
How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, and Love Letting Go - isadeal
http://zenhabits.net/leggo/?utm_content=buffer5f9b3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
======
Jun8
You may want to not waste time reading this but instead use that time to read
pg's essay on similar ideas, "How to Do What You Love"
([http://paulgraham.com/love.html](http://paulgraham.com/love.html)), which,
if I had the power, I would have millions of copies printed and have every kid
in the world read it. It explains (at least) two simple ideas very
effectively:

1\. The work versus fun dichotomy is taught very early:

"The very idea is foreign to what most of us learn as kids. When I was a kid,
it seemed as if work and fun were opposites by definition. Life had two
states: some of the time adults were making you do things, and that was called
work; the rest of the time you could do what you wanted, and that was called
playing. Occasionally the things adults made you do were fun, just as,
occasionally, playing wasn't—for example, if you fell and hurt yourself. But
except for these few anomalous cases, work was pretty much defined as not-
fun."

2\. To compare two activities, you have to compare the area under their
utility/fun vs. time curves.

"But the fact is, almost anyone would rather, at any given moment, float about
in the Carribbean, or have sex, or eat some delicious food, than work on hard
problems. The rule about doing what you love assumes a certain length of time.
It doesn't mean, do what will make you happiest this second, but what will
make you happiest over some longer period, like a week or a month.

Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. After a while you get tired of lying
on the beach. If you want to stay happy, you have to do something."

~~~
vidarh
> Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. After a while you get tired of lying
> on the beach. If you want to stay happy, you have to do something."

Nonsense. This in itself is a result of falling prey to what Leo Baubata (the
author of the linked article) writes about: Inability to "let go".

There may certainly be things you'd find more fulfilling. But if you _need_ to
do stuff to be happy, you are letting yourself suffer from attachments to
things that more the most part are relatively inconsequential.

PG's essay suffers from this assumption that happiness is tied to
achievements.

I used to think that too. The problem with that line of thinking is that it
often leads to putting the shutters on and focusing on getting stuff done to
get your happiness from it eventually, while ignoring all the sources of
happiness around you. Further, that makes procrastination worse, in my
experience: It creates guilt that you're picking the short term pleasures
instead of doing the stuff you're sure will make you fabulously happy later,
once you've just achieved something.

These days, I still get stuff done - more than ever, in fact -, but I might
suddenly stop during my commute and look up at the clouds and enjoy the sight,
or just close my eyes for 10 seconds and enjoy the calm, and I'm happy whether
or not I'm doing anything. The two are not related. If you can't be happy even
while doing the dishes, or fighting your way onto a commuter train, or
carrying out some mind-numbingly boring menial work, you're missing out.

~~~
randallsquared
Happiness is a natural measurement of how well you (believe you) are achieving
your goals. If you are unhappy, it's a signal that you should change something
about your life, not a signal that you should short-circuit the measurement
system.

~~~
jmilloy
Changing something about your life is a valid response. So is short-circuiting
the measurement system. Keep in mind that the measurement system includes
external cultural/societal pressures, out-of-date instinctual responses, and
your emotions _as interpreted through the lens of your own emotions_. A
disadvantage of changing what you do, instead of how to feel about what you
do, is that you will probably arrive at a place of dissatisfaction over and
over again.

~~~
scotch_drinker
This. I have a friend who changes jobs about every 6-12 months chasing
happiness. And every 6-12 months, I can count on him starting to bitch and
moan about everything at the job. He refuses to listen to the idea that maybe
happiness should be externally obtained and instead should start from within
somehow. In a lot of ways, this seems to be an Eastern-Western dichotomy.

We can decide to wake up and be happy or we can decide to wake up and let
something dictate our happiness. Whether we do it consciously or not, it's
still a choice.

------
thelogos
I feel like procrastinating is such a common human condition that it's really
not about you but about the work you're putting off.

When I was in college, I would put off doing lab reports until 6am in the
morning. Watch youtube, surf the web for 30 minutes and actually work for 5
minutes.

But there was a reason. It was boring drudgery. Now that I get to work on my
own project, I code almost all day. When I eat, I think about my code. When I
brush my teeth I think about my code. Before I fall asleep, I think about
code. My code is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning.
I usually can't wait to finish breakfast and start working. So much for that
ADHD diagnosis.

~~~
dscrd
My son's got an ADHD diagnosis and he seems like you. Whatever is slightly
uninteresting is terribly difficult for him to focus on but if there's
something interesting, he can maintain perfect focus for hours.

I imagine it might be days if he wasn't interrupted.

~~~
gizzlon
* Whatever is slightly uninteresting is terribly difficult for him to focus on but if there's something interesting, he can maintain perfect focus for hours.

Aren't we all like that?

~~~
jmilloy
I don't think so. I think most people can do "slightly uninteresting" things,
especially when they can see the benefit, and I think that many people have
trouble focusing on things that they are interested in after a few hours.

------
ibuildthings
I do empathize with the original article a lot. I used to have/still have a
strong fear of failing, especially in intellectual tasks. According to my own
introspection this is primary angst that caused/causes me to procrastinate.
There are two major references I often go back when I find myself paralyzed.

One being an advise I got from one of my PhD advisors: All creative tasks
might appear that it requires enormous amount of courage and effort. But
usually it is more like a kitchen sink heaped with a lot of unwashed dishes.
Chances are that once you wash one dish, you will end up cleaning the full
lot; and you often get a strange form of pleasure while you are performing the
task.

The other one is this essay [http://www-
rohan.sdsu.edu/~psargent/Mills_Intell_Craft.pdf](http://www-
rohan.sdsu.edu/~psargent/Mills_Intell_Craft.pdf) on intellectual craftsmanship
by Wright Mills. I do now a days actively collect memories of pure immersion
and pleasure I experienced while my craft got exposed and exploited to its
potential. The thought of me improving as a craftsman, coupled with these
memories is a powerful self motivator to me. The shit feeling I gets when I
waste my time is another reference. One of the potent lessons was also that
craft can be improved only by dedicating time ( which is pleasurable); and by
disassociating the end result and fears. The toughest part is to replay this
logic while I find myself slipping into vortex of non productivity, but that
is something I can work on and probably in my control.

~~~
TheSOB888
I just have to say, I love washing dishes. I was convinced by Leo (the author)
to start trying to enjoy myself while washing dishes, and now I love it. I
don't even use the dishwasher anymore.

------
prostoalex
The Now Habit is also good reading on the subject of procrastination
[http://lifehacker.com/5658620/the-now-habit-overcoming-
procr...](http://lifehacker.com/5658620/the-now-habit-overcoming-
procrastination-and-enjoying-guilt+free-play)

~~~
Flimm
I found the Procrastination Equation to be a better read. The Now Habit can be
summed up as "don't be a perfectionist", whereas the Procrastination Equation
says there are three types of procrastinators, and perfectionism isn't
actually what causes most procrastination. The latter book is much better
sourced and more thorough: there are loads of footnotes where you can look up
the studies and the articles he's citing.

------
willvarfar
Was I the only one expecting it to be a fun play on words and be about
embracing golang?

~~~
hueving
Yeah, perfect title, just add a couple more words...

"How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, and Love Letting Go Garbage Collect"

~~~
GFischer
That sounds like a randomly generated title from the HN Headline Generator :)

[https://github.com/sursh/markov-hacker-news](https://github.com/sursh/markov-
hacker-news) or www.blarworld.net/hackernewsgen.html

------
mynameisasecret
Mark Twain nailed it: "Never put off until tomorrow what you can put off until
the day AFTER tomorrow."

~~~
agumonkey
Left recursion

\-- noam chomsky

------
dhon_
On a side note, I just listened to this audiobook "The Art of Procrastination:
A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing"

[http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Procrastination-
Lollygagging-P...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Procrastination-Lollygagging-
Postponing/dp/0761171673)

A humorous take on working with procrastination, not against it. Short, but
highly recommended.

~~~
praptak
In the same vein: structured procrastination.

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

~~~
contr-error
Yes, more precisely, it's the (audio)book's author's webpage ;-) The book
presents an attainable ideal to strive towards as a procrastinator, instead of
a lofty hyper-productive pipe dream. In any case, it's a fun read and an
interesting take on living with akrasia.

------
hopfog
For me, the single most efficient anti-procrastination technique has been
Don't Break The Chain. I have a few tasks that I need to complete _every day_
and the point is that the longer the streak is the bigger the incentive will
be to continue. It also creates a clear routine which helps a lot on the
psychological level (anyone who is into physical training of some sort knows
how important this is).

I usually break it up in "do X for Y minutes" and timebox it to 1 hour. Right
now it's "read a book for 15 minutes, clean the house for 15 minutes and code
on a side-project for 25 minutes". I also have a shorter version for busy days
which is basically "read two pages, do one chore and complete a trivial task
on the side-project" but as long as I do something it's fine.

~~~
ronaldx
"Don't Break The Chain" can be dangerous on its own.

Whenever I do break the chain, I feel unmotivated to start the chain again (
_especially_ if I've done a good job, because it seems overwhelming to pick it
up again from the start of the chain).

I've had to move on from Don't Break The Chain to being positive about making
consistent progress.

I would say Don't Break The Chain is great for a fixed-length, short-to-
medium-term task, rather than instilling permanent habits.

~~~
randlet
You can make your chain more coarse than daily. For example, for me it's a lot
easier to commit to doing something 5 days a week rather every single day so
my chain links are measured in units of weeks rather than days. You don't need
to beat yourself up about missing a day or two here and there.

------
dvirsky
Welp, those were a good 2 minutes of procrastination

------
apunic
There's no relation between 'procrastination' and 'letting go'.
Procrastination is pretty much normal, everyone procrastinated once entire
days on HN/Netflix/...

There are easy cures and proven techniques against procrastination and not a
single one is mentioned in this write-up.

~~~
adcoelho
Procrastination is often caused by the urge to find a small comfort to escape
discomfort. Checking your email account in the middle of a difficult task,
checking the news, etc. Letting go of this urges helps you stop
procrastinating. There are no practical methods explained in this article but
the main idea is a solid one that may help people overcome this problem.

------
exizt88
Any article on procrastination that contains a to-do list is a
procrastination-feeding item itself.

------
mathattack
The author had me until he talked about giving up beer. :-)

Seriously, though, I think getting rid of the distractions on the fringe of
our lives is important. For me it was getting rid of the TV. That doesn't
always link to killing procrastination (I'm on here, aren't I?) but it does
create a lot more time for being in the flow.

------
sv3nss0n
I wouldn't have read this article if I were not procrastinating...

~~~
neotrinity
You stole the words from my thought .. damn you !!

------
pgsch
I will read it later

------
n1ghtmare_
I couldn't help but think I'm procrastinating while reading it (+ reading the
comments) ... Ahhhh !!! I better get back to work !

~~~
markyc
uu, a lifehacker article! :)

------
hkon
If you like the concept of letting go. Jamie Smart goes deeper about
explaining the concept in his book, Clarity.

------
hackaflocka
Pomodoro really works.

------
exo762
Herman Hesse's pop Buddhism is strong in this one.

------
obilgic
Its all about Time Value of Happiness

------
esalman
Procrastination comes from lack of motivation. Address that first.

~~~
jwdunne
Hrm I thought this was true at first. Spending lots of time consuming
materials on how to increase my motivation, etc. Nothing worked! But then, why
would it? I'm obviously motivated to do what I want to do or else I wouldn't
be trying so many different ways to stop putting off!

The best results I've had have been from a) just doing and b) reducing
anxieties. Nothing I have tried has been sustainable but I still keep trying.

If I wasn't motivated, why would I keep trying?

~~~
pekk
It is always possible that one wants to have done something, but does not wish
to actually be doing it. So one has difficulty starting, and if one starts one
has difficulty following through, but one still keeps trying to start. Or,
better yet, starts doing other things which don't really cause forward
progress but which seem like they might eventually - like reading motivation
books

