sure what I would do after I finish
that work (what the next step is)" I don't believe has every been a factor a
single time in my life.

~~~
AnIdiotOnTheNet
> I've noticed that waiting until the last minute to do something you need to
> do OFTEN results in never having to do it at all. You end up doing only
> things that really needed to get done.

Don't tell my boss this, but I have noticed it too.

~~~
ecaradec
Protip : Wait even a little bit after it's too late and you might not even
have anything to do at all.

~~~
newbear
What if you are being yelled at/under pressure?

~~~
marcosdumay
If I may explain a joke, if you are being yelled at then you are not fired
yet, so you must procrastinate a bit more until you can not do anything at
all.

~~~
drdeca
Oh, I thought it referred to being dead, not fired. Whoops.

~~~
marcosdumay
That would do too. In fact, only the OP can tell the difference.

------
jblow
There is something much deeper happening.

As you become successful in your field (or wherever), and further internalize
the habits that are necessary to be successful, it's clear that many of these
things are easy to do, it's just that people don't want to do them.

In other words ... it's obvious that many people don't want to be successful,
and if they were to introspect deeply, they would see this clearly. In fact
what they want is to be somewhere comfortable in the middle of the herd, not
having to do too much work.

Most people want to be _comfortable_ , not 'successful' in a way that requires
ambition. But many people are brainwashed enough by the rhetoric of success
that they don't realize it's not what they want.

There's also something I haven't figured out yet. Every time I give advice, I
get a number of responses from people with self-defeating attitudes,
explaining how this advice can't possibly apply to them because blah blah
blah. These people build up belief structures that are obviously intended to
keep them mired in their current situation, smelling of low self-esteem and
defeatism. "Obviously" it's better not to be stuck in these belief structures,
yet people will defend them vigorously, and in some cases fiercely. I don't
yet fully understand why, except maybe that if someone believes there is a
solution to their problem, then it must be their fault that they haven't
solved it, and/or that there will be a clear failure that is their fault if
they attempt to solve it.

~~~
mrschwabe
Just a stab at a potential reason (for the attitude in some of the responses).

Cause it may be obvious: lack of energy both mentally and physically (and by
extension, lack of motivation and positivity). This seems to be a systemic
problem of modern men (and women too, though at a base level women have more
inherent positivity & survival skills IMO).

Put it this way - if you are lost in a cave (maybe a bad relationship,
terrible job, difficult financial situation or combination thereof) and
starved of nutrients (lack of exercise, bad diet, including maybe addiction to
salt/carbs/sugar/caffine) you will have little energy to do what is required
to find your way out.

God forbid dark paths, bad judgment, and bad luck has taken you even deeper.
You may be approaching the point of no return - hopeless and without any
chance of survival.

In this situation, it could be easier to simply curl up into fetal position
and die.

I think unfortunately - when starved and depleted like this - that this is the
option many will take.

Is it the fault of this starving, depleted individual that they should choose
to die ? (is basically what you are pondering)

Some, perhaps many, people are past the point of no return - mentally, that is
(most physical conditions easier to solve than mental). Choosing maybe not
fetal position and death - but whatever substance or quick fixes they can use
to ease the pain while they attempt to coast through the rest of whatever
remains of their life with minimal effort or 'comfort' as you describe. This
hopeless, self-defeating attitude a defense of their decision to go fetal and
maybe protect that little area of the dark cave they choose to live and die
now.

If we had to reach a conclusion or solution from this, maybe it too is
obvious: eat healthy again, exercise; keep your body sustained and mind stable
- for then it will be easier to climb out.

Alternatively - you might just get lucky, and someone may find and help you
out of that dark place. Hopefully by allowing you to build the strength you
need to get up and walk out on your own two feet. But we shouldn't necessarily
reserve judgment on those who can't even get up. Who knows how long they've
been down there, how many missteps were taken that got them to that point.

~~~
slededit
This is one of the major flaws of current society. We've pushed adulthood so
far out that people don't seriously start thinking about their place in
society until 22 or 23 years old. That is a lot of time to wonder deeper into
your metaphorical cave.

------
baxtr
In the last years, I have noticed that I don’t start things because it’s much
easier to hang out online like on this site. For example, I have told myself
to read books. But everytime I have the time to do that, I start hanging out
online. There, I still read a lot, but it’s much more fragmented and I kinda
feel “drained” afterwards. I feel a lot more energized after reading a book,
but somehow it’s not enough to get me started. Shame

~~~
tcmb
I'm in the same boat, and I seriously think it's a form of addiction.

It's falling for the small short-term reward that you will regret later,
rather than choosing the delayed but bigger reward that is ultimately more
genuinely satisfying.

Sadly I don't have a solution for it yet. I've given up other addictions by
quitting completely, but that doesn't look like a good option in this case.
Although it also didn't seem like a good option in the other cases at first.

~~~
baxtr
So true... Maybe a budget would work? Similar to a blocker app like 1Blocker
but that works on budgets, e.g. 30min web surfing per day

~~~
ashark
I'm toying with getting rid of the Internet at home. I have it at work anyway
(unfortunately), and coffee shops and libraries are a thing if I _have_ to get
online. I'm increasingly convinced that having it's not worth the time I lose
to it, and the cost of it. ~$110-120+/month for the Internet portion of my
phone plan, plus our home connection, plus Netflix and such... that'd pay for
a fair amount of physical media a month. Between purchasing, the library, and
borrowing from friends, I could save both time and money and still have plenty
of entertainment. Maybe download one of those curated local copies of
Wikipedia. Update it once a year at a friend's house, haha.

Benefits: Tons, _tons_ of time saved thanks to more friction to access low-
value entertainment (HN, news generally, endless reading about how to do stuff
or what to read instead of doing the stuff or the reading), and even too-easy
access to practically stress-inducingly large amount of actually good
entertainment. So, so much time. And some money saved.

Concerns: my wife needs it for work (teacher, and so much of that's online
now, and you can't really be a teacher and _not_ work evenings a fair
amount)—that's the trickiest part. All our photos of the kids and such are
digital now, and no Internet means no (convenient) offsite backup. I don't
love the idea of having a bunch of physical media again, but then again I can
just resell a bunch of it any time the clutter starts to annoy me, and be no
worse off than when that money was going purely to services (slightly better
actually, since even lazily Craigslisting a ton of it in a lot for $20 is at
least _some_ money). WhatsApp/Riot/et c. are a hell of a lot better than non-
MMS text (mainly because group messaging is broken without MMS, and sometimes
even with it) and offer really high value-to-waste ratio since I consider
chatting with close friends valuable, even when it's not productive—I'd pay
$10/m for a connection that _just_ let me do email and use a decent messaging
client like that. If I wanted to keep Steam games working I'd have to connect
it from time to time, somehow, but that's probably another distraction I could
do without.

Heh, I guess I could go back to dial up, if that's still a thing, so I'd have
_inconvenient_ access if I really had to have it, or to pop on to do
messaging/email once an evening or so, though then I'd need a phone line and
service, so a good chunk of the money-savings would be gone. _Might_ be good
enough to let the Google school stuff work for my wife without driving her
nuts? And I'd need to buy a modem.

~~~
bpchaps
If you're interested in it, you should try it! I did it for about a year, and
thoroughly enjoyed it.. though it's not without its negatives as you say. For
me, the positives outweighed the negatives. Consider getting a mobile hotspot
and set yourself a house rule of only using it in emergencies, or on the road.

------
bitL
Hmm, as a life-long high-performer I am thinking maybe slackers are right;
meeting or accelerating deadlines never resulted in bonuses/appreciation,
always resulted in more and more work; when it came to promotions slackers
were fast tracked and work horses were kept where they were. Frankly,
empirically it doesn't make any sense to exceed average team velocity unless
you work on your own stuff. Being "too good" often brings resentment, fear and
super nasty backstabbing from those that underperform, so why bother if
rewards are out of place?

~~~
8ytecoder
Not all times are super hard workers doing super smart things. I'm not saying
never; just not often. Most smart people do figure out how not to work so hard
- automate, delegate,...etc They seem to do all the right things to avoid
having to work hard (as in overwork).

------
pipio21
In my experience as engineer(personal responsibility), manager(group
responsibility) and entrepreneur(company responsibility), the main reason for
procrastinating is always fear and anxiety.

Tim ferris simplifies it well:
[https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_ferriss_why_you_should_define_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_ferriss_why_you_should_define_your_fears_instead_of_your_goals)

The adventure to master your personal fears, and the fears of your groups,
your family, your coworkers never ends.

~~~
trendoid
I think this factor is overplayed sometimes. Why can't people simply be lazy
and not driven or motivated enough to overcome that laziness? It doesn't help
that internet and TV feeds into that laziness and lack of motivation by
providing quick escapes from thinking about what needs to be done.

~~~
eeZah7Ux
Because laziness has never been found and diagnosed in psychology and
psychiatry.

It's a moral attribute originally stemming from some religions.

~~~
beat
Laziness is about doing what you want to do, not what someone who calls you
lazy wants you to do.

~~~
jmatthews
Not always. For a true procrastinator you end up doing stuff you both don't
want to do and don't need to do. Think, "least positive possible" Pure self
sabotage.

Wait but why has an incredible read on the subject.

[https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-
procrasti...](https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-
procrastinate.html)

------
gukov
>it usually comes down to three reasons why I don’t feel like doing the work I
should clearly be doing

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and eventually came to a
conclusion: it comes down to one thing. Simply, your brain doesn't feel like
doing something because that something can't compete with a source of easily
attainable dopamine. Brain candy. It comes in different forms: actual candy
(simple carbs), visual candy (facebook, instagram), intellectual candy (HN).
Turn off that source or at least make it bland and black and white (eg. you
can make your phone's screen B&W) and your brain will find actual work
exciting (ie. dopamine-inducing) again.

PS. Reading and watching videos about beating procrastination is a form of
candy, too. Stop it.

------
Exo_Tartarus
I notice that when I begin to procrastinate, I actually am thinking about the
task intensely. So intensely that I believe I overwhelm myself and
subconsciously decide to put off working on the task.

When I silence my mind prior to starting work on a task I find I'm more easily
able to actually start.

~~~
mikedilger
I am similar. If I think of something to do now, then I have no hesitation.
But if my 'past self' thought of it and 'demanded' that my present self do it,
then my rebellious nature takes over. I really think procrastination is mainly
just rebelling against your past self, as if he/she was someone else.

If I write something down, then I stop thinking about it. Usually I forget
about the list as well, and oftentimes writing things down makes it LESS
likely to get done. BUT by no longer thinking about it and nagging myself, I
can hopefully discover the task again afresh and get it done that way.

Happy self-hacking.

------
wellpast
> 1\. I don’t care about the work > If you don’t care about the work, it’s
> going be a long and agonizing journey to completing this task and its
> descendant tasks in the future.

I'm sure there are some good life hacks to trick you into liking this or that
work that you by default dislike.

I have a corollary problem to this #1. Not that I dislike writing per se but I
like coding so much more. I have to really fight away not coding to put more
time into writing. This may be because I've been at coding for a long time, so
I am good at it, therefore the dopamine comes easier. There's probably some
theory here that goes like once you're good at a thing, it's harder to get
good at some other thing. When my noviceness/incompetence at writing
frustrates me, instead of pushing through it's easy to go feel better about
myself doing something (programming) that I have some good capacity for.
Thinking out loud...

------
eeZah7Ux
In some modern cultures people expect from themselves to be always productive
and happy regardless of the task at hand.

Yet - point one "I could not summon a single fuck to give" is presented
honestly.

What if it's actually a sign of health to be disinterested in writing yet
another $thing in order to pay rent?

------
gallerdude
I find that I jump ship to new projects too easily. It's tricky to find the
discipline to stick with what you already have.

~~~
Danihan
Novelty addiction, plus you're probably more of a "big picture" thinker.

------
aizatto
Some very shallow points, but this article looks like it only applies for the
author.

I think its great that everyone knows why they are hesitant to do things, and
I see some great comments here.

I've also been collecting my thoughts on why I'm "hesitant" as well.

I've made a site to document my thought processes.

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/hesitating/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/hesitating/)

I've also thought about other keywords such as "start" and "focus"

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/starting/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/starting/)

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/focus/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/focus/)

This process has really helped me better understand myself, and how I operate.
I hope it can help others as well.

Just to flip it around, maybe "lazy" would be interesting as well.

[https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/laziness/](https://www.deepthoughtapp.com/en/topics/laziness/)

------
franklin_cobb
For me, I have a hard time starting mundane tasks that I think are going to
run for days or weeks. It's hard enough for me to muster up enough motivation
to start today. The prospect of having to do that day after day or month after
month is depressing. I've found this is much less an issue it teams that do
Kanban or Scrum well.

------
itamarst
The author is confusing productivity with doing work. If you overcome all
these things and work all day, non-stop... you may be still be unproductive
because you're doing things inefficiently, or doing unnecessary work.

The key to productivity is achieving the same results with _less_ work, which
basically means learning how to avoid unnecessary effort. The unachievable
ideal of maximum productivity would finishing everything immediately and with
no effort.

([https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/10/04/technical-skills-
pro...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/10/04/technical-skills-productive/)
has a list of ways you can be unproductive even while being not tired, fully
focused, undistracted, and not procrastinating.)

------
josephjrobison
Anyone know the answer or have good recommendations for this thought:

As a freelance (marketing but could be anything) consultant, I have 4 hours of
client work to do a day, and 4 hours of side project work. The client work has
to be done, but is less exciting or long term since I'm working for other
people. The side project work requires self-motivation because no one is
holding me to it, but has more upside in the long term, and I like working on
it.

Is it better to do:

A) Get all client work done from 8am-12pm, then side project from 1pm-5pm -or-
B) Side project from 8am-12pm, client work 1pm-5pm. -or- C) Some other method
like Monday - Wed client work only, Thurs-Fri side project only

I had started with version A, but then throughout the day I look for an escape
from client work so I go on Hacker News and read blog posts.

I'm thinking version B is better so I can pump out the stuff I like first, and
get the ball rolling. Then the less brain-intensive client work I'll have a
shorter window to finish, so I have to focus and get it done.

Right now, my client work expands to fill the whole day by having fragmented
focus, and I can't get to side project work ever.

~~~
adenverd
In my experience, work before play is the most productive strategy. Two things
that I think might help your situation:

1) Pomodoro technique - I modify this to be 45-60 minutes of work, 10-15
minute breaks. I do six of these throughout the day. When I'm in the work
phase, no news/social media/any distractions, focus is important. Do whatever
you want in your breaks. And stick to the timers, don't go over on either your
work periods or your break periods.

2) If you're doing client work 8am-12pm, stop at 12pm, regardless of whether
you've accomplished what you were hoping to. Stopping when you say you'll stop
makes it a lot easier to stay mentally focused when you first pick it back up
the next day: even if you don't like what you're working on, you know you only
have to focus on it until lunchtime, and then you get to work on the fun
stuff.

~~~
josephjrobison
Great tips, appreciate it! I’ve gone off and on pomodoro for years. I think
the missing part is strict discipline on ending. Hard when there’s no one
overseeing!

A work in progress!

------
Mz
My reasons:

1) I just seriously don't have the energy because of my medical condition. I
suspect this broadly applies to many people: They don't have the energy for
some reason, then they or others call them _lazy_ or _a procrastinator_ ,
things I was called my whole life until I finally got the right diagnosis.

2) Trying to accomplish stuff has been so much drama in the past that I want
to try to find a path forward that doesn't essentially explode in my face.
Having things explode in my face always felt like 2 steps forward, 27 steps
back. It wasn't productive. It was counterproductive.

3) Having figured out some of the things I want to do and how to (mostly)
avoid terrible explosions, I still have only the most slender concept of how
to make that actually fly. I am working on fleshing out those plans. Sorting
that out strikes me as the difference between the Wright Brothers launching
their first test flight and hurling myself off a cliff willy nilly like a
lemming.

------
MobiusHorizons
This fits my own experience exactly!

I personally am sometimes able to push through boring long tasks that I don't
care about simply by using some form of timer or pomodoro. I just set a goal
to have accomplished before the deadline of the timer. rinse/repeat

------
sudosteph
Interesting list, but as someone who has seriously struggled with productivity
at many points in my life due to ADHD, I cannot relate at all.

> 1\. I don't care about the work

This was a problem in school, but not in my career. I built my career around
problem domains that interested me, and often times the work I'm struggling to
get going with is work that I chose for myself and prioritized accordingly.
Also, I have a financial interest in the company I work for, so that's another
reason I care about the work.

> 2\. I'm not sure how doing that work will take me to the next step

I guess I'm not a "future-minded being", because this has never crossed my
mind. I think about next steps when I'm planning or strategizing, I don't do
either of those things when I'm trying to execute.

> 3\. I'm not sure what I would do after I finish that work (what the next
> step is)

Same thing as the second one, I'm really not thinking about the future most of
the time. In fact, I have the opposite problem. Once I've fully defined the
problem domain, designed everything and done the challenging work, the really
obvious next steps which will let me get it out (cleaning things up, writing
good messaging and docs, tests, deploys) are just tedious noise. I'd always
prefer to build a new system to automate boring things than do them, which can
be a good or bad thing depending on time constraints.

I read somewhere that for people without ADHD, Importance, Rewards, and
Consequences are the big motivators. However, for ADHD folks, the only things
that matter when getting stuff done are: Interest, Novelty, Challenge,
Urgency.

That's been 100% the case for me. When I'm stuck with tedious things, I NEED
solid and close deadlines that I am accountable to (to create urgency).
Another thing I do is find novel to-do systems to organize it all and follow.
I use Bullet Journals, GTD, Sticky Notes, Pomodoro Timers, etc. I can't
actually stick to any of those for more than a few weeks, but jumping between
and finding new systems keeps me engaged enough to make progress.

------
anigbrowl
A much bigger reason for me is that I don't know if/how I'm going to make any
money out of it. The things I personally want are aesthetic or social capital,
and for a variety of reasons (which I'd rather not articulate in public)
acquiring money capital of any kind if tremendously difficult for me and so
95% of my ideas go unrealized for lack of resources. I'm also terrible at
asking people for help, and especially at asking people to donate time or
attention because I resent unsolicited demands on mine and don't want to
impose them on others.

------
PeOe
For me personally the third reason isn't really the problem. It's more "I'm
overwhelmed by the task" or something similar. I think most people have
problems with actual task setting. Like in the means of "how do I tackle this
task best? What steps do I take?". Here´s an article about that:
[https://blog.zenkit.com/7-mistakes-to-avoid-when-tackling-
yo...](https://blog.zenkit.com/7-mistakes-to-avoid-when-tackling-your-to-do-
list-acbddbedabf7)

------
_jn
Completely unrelated to article content—I very much hope that standardnotes’
publishing feature becomes a real medium competitor. They’ve made a great
product so far and I’d love to see it take off.

~~~
alistoriv
This is the first I'm seeing it and I really dig the design, I just wish the
paragraphs were a little more narrow.

------
emodendroket
I mean, there are a whole bunch of other reasons that aren't on here. Sick of
your workplace. Unhappy with some personal events going on in your life.
Haven't slept enough. And so on.

------
curioussavage
My wife read some great advice recently. The five minute rule. If you are
inclined to procrastinate just do five minutes of work and then take a break.

I have found getting started to be the hardest part. Once I have a project
started my brain starts working on it and it’s much easier to go back to it

------
agumonkey
Some tweet gave me this:

[https://journal.thriveglobal.com/heres-the-strategy-elite-
at...](https://journal.thriveglobal.com/heres-the-strategy-elite-athletes-
follow-to-perform-at-the-highest-level-5300e1519e30)

interesting view too, worth two reads

------
snthd
I found [https://bookofhook.blogspot.com/2012/09/productivity-vs-
unce...](https://bookofhook.blogspot.com/2012/09/productivity-vs-uncertainty-
apathy.html) useful.

------
PatientTrades
The author forgot the most obvious one: I'm too tired to do the work. Its hard
to get daily tasks done when you are mentally and physically exhausted.

~~~
vinchuco
>If you’ve gotten all three of these potential productivity resistors already
locked in place, but still find yourself unproductive, you may just simply be
tired.

