

Ask HN: How did you quit procrastinating? - rick_2047

Hey,<p>I am just a lazy boy, I know. But there was a time when there was a limit to my laziness. It turned into procrastinating somewhere between my first college assignment and my last internal assessment. I am just unable to complete my studies or anything I uninteresting in the short run. I have been working upon it (diagnosis, as they say, is the first step of curing), but with no luck. Now the problem is, I have finals on 20th and have done very less studies till date. Everytime I want to just get down and study my mind seems to have a knee jerk reaction and I find something else to do.<p>Have you ever coped up with such a situation? Please give your suggestions on how you solved it.
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jacquesm
Interesting question, but given the context, anybody that answers you probably
hasn't quit yet.

I sure can relate to your problems, only fortunately I'm no longer in school
so the impact is limited, but it is a real problem.

When I really have to do stuff I resort to endless lists. Stuff only gets put
on the list if it is useful, and I don't allow myself to do anything that is
not on the list.

It's brutal but it seems to work.

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Serene
Unplug the internet or install LeechBlock Firefox extension:
<https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4476> and block HN among other
sites that distract you.

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mattm
I would recommend taking a week off but since you have finals in just 12 days
try taking 2-3 days completely off. Don't feel guilty about it. Enjoy it.
Limit mental stimulation as much as possible. Don't watch TV. Don't use the
Internet. Just go for walks or hang out with friends.

I read a study once of a similar experiment tried on a classroom of young
children. They told the children they could do whatever they wanted. So for a
couple days they just ran around outside but by the third day they were so
bored of having nothing to do, they were begging the teachers for work.

Good luck!

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mvp
Time boxing and pomodoro technique helps

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cmos
There is something inside you that you currently do not have control over. So
'double down' on it. Instead of planning to study, plan to not study. Instead
of wasting time 'procrastinating' which usually means surfing the internet,
plan outings and adventures.

Eventually your 'survival' instinct will kick in, and when it does you'll be
well rested, relaxed, ready for the cram session you'll embark on, and not
feeling bad for not studying as you filled the time with life experiences, not
sitting at a desk not-studying.

Seriously. Take the 'inaction' that renders you useless into the still
functional part of your brain. Once it knows your actually in control, you'll
be able to translate that to anything you want, because you will stop feeling
helpless against this unknown thing that isn't letting you study.

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GeneralMaximus
I'm dealing with this right now. My exams begin on Monday, and I just started
preparing. I might fail a paper ... again :(

I believe your inaction is not really procrastination. You probably have a lot
of material to cover and you don't know where to begin. This is inaction due
to indecision. I guess you should decide what subjects you're going to tackle
first, and in what order, and then just _start studying_. The more you think
about the amount of stuff you still have to cover, the more indecisive you
become.

I'm just hypothesizing, though. Take my advice with several spoonfuls of salt
;)

Next semester, I'm going to take PG's advice and treat college like a day job
[1]. You might want to try the same approach.

[1] <http://www.paulgraham.com/hs.html>

~~~
rick_2047
Well even if its not procrastinating, its still not getting me anywhere. I am
unable to concentrate.

I did something similar to what you said today. I made the list of 8 subjects
which I have to prepare. Turns out there are 3 subjects for which I don't have
to study at all (who the hell studies for Basics of C, Communication Skills
and Basics of Sci)? 1 subject (Engineering Graphics) I don't will do with my
friends.

That leaves me with only Elements of Electrical Engineering, Elements of Civil
and Mechanical Engineering, Maths and Engineering Mechanics. Which I can
prepare.

After that I felt good and took ledger123's advice and started studying maths
without thinking about anything else. I have completed two topics out of 10 in
an hour, so this is working fine for today I think.

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nato1138
This great book about time management by Lakein, suggests sitting in a chair
and do _nothing_ ... no activity, no fidgeting... just sit there. After a
several minutes, it's so unbearable, that you get inspired to go and tackle
that task.

Pretty cool trick...

~~~
ledger123
Any trick I use is to mindlessly start doing anything, just anything, related
to work. You will gain momentum after a brief period of activity.

While procrastinating, don't do anything which feeds it. (like facebook,
browsing, HNing etc.)

~~~
rick_2047
Umm... if you have ever tried it, you might know its hard to quit HNing.
Specially if you have a very curious mind

