

Ask HN: What do you do to counteract procrastination? - solipsist

I have recently started counting down in my head when I need to do something important. When I reach 0, I make myself go and do that thing. While it may sound like a gimmick, it does seem to work well for me. Simply starting to count down is easy to do, and can be done simultaneously with almost anything (except writing perhaps). Counting also gives you time and preparation in order to stop what you're doing (a.k.a. procrastinating). When you reach 0, you have this sense of obligation to stop procrastinating and do the work. The longer you count down for, the more obligated you'll be to do the work.
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imkevingao
To start things off, if it makes you feel better, there has been studies shown
that people who have ADD or what they might call ADHD now are more likely to
succeed as an entrepreneur than those who don't. This statement is related to
the topic because people who are easily distracted are always procrastinating.

To fight procrastination, discipline is the key word here I believe. I've
always been bad at time management, but I've improved a lot lately. Now
although I attempt to stay productive as much as possible, I still feel like
time is not enough.

My approach is that I would start sticky notes on the windows screen, I would
make tasklist of the most important things I would have to do today, and bold
2 of the most important things. I force myself to get those things down.

Honestly you can read ALL the books you want. You can use all the productivity
apps you want, but when it comes down to it, your own determination is the
only factor that will fight this problem. . If you don't discipline yourself
and avoid procrastination, don't worry about it because guess what? 95% of the
population is just like you. But if you want to become to top 5% of the
population, the crim de la crim, then you better start disciplining yourself.
That's the self-talk mentality I use nowadays.

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trouble
Wait until the self-hate level is high enough to make me feel unbearably bad
about not doing what I want to be doing. Not a very healthy approach.

I've also been trialling the habit of starting tasks so far ahead of time that
the deadline feels irrelevant. It's quite liberating and something I would
like to keep up.

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fjabre
There are two of you. It's all about compromise between the two. If you don't
compromise one becomes weak and the other dominant. If one becomes dominant
you, as a whole, become unhealthy and unstable. There are a few hacks here and
there and yours sounds interesting but all hacks are useless with out having
some fundamental balance.

A well rested mind is your best weapon against imbalance. Meditate and stop
drinking coffee.

Procrastination I find is a side effect of an discontented and imbalanced
mind.

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razzaj
I face the same problem. I think it is a "business owner/entrepreneurial"
syndrome (if not chronic disease). The shear number of "stupid" (according to
our entrepreneurial mindset) tasks that are necessary to accomplish is often
discouraging and a turnoff.

My method of getting over this syndrome is made of a few simple steps:

\- make myself unavailable for some time (could be a couple of hours or 2
days). And if this is not possible resort to waking up at odd times like 4:30
or 5:00 AM where you have no chance of being disturbed.

\- I get started by picking the easiest tasks and doing them almost
mindlessly. That helps in making you feel good about yourself (i think the
fact of achieving tasks must release some "feel good" hormone/chemical in ones
brain, i call it the "good job candy") and once you start getting a taste of
the good job candy : you effectively start building momentum.

\- Once you build momentum you are usually good for going through the entire
list, because having started with the easiest tasks, each next one you
complete yields a higher dose of good job candy and thus more drive to dig
into the harder tasks.

That being said, an even better (in the sense of it's efficiency) motivator is
the near disaster situation during which i suspect most of us become supper
efficient.

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komlenic
Motivation _follows_ action.

I don't know if this is strictly true in the absolute sense, but we're very
programmed to think "ok I need to get motivated so I can get something done",
when what seems to work far better is thinking "ok I need to get some things
done so that I can get motivated". This follows the "take small steps, any
steps" idea.

~~~
JimboOmega
I disagree with you.

Why should you do things you're not motivated to do?

A lot of procrastination and not making progress on tasks has to do with
really not wanting to do the task, or really not seeing the value in it. If
it's studying for a course, it's a course you don't care about. If it's
working on a project, it's a project you don't care about. Maybe you don't
care about cleaning up your room, etc.

You really need to think about the whys of doing something, and not just
assume that work is good. You can trick yourself and push yourself but you
need to have a solid sense of the goal before you will really become involved.

That's the goal, isn't it? To really commit to a task.

~~~
komlenic
The implication in my comment is that you _do_ want to do the thing (or that
there is some expectation, either personal or external, that you have to do it
ex: studying for a course that you need to graduate).

Wanting to do something, or realizing you need to do it does not remove your
personal barriers that lead to procrastination: maybe it seems too difficult,
you don't know where to start, you're afraid of failure, or maybe you're
suffering analysis/paralysis. You're still "motivated" in the "I want/expect
to do this thing" sense, but you lack the motivation in the "wow I can do
this, get to work" sense that you need to push through and get moving.

This is where "motivation follows action": you start small, identify some easy
steps that will begin moving you towards the goal, and do them -- and through
this action, motivation often follows.

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brianwillis
Merlin Mann has written interesting stuff on this topic before:
[http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-
hack-102...](http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-1025)

What he's suggesting is kind of a mind game, but hey if it helps you then why
not right?

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petercooper
Have multiple projects that are reasonably different. You can then
procrastinate by working on other projects before coming back to your current
project as procrastination from those.. Works for me anyway.

------
ecounysis
JFDI

~~~
consultutah
As pithy as that seems, it really is the best way to overcome procrastination.
Just do it. Just do something that moves you closer to your goals. Pick just
one little thing and get it done. Then pick something else and get it done.
Once you've started getting momentum (even just a little bit of momentum),
pick the most important thing and get it done, then rinse and repeat.

It's going to sound like I'm trying to plug my newest app
([http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unbroken-
chain/id415158247?mt...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/unbroken-
chain/id415158247?mt=8)), and I suppose I am, but that's one of the reasons
that I wrote it: to help me make sure that I am moving closer to my goals each
and every day.

~~~
solipsist
_Just do it._

How? How do I do it? Things just don't play out by themselves. What mindset do
I need to have in order to do the things that move me closer to my goal? _Just
do it_ could answer anything. It doesn't provide any details or make me
anymore motivated (despite what Nike may think).

~~~
consultutah
Wow. OK, then... You have enough gumption to ask how to get motivation and to
argue about it, but not to do anything that will get you closer to your goals.

Forget the "just do it" part, if that so upsets you, about what I said and
read the rest. For me the only way to get motivated is to progress on
something, that's the "pick one little thing and get it done" part.

If that doesn't work for you, so be it - We all work differently. Use the
anger that you directed at me to get motivated.

~~~
solipsist
I apologize for the tone - I didn't mean to come across so nasty. I simply
wanted to hear more about your ideas, past the "just do it" part. Sure, we all
think and work differently, but what works for one may also work for another.
That's why I originally posted this question.

I did read past the "just do it" part and I see what you're saying about
progressing on the work. However, I'd like to know what you (or anyone else)
does to get started. How do we get that initial burst of motivation?

Again, I'm sorry about the way I reacted.

~~~
consultutah
No worries.

We all have different things that work for us. You have your count mnemonic,
to misuse the term. For me it really is as simple as finding something,
anything that I can get done. One example: I needed to update the sales copy
on one of my landing pages, but for some reason didn't want to get started.
What did I do? I started by changing the background color of the site.
Something easy that took just a couple of minutes, then when I'd finished
testing that and found it to be an improvement, I moved to changing the
headline on the page and eventually the whole sales copy.

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Mz
For tasks at work that I dread, I set aside a certain time of day to deal with
it. If I run into something that is that sort of task at another time of day
and I don't feel up to coping with it (and it's not urgent/high priority), I
set it aside and deal with it during that time slot the following day. Once my
pile of dreaded tasks for the day is done, my head is clear to focus and get
on with getting on with it. I also group certain tasks for efficiency, like I
try to do all my printing around the same time. It helps me with mental
flow/workflow.

At home, it usually is much more about taking a nap, feeding myself, and so
on. When my body is properly cared for, then I can be productive. When it is
not, I piddle around and "procrastinate". But for me it's really not some
mental block or avoidance thing. I have a medical condition and when I am
tired and/or under the weather, I just can't be productive. So the piece I
focus on is addressing my physical care. Everything else flows from that.

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mapster
have drive to succeed

~~~
solipsist
If it was that easy, we'd all be 10x more successful than we are currently. =)

~~~
Mz
Don't be silly. I would be like 30x more successful.

