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Ask HN: Getting out of severe procrastination and a lack of motivation?

16 points by argonaut ↗ HN
I've had serious issues for the past few months with my overall motivation and mood. This all feels very generalized and moderate - omnipresent, if you will, and though I've felt the same form of severe procrastination for years, it's recently been seriously affecting my work performance, which lends the whole issue a great deal of anxiety and urgency. I also see this emerge during bouts of analysis paralysis, where I drag out a decision and over-analyze everything and procrastinate on making a decision (ranging from things like career choices to choices between competing technologies). I've never really done anything about it since I don't feel particularly depressed, though I do feel depressed to the extent that my under-performance hurts my self-image of a great developer and makes me anxious.

This has reached the point where I've seriously considered experimenting with drugs like adderall or modafinil. Maybe I just need a vacation.

I feel like this is not uncommon experience, so I thought I'd ask for all your thoughts.

8 comments

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xauronx
I often face those issues as well. Especially when you're part of communities that worship people that get a seemingly unrealistic amount of stuff done, or are unusually successful.

My first bit of advice is to take a break. Forget start ups, forget technology, take a weekend to sit around and be a slob. Lay on the couch all day and do nothing. Go on a hike, sit in the woods, put the computer,technology, business into perspective. Maybe this is only relevant to me, but it seems to help.

As for the analysis paralysis... I suffer from that pretty badly. The only thing I've really been able to do to get around it is say "fuck it, worst case scenario, if I make something that sucks, at least I've made something. Best case scenario, I've made something that's great and made the best decisions I could." Sometimes you have to just hack stuff together, you can always change your direction later right?

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joonix
You're in a rut. It happens; there's nothing wrong with you.

Rx drugs aren't the answer. You may need a big change to give yourself a motivational spark. Whether it's a move to a new city, a new job, a new project, or getting some big break, that's what can help give you some momentum.

Exercise helps. But really it's about giving your brain a jolt with some new challenges and stimulation. Push yourself. Do something really hard, so you'll feel alive again.

gesman
At the root of every procrastination is suppressed fear. Fear of failure, fear of punishment for not being good enough, fear of shame, fear of success. Specifics doesn't matter. You may temporarily overpower fear with positive emotions or sparks of activities which works while it last. The real solution is to actually look at this fear, feel it fully. You attention to fear dissolves it irreversibly.

Roughly: trigger the fear (which will be felt like strong a discomfort) by trying to do something you procrastinate about. Locate it inside your body. Feel it fully within yourself. Breathe. Rinse and repeat. The more direct focused attention you put into fear directly (within your body, not within your mind) - the more it will dissolve.

rektide
I agree with the analysis here. I find usually getting more afraid, more terrorized by how crappy oneself is, looking at the prospect of never doing anything and facing absolute oblivion is the ticket to buckling under and furiously kicking out the next couple blocks of work. Then one gets complacent enough to go back to arm chair coaching and prognosticating and futzing about thinking about rather than doing the future and the cycle starts over again.
Nightrider
Isolate and do one little thing. No, it doesn't need to be important. Maybe a blog post on the subject. Maybe a phone call. One little thing. Do it now. Then goto 1. Try it.

No really.

terrykohla
You may be the type of person who is undecided by nature and likes to "go with the flow" depending on your mood, prefers to improvise rather than sticking to a plan, easy going and that's just part of your personality, you're a procrastinator by nature when it comes to sticking to the plan and performing tedious tasks that must get done. If this is your case I simply recommend to spend some time doing things you like, things that energize you, things that get you in a good mood, to get your energy levels up. Once you get there use some of that energy to start planing, make a calendar with your goals and write down your achievements. Do this little by little, baby steps. This is imperative to achieve your goals, therefore you need to go do something else, get energize, come back and do it little by little until it becomes programmed in your super-smart brain. Learn to recognize what energizes you and what drains you and use that to empower you rather than depress you.