The first comment on the blog sums my response up so well that I'll just quote it:
> This is great! It’s going to take me about a month to read everything!
On an entirely related note, I think it's time to increase the time window that HN is LeechBlocked & switch the VMs I use for 'browser testing' to host-only networking...
This is actually a bunch of links to other online guides to procrastination, plus three videos, plus three books, and some commentary. Reading it all seems like a pretty good way to procrastinate.
More than anything else, I find that making a list with things that can actually be ticked off (ie specific, and measurably attainable in the short term, not something like "lose weight" or "become pro-active") is my best productivity tool.
There's something about a good list that is just like a flag to a bull to me.
I think it is part of why I'm so much more productive at debugging. Give me a spreadsheet with a big list of things that are wrong and I'll bulldoze through them like a lightsaber through butter†.
On the other hand, going to one of the 'proper' 'enterprisey' bug tracking systems actually reduces the visual impact, there is no list you have to search for them one by one and there is all this bondage and discipline around it.
Because of this for me anyway the spreadsheet ('worse') is 'better'.
†Disclaimer: it helps if you actually know the program and understand the problem that is being solved etc
That's the whole idea behind David Allen's "Next Actions" in the "Getting Things Done" book.
Sure, the goal might be "Lose 50 lbs", but the "Next action" is "Do 20 min of exercise today". Often turning your "to-do" list into things you can actually DO is all it takes.
I find it ironic this article (which takes time from your work) is about beating procrastination, and his own personal advice is "sometimes you shouldn’t do what others tell you." I'm sensing an incredibly subtle message here...
15 comments
[ 2.3 ms ] story [ 40.2 ms ] thread> This is great! It’s going to take me about a month to read everything!
On an entirely related note, I think it's time to increase the time window that HN is LeechBlocked & switch the VMs I use for 'browser testing' to host-only networking...
There's something about a good list that is just like a flag to a bull to me.
It's the "Wow, I have a gigantic task here; it's so huge that a few minutes just $(anything_but_the_task) won't matter" thing that ruins the party.
On the other hand, going to one of the 'proper' 'enterprisey' bug tracking systems actually reduces the visual impact, there is no list you have to search for them one by one and there is all this bondage and discipline around it.
Because of this for me anyway the spreadsheet ('worse') is 'better'.
†Disclaimer: it helps if you actually know the program and understand the problem that is being solved etc
Sure, the goal might be "Lose 50 lbs", but the "Next action" is "Do 20 min of exercise today". Often turning your "to-do" list into things you can actually DO is all it takes.
nice try.
Priceless.