
Feeling unproductive? Maybe you should stop overthinking - adolos
https://adolos.substack.com/p/feeling-unproductive-maybe-you-should
======
smabie
A little tangential, but I've found that I'm the most productive when tired.
When I have energy, nothing I do seems good enough and I end up wasting a lot
of time trying to make something better, whether it be a piece of code, a blog
post, some ML analysis, etc.

When I'm tired, I don't have the mental capacity to go above and beyond, so I
just concentrate on producing something, _anything_. Turns out it's much
easier to modify something that is sort of crappy but exists than create
something great out of thin air.

The take away is that if you can, just produce the crappiest, quickest thing
you can first. Once you're done, seriously evaluate if it actually needs to be
any better, because often this crappy solution isn't actually that crappy and
perfectly sufficient (I'm looking at you, Unix). If you think it can be better
or needs to be better, don't be afraid to throw the whole thing away and try
and make a slightly less crappy version. Even if you redid the same thing 5
times and the result is only slightly better each time, it's often less effort
than if you tried to create the final solution from scratch on the first try.

I don't know where this quote comes from, but I really like it and I think
embodies this kind of philosophy and thinking: _you don 't understand a
problem until you've solved it_.

~~~
billti
I’ve found when I’m hung over or exhausted (e.g. kids were up all night), are
the times when I can really plow through all the mundane todos that have been
sitting around forever. It’s almost like my mind is happy to have a bunch of
stuff lined up that takes minimal effort. When I’m “fresh” and energized, in
the absence of another forcing function (e.g. deadline), the easy stuff is too
boring, and the hard stuff results in analysis paralysis.

~~~
Ductapemaster
I totally understand how this feels. I've always been a night owl, staying up
in my teenage years until 3 or 4 in the morning working on a project. I can
just think more linearly when my brain is tired.

Pre-covid I was regularly doing an intense morning spin class before going to
the office, so I was "tired" when I started my day, and my productivity was
great. Not perfect, but much better. Since WFH/SIP I don't have the
opportunity to do the same kind of intense cardio, so I've relegated myself to
blocking my afternoons so all my meetings get scheduled in the morning. Even
then, I still am not that productive in the afternoon, and sometimes resort to
getting work done in the evenings when I feel I can take on a larger task.

------
ergothus
I struggle to understand the target audience for this. I'm currently crushed
by lack of productivity, and overthinking is definitely a large part of the
problem. But I can't just "not think" \- I'm painfully aware of how behind I
am, how much I don't understand in my current workload, and any time taken to
understand it quickly overwhelms me with frustration and fear. This means I
don't get any progress made, I understand things no better, the fear is
heightened, and it all gets worse.

Logically I'm aware that I'm my own enemy here - that my natural evasion of
dealing with the problem is amplifying the problem. But that logic doesn't
translate to action. Like an adult that tells a child to not let someone
teasing them bother them, the child doesn't really have the option to NOT feel
the humiliation of the teasing. When I go to try and tackle the problem,
within minutes my brain shuts down except for that active amygdala, pumping
fear hormones into my system and blocking any actual learning.

So avoiding the problem doesn't help. Attempting to tackle the problem doesn't
help.

The problem is real, but who are the people that just go "oh, I just need to
relax!" and that WORKS?!

~~~
grugagag
Dont avoid the problem, take a thin slice at a time, don’t think how much
behind you are because that is bound to stress you and spiral you down into an
unproductive loop. Just do something. Whatever you don’t know put it down on a
list, get it out of your head

~~~
rajangdavis
I second this sentiment. Breaking a problem down into a smaller set of
problems tends to help for me. It's much easier to start and be consistent
with a small set of changes and grow them over time.

If I can add onto "just do something", sometimes a brute forced/hacky solution
is better than nothing. I know that I will delay something if I don't think I
can do the "perfect" version of it (either in diet or exercise); however, I
have found that starting a behavior in a small way and being consistent is
infinitely better than waiting to have the circumstances be perfect.

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lukev
This is either something written by GPT-3, or the human equivalent. Zero
substantive content, pure regurgitation.

~~~
jackkinsella
Maybe you're new here, but your comment punches below the belt and isn't
acceptable in a community like this.

If you disagree, be civil and give reasons rather than throw insults.

------
megaserg
I think this was written by GPT-3.

~~~
um_ya
Nice try GPT-3

 _This text generated by GPT-3_

~~~
akodyn
Hello

------
fouc
I suspect that so many of us overthink most of the time, such that it's one of
the reasons that the most productive times seem to be in the early morning or
late at night.

Early morning our brains have been largely reset and it's a clean slate,
thoughts haven't had the chance to build up yet. Late night our brains are
tired, making it easier to be single-minded in focus during coding.

Balmer's peak could be related to this (though I haven't personally found
alcohol to work for me).

~~~
iratewizard
Personally, my unproductivity came from allowing myself to take dopamine hits
where I worked. Putting games, web browsing or texting physically somewhere
else prevented my home office from becoming a Skinner box of wasted time.

~~~
knrz
This neatly sums up something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Cheers.

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deeblering4
> Feeling unproductive? Maybe you should stop overthinking.

> ...

> I've been thinking about this lately, so I thought it would be good to write
> an article about it.

This highly meta introduction just cracks me up

~~~
quickthrower2
Yeah it's like the petrol (aka gas) tanker needs a smaller petrol tank to
drive itself.

------
nine_k
OK, the advice is to stop thinking about what have already been thought
through by others, and only think about novel, creative stuff.

Two problems.

You need to be an erudite, and know all the stuff other people has thought
through, and ideally the current agreed-upon best solutions. This is, of
course, hugely useful, and often fun! But it also takes a lot of time.

Since you quite possibly don't know enough about any particular domain,
including the domain where you are trying to be creative, you are bound to
reinvent wheels. To learn about known good answers in a particular area, you
have to know that such an area even _exists_.

My approach to this problem is to try, stop, and do research once I've
acquired the target.

I often end up on the verge of reinventing a wheel. But once I think that a
particular thing I'm about to invent and implement is nifty and generally
useful, I stop and and search for existing solutions. I'm very unlikely to be
the first person to have this problem. Once I know the problem enough to
_consider_ my own solution, I know enough to look for existing ones, and maybe
rank them. This saves me from sinking time on reimplementing a wheel once I
have invented it, and it's usually 90% of the time expense.

~~~
wolco
Reinventing the wheel is great for learning or creating something better.

The first version of the wheel used a square glad someone thought maybe a
circle could work. Spokes were a big upgrade. The rubber tire filled with air
creating[a donut changed the game.

------
twodave
Rather than “stop overthinking”, which I find to be similar to asking a fish
to breathe air, I tend to try to just accept and embrace unproductive moments,
knowing that they arise from time to time. I believe they are a necessary part
of mental rest. I also tend to be at my sharpest when returning from one of
these episodes.

In general I’m known for being a highly productive person, but I’m not sure
many people know quite how much time I spend doing basically nothing.

------
cubes
> So how do you get into the habit of creative thinking? > > Well, the best
> way is to just do it!

Such actionable advice! Much wow!

~~~
smabie
I actually think that is actionable advice. Like, stop thinking about, stop
planning to do it, just, right now, fucking do it. It doesn't matter if it's
sub-optimal or whatever, that can be fixed later.

This works for most things, but not all things. If you're trying to solve a
difficult math problem for example, you can't just put your head down and
grind through it. But for other things that you do know how to do, but not
necessarily the right way (writing an essay, writing some code, etc), you can
start immediately. Like if you have a problem and can only think of a O(n^2)
solution, well, just write the O(n^2) solution, even if you know it won't be
good enough in the end. Implementing the code for the O(n^2) solution will
often give you insight into how you can turn it into O(n) or O(n log n). By
writing a loop to sum number for example, you might realize you're summing
mostly the same number over and over and can save time by instead calculating
a cumulative sum.

You could very well have this insight without writing any code, but actually
typing something and reading it gives you a different and deeper perspective
into the problem.

------
njsubedi
Thinking itself is work. When you're thinking too much, anything that's not
"thinking too much" causes context switching, which is a hard task on its own.
Human brain cannot multitask, so you can't work while you're already doing a
lot of mental work. The trick is to do things that are fun (which, for some
people is doing creative work) such as playing games, taking a shower or
whatever makes you relaxed. Once that chain of thoughts is broken, you can
start working again.

Telling this from my personal experience, because I can't go from overthinking
about my business to designing a database model or fix an issue. I need to
take a mindless break, like showering or making coffee, or just grabbing a
teaspoon of ice cream from the freezer. Those few moments work as a transition
point for me to get back to work, and become productive.

------
brickmort
"Quit Thinking So Much and Take Action" \- A great two-minute video by Jocko
Willink
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYtP9uKwFU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmYtP9uKwFU)

~~~
elchief
War of Art is a good book on the subject too

------
Animats
Genius does what it must.

Talent does what it can.

You do what you're told.

------
shmerl
_> It is a form of mental activity that involves the use of logic and reason._

Not necessarily. Creativity can also involve intuition and spontaneous
insights which go beyond logic and reason.

~~~
smabie
Intuition and spontaneous insight are the highest forms of logic and reason.
Reason so pure, they've been sublimated into the unconscious.

~~~
shmerl
Logic assumes process of deriving new knowledge from previous knowledge.
Spontaneous insights is more akin to something that can't be derived.

------
sfgweilr4f
Good points.

Lack of productivity within an individual is usually* tied to procrastination.
This isn't the only explanation but its low-hanging-fruit. Make sure none of
it is still there, quietly causing rot.

So, I'm a proponent of thinking that "all"* procrastination is mostly*
emotional resistance in one way or another. The whole "just do it" thing can
actually work. For awhile. Checking in with your emotional state and being
methodical about it can open your eyes. That's why its only "for awhile". You
may need to timebox and switch deliberately. The emotional aspect can really
play games with your head. Experiment with what works.

I practice deliberate creativity where I set aside an hour per day and
actually write. Do the thing. Ideas or whatever. X words. Y diagrams.
Measurable. Get it done. Do something creative. After while the brain gets
used to it - well, mine did.

\-- * A lot. Generalisations are like that.

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josefrichter
I've read about some comedians explaining how to make improvisation work,
especially when working in duo: never dismiss any idea, just take it, expand
on it, keep the flow going.

Well applicable to "improv" on your own, and also to "brainstorming" meetings:
forbidden words "no" and "but..".

------
stormbrew
Fun fact: there's a name for not being able to focus because your mind
constantly wanders, resists switching tasks, and resists working towards
things you're supposed to be working towards until it's an emergency or you at
least convince yourself it is.

It's called (though is probably poorly named) ADHD.

~~~
stevewodil
The same is also caused by constant context switching. The brain makes a habit
of "oh I've hit a hard part, time for a break!"

Please people don't try to diagnose yourselves with ADHD over the internet. Go
see a professional

------
raghuveerdotnet
Unproductive: The Procrustean Bed of Modernity. My experience has been that a
person is either enjoying it so much so that he or she doesn't give an __f
__about hours spent, or is bound by responsibility. The feeling of being
unproductive is more often than not a byproduct of not being in one of these
situations --- all it says is neither am I enjoying what I 'm doing nor am I
in a position of responsibility. A net negative term, says nothing of essence
at all, squeezing every bit of life out of you by inducing unwarranted guilt!

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sporkologist
Great, now I can overthink about how I think about overthinking.

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josefrichter
People in creative professions mostly know they need to strictly separate
_creation_ vs _evaluation_. Many creations will turn out to be crap, but if
you start judging your ideas already during the creation process, you will
just kill the creativity – that's what's described here as "overthinking".

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ScannerSparkly
I feel that you need a good foundation to be productive. You need to eat
nutritious food, have enough sleep, set aside some time for exercise,
relaxation and socializing. You can' expect to be productive if you don't have
this base layer

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totetsu
Sounded a bit like Visual thinking Strategies at the end of that article.
[https://vtshome.org/](https://vtshome.org/)

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yxhuvud
No. I overthink today to be a step ahead the next time the issue, or a similar
one, pops up.

