
I procrastinate because I care - ryanwaggoner
http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/09/i-procrastinate-because-i-care/
======
vidar
That last point is big, you dont have to fix everything. Its ok to make small
steps as long as they are in the right direction.

From <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html>

Fire and Motion, for small companies like mine, means two things. You have to
have time on your side, and you have to move forward every day. Sooner or
later you will win. All I managed to do yesterday is improve the color scheme
in FogBUGZ just a little bit. That's OK. It's getting better all the time.
Every day our software is better and better and we have more and more
customers and that's all that matters. Until we're a company the size of
Oracle, we don't have to think about grand strategies. We just have to come in
every morning and somehow, launch the editor.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
_We just have to come in every morning and somehow, launch the editor._

I really like this. So much of success seems to be just showing up, day after
day.

------
RyanMcGreal
I finally made my peace with procrastination when I stopped fighting against
it. Now my secret to productivity is to load several projects onto my agenda
so that I end up getting work done as a way of avoiding getting other work
done:

[http://quandyfactory.com/blog/1/productivity_and_procrastina...](http://quandyfactory.com/blog/1/productivity_and_procrastination)

~~~
ryanwaggoner
You mean structured procrastination?

<http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/>

Maybe I'm just idealistic and I'll eventually get to the point where I adopt
this strategy but I'm fighting it for now :)

EDIT: Sorry, I posted this before checking your post and seeing that you
linked to it.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Reading that essay was a revelation. It provided a name and an explicit
description of what I was already doing - albeit in an ad hoc, guilt-ridden
manner.

It wasn't until I decided to accept my temperament and make it work for me
that I became comfortable with how I get things done.

------
RBr
This is a common, but interesting angle on procrastination. eliminating
distractions, time boxing and counting are all valuable elements not only to
overcoming procrastination but also to improving the underlying element,
motivation.

In the middle of the article above, the author mentions what I think is the
root cause of both procrastination and in turn, motivation in general:

"Cultivate strong habits and build a routine"

I think that habits are the foundation of success. If you develop good habits
and work to enforce and refine those habits to meet your goals, you will
succeed.

This (simplistic) theory is echoed by almost every self-help resource
available. Some say associate yourself with those who have good habits, while
others think that progressing through a number of repeatable steps is the
secret to success. Personally, I think that it's different for everyone, but
everyone that I know who truly "gets stuff done" simply has developed good
habits professionally, personally and recreationally.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
I can't even begin to tell you how right you are. Habits are inevitable;
everyone has them and is controlled by them to a certain degree. I see habit
as a steady, silent, inexorable force that pulls you through life. Realizing
this and pouring almost all my energy into shaping my habits has completely
changed my life.

------
wazoox
I procrastinate because I read too many blogs posts about getting things done
and procrastination avoidance. I procrastinate because I'm procrastinating my
way to perfection.

~~~
thomas11
Even worse is the fact that most of these blog posts just seem to be rehashes
of previous blog posts about getting stuff done. Avoid distractions,
declutter, pomodoro technique... I don't know how many of these posts I've
seen on HN.

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kqueue
I think procrastination is not _the_ problem. It is an effect rather than a
cause. I procrastinate waiting until I feel I can focus on the problem.
Removing distractions won't help much. When I feel I can focus, nothing can
distract me.

Probably what should be tackled is how to maintain focus, and regain focus
quickly.

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gizmo
I think the crux lies in the habits you cultivate. If you know how make a
habit out of something (if you have the habit of deliberately creating good
habits) all the other pieces should fall into place.

As the saying goes: thoughts become actions, actions become habits and the
habits define your character.

------
sanjib
Larry Wall once said that language designers have huge egos, perhaps hackers
do too. Perhaps it's the guts and ego that shouts out "I don't care" cause I
have bigger things to think about or for that matter hack about. Hacking is
always the numero uno priority hence procrastination in my humble opinion will
always be a feature amongst hackers and not a bug :)

Nonetheless I do vouch for the Pomodoro technique, specially the one written
by Staffan. When cries of things to do can no longer be ignored, it's time to
wind up that clock!

~~~
JoeAltmaier
We can have all the morals we can afford. Well-paid comfortable hackers can
afford a lot.

------
gcheong
One resource that I've gotten some good mileage out of recently is "The
Procrastinator's Digest". It's a comprehensive but concise look at what the
current research says and how you can apply it. I re-read it when I find
myself slipping into my procrastination habit, especially the "I'll feel more
like doing this later, tomorrow, after a nap, etc." rut I tend to get most
stuck in.

<http://www.procrastinatorsdigest.com/>

------
JoeAltmaier
Sometimes the job is so deep and so wide and so tall, there seems to be no way
to do it, no way at all. 25 minutes on an egg timer isn't going to cut it.

I need to be in the right mental condition to make headway then. No, just
getting started doesn't help. If I'm not sharp, I'm just staring at that
editor screen, fooling with the formatting.

Then a bike ride, a run, a nap is more productive. I'm SO glad I work for
myself, and I can do that.

------
ggchappell
The third paragraph (which is referenced in the title) makes an excellent
point. I wish he had expanded on this more.

The fact is that modern western culture strongly values timeliness over
quality. Thus, we are often penalized for "taking the time to do it right".
(For all you Myers-Briggs fans: Our culture strongly favors the J preference,
which can be rough on those who are more inclined toward the P side.)

That does not mean that we all need to start valuing timeliness more. But it
_does_ mean that it is a good idea to remember that we will usually be
evaluated, rewarded, etc., based on a value system that attaches great
importance to timeliness.

------
jonathanjaeger
For bigger, important tasks give your friends or family some money and tell
them not to give it back unless you finish the task in time. The key is to
make the amount of money significant enough to warrant not procrastinating.

------
jacquesm
It's funny how every article about productivity and anti-procrastination is
effectively costing productivity and makes people stay away from what they
thought they should be doing just a little bit longer.

If the number of people that changes their minds after reading this multiplied
by the time they would procrastinate otherwise is larger than the total amount
of time people spent on reading these articles it is a net win.

Of course I had to go read the article...

@ryan: typo in the second paragraph, 'live' instead of 'life'.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
Fixed; thanks.

I know what you mean, and "productivity porn" can definitely be a problem. I
used to read 43 folders and other sites like that, but I mostly avoid it now.
I might listen to podcasts on productivity when I have time that I can't
otherwise use very well (like running, for example), but I try not to spend a
couple hours a day reading how to be more productive :)

------
jodrellblank
Assume there are things you do not procrastinate on (because you enjoy them
when doing them, and in advance when looking forward to them).

Also take from your post that you enjoy this work when you get going on it,
but you don't enjoy it in advance, looking forward to it.

So what's the difference? If you aren't _predicting_ enjoyment for something
that you _will actually enjoy_ at the time it happens, then your prediction
circuits are badly calibrated.

If you aren't predicting enjoyment, and you are avoiding doing something
(procrastinating), you are probably predicting something bad happening as a
result of doing or not doing it, which you force yourself past fighting every
time.

What am I talking about when I say 'predicting'? Feelings. How you feel about
it. Do some role playing imagination for:

\- If I don't start this now, how do I feel? \- If I never get this done, how
do I feel? \- If I do work on it now, how do I feel? \- If I do finish this,
how do I feel?

(that is, deliberately imagine yourself in each of the situations as if it was
really happening, and pay attention to what your brain feeds back to you as
you do so by way of noticing how the imagination-model makes you feel).

Compare between something that you don't procrastinate on, and something that
you do. I'm guessing for something you easily do it will go "if I don't do it,
no big deal, if I do, pride and happiness", and for something you
procrastinate on it will be "if I don't do it, oh no I feel ashamed, and if I
do, just another trudging turn of the grindstone".

Can I justify this from your post? Maybe:

 _The things I really care about are things that I want to be perfect, so I
put off doing them. Pretty soon, I’ve turned a small, simple task into a huge
project and the burden of accomplishing it is just too large, so I put it off.
Do I really care about this redesign? Yeah, I care way too much about it._

Ask yourself what it is that you care about, specifically. It's not really the
redesign itself, is it? The "burden". People don't describe things they enjoy
doing and look forward to as a burden, they describe onerous
miserable/unpleasant but obligatory tasks as burdens.

You beat yourself up with Fort Knox lockdowns, mental discipline and framing
it as something you will have to "fight forever" and then write a blog post
about how to change yourself so you stop procrastinating by keeping yourself
the same and changing the world around you - as if that actually could work.
As if having an egg timer near you is the change that stops you
procrastinating. As if changing your watch is the fix for bubblesort being too
slow.

NB, I'm procrastinating by writing this instead of working, but don't dismiss
this because of my failings, only dismiss it if it's not useful.

