Ask Entrepreneurs: Productivity tips for a chronic procrastinator?
I'm a chronic procrastinator, and I want to change. I have hundreds of ideas jotted down on a notepad I keep on my table, but I never get around to implementing those. There just seems to be this inertia that stops me from ever starting to work on my tasks. "I'll do it next month, I have exams right now", "Now? I can't work in this state of mind!", "Let me just finish reading my RSS feeds. I got to keep myself updated" are some of the excuses I give myself.
Of course, once I do start working on something, I get in the zone and completely lose track of time. Once in the zone, I'll work at a task until I've completed it. Overcoming the "inertia" is the difficult part.
This is what I've done to combat my situation: I've started keeping a TODO list. I've also cleared my desk of unneeded items and removed useless feeds from my RSS reader. I'm getting into the habit of putting my MacBook to sleep when I'm not working. That way, I can't wander off to Digg or the WTF subreddit. I feel I'm about 2x more productive now, but I'm still far from the stage where I can spend more than 50% of my computer time doing productive tasks.
Tips? Links? Blogs? Also, I love anecdotes :)
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 141 ms ] threadEDIT: The problem is big and complex enough to need a book to cover it. Blog posts and magazine articles usually only cover a specific, narrow aspect of the problem. This book as well as covering the field is readable enough that it doesn't take too long to read through.
Convince yourself that every line of code you write is worth $10k.
Finally, make this your mantra: http://seoblackhat.com/2007/01/29/do-it-fucking-now/
I think I ought to write that down.
PG's Brilliant Essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci: http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=zs61txc4kwr4kd1q1rj...
Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=procrastinating-again
Letter to a Young Procrastinator: http://www.slate.com/id/2190918/pagenum/all/
Also, a quick search of HN using Google, should provide a lot of food for thought and anecdotes. There have been a number of discussions on this topic here.
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+pro...
I find it helps to spend some time laying out a plan of attack that will yield results along the way - like an adventurer laying out a route with ports/oases/base-camps for reprovisioning - and ruthlessly cutting out nice-to-have features that don't contribute (while keeping some nice-to-have features that do contribute). A side-effect of getting results is that they act as a check on whether you are on the right track. There's still the basic fear, of "will I ever get to the end"; the cure for that is to clarify the mission. If things get confusing, step back and simplify, because that is the way to move forward.
And laying out the approach actually also begins the journey (because I think about the issues I'll encounter), without feeling like it, so it is easier to start on this than on the task itself. So this is one way to overcome procrastination, and get started: "I'll just have a little daydream about the cool little outcomes along the way"
It's extremely difficult to sit down and write when I can easily make a living with what I can already do. However, writing is what I've always wanted to do and when I first committed I knew I was not going to get paid for it for a long time. I believe it's been about 7 years now, and I finally know it's time to finish the job.
Right now, the reward for my current actions is likely to pay off in maybe 2-3 years. There's always the chance I could make a tasty advance, however this is highly unusual. The first book usually doesn't matter anyway, it won't be until my third that I get a true pay-off.
I believe you have to have incredible determination, planning skills (so you do feel somewhat rewarded, I do this by printing out a chapter as soon as it's complete to give to my wife to read). It's very hard to do, however it helps a lot that I find doing it incredibly enjoyable. When you wake up dreaming from a different world, it's quite an amazing feeling.
I also don't believe that sitting at a computer screen is work. My brother is an excellent programmer and from what I can perceive is that his processes are entirely the same as mine. In fact, I learnt a few tricks from him. Ideas and solutions usually appear when your mind is relaxed, simply piling on the pressure by stressing out isn't likely to help.
However, if you don't have the motivation to start a project, I wouldn't necessarily call it procrastination. It's quite possibly it could be atychiphobia (Fear of Failure), as not starting a project is entirely different from losing your way during it as the start of a project is usually immense fun, until the real work kicks in.
If anyone has a fear of failure, I don't believe I know how to help with that. I have no real fear of failure, I jump into everything from the deep end. I've lost a large number of projects along the way to attrition, all are failures but a failure teaches you and I have learnt a great deal. The first time I'd ever hit a golf ball was when I went out with my future father-in-law who had no clue I didn't play golf. I've found that sheer confidence can usually make up for nearly all lacking. So to anyone with a fear of failure, I'd say fail on purpose because after that it can only get better.
Do that and basically shift to whatever you feel like doing at the time (with the only caveat that it should be relatively productive stuff - ie. not "play WoW", more like "write a blog post" or "design a new homepage").
You probably will still get stuff done just before the deadline when it has a hard deadline, but the result is that you'll do a LOT of other stuff along the way.
pg says it much better here:
http://www.paulgraham.com/procrastination.html
"What's the best thing you could be working on, and why aren't you?"
Just goes to show you: Ask 2 hackers a question and get 3 answers. You'll just have to figure out what works best for you.
Unless I'm doing something obviously unproductive (e.g. watch TV or play a game), I'm rarely sitting there doing nothing for ages. The only time when this happens, consistently, is precisely when I tell myself "This is what I have to do, above all other things" and it just so happens that that one thing is something that I just don't want to work on or think about right now.
The "Number 1 priority" trick works for a while, and while it's working, it's great - but once you hit one of those snags, a whole day can vanish without a trace or any output. The only time "Number 1 priority" works reliably for me is when there is an imminent deadline and I cannot not do it. Any form of artificial "I'm going to do only this today" has a high probability of reducing my overall output instead of increasing it.
When, instead, I tell myself "I can do any of these 20 things, or even anything else I can think of", suddenly I run through things at a really rapid rate - especially if I know that in that list is one task that I just don't want to do... it's like I'll do all the other stuff just to avoid doing that one task.
So, anyway, not just different people, but different techniques - both work, superficially, imho - i've just found that the "focus on one thing" approach hits some terrible snags every once in a while that devalue it on the whole...
I would add one more category of procrastination: doing something when the time is right. It's an idea I borrowed from "Zen and the Art of Archery" where the author was struggling with how to know the right moment to shoot so that his arrow will have the right trajectory. His instructor told him that "it" will shoot when the time is right (what I've written doesn't do justice to the lesson I learned in this simple example - so I highly recommend reading this ~96 page book).
Many might translate this behavior to doing it whenever I feel like doing it (or procrastinating), but most of these downtimes are spent thinking or designing in my head what needs to be done. It would seem that "it" has a life of its own in my mind and perhaps at the right moment, I am compelled by something do get "it" done. I must say that this is merely a model (that works well for me) about transforming procrastination from a negative to a positive.
I suppose my answer to the original posting would be that if I feel like I'm "type-C" procrastinating, then this can be remedied by thinking about the more important tasks that need to be done. Usually when the thought gets translated into action, the results are much better than if I forced myself to take action without properly preparing myself mentally.
Does making a to-do list for my problem/project count as procrastination?
I'm actually working on a simple to-do/task list manager right now as a final project for this PHP class I'm taking, but upon reading pg's article I almost feel as if I'm contributing to the problem of procrastination rather than solving it...
pg sorts tasks according to value, (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important, rather than your typical formulation, according to state (1)do, (2)doing, (3)done...aren't the two formulations of task interdependent [with maybe the exception of nothing]?
1. Find a team partner - and you will be cornered to start "get things done". Otherwise, you can't keep show up everyday without any progress
2. Have a weekly team target - we have it as weekly iterations. Always release something out every week.
Well, the good news are, you realize your problems and looking for solutions.
Bill Gates seems to have the same problem with procrastination, early on in his career: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ic1Ro4LkKw
You'll work like a machine from that point forward.
http://whitepaperclip.com/blog/post/2-Avoiding-Procrastinati...
Everyone is different, though.
Drugs are not just for disease.
Is it possible that your habits come (to whatever extent) from neuropharmacology?
If you have a dopamine imbalance, can will power alone overcome it?
I cut the low starting dose in half, and that helped; at that level, "pause and check" still has enough control to keep me from disregarding consequences.
I'm a bit hesitant to share this, but I'm curious whether anyone else here has had a similar reaction. You can email me if you don't want it out in public (pseudonymous email address, presumably).
I was you once. GTD by David Allen helped. Going to the gym daily with my brother (who is a gym rat) helped, but I finally realized that I had everything in the world that people are dieing to get and I was squandering that gift by wasting my time.
Procrastinating is not an illness, it is a decision. You have chosen to be lazy, only you can change that.
Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.
I often struggle with time management procrastination and a high level of distractibility. It really comes down to just being honest with yourself and understanding the choices you're making. The gym is a huge help too, it's good for you, it gives you energy and it helps you focus.
Paul Allen founded Microsoft
Both sites, among others, are now banned via my /etc/hosts file - this is a very good technique I find. It's not permanent, but having to sudo to get to it puts in a conscience filter.
HN is now the only aggregator I follow regularly, and even then I've become more disciplined about how much time I spend on here.
Become more conscious about what you're doing. When you find yourself idling surfing Wikipedia or whatever, catch yourself and ask yourself if there's something else you ought to be doing right now. Catch yourself enough and you will be surprised at how much more productive you become.
Instead, I noticed that almost all instances of my procrastination fit into three categories:
1.) I was trying to do something too ambitious, which I didn't have the skill level for, and so I couldn't complete it, yet wasn't able to admit that to myself.
2.) I was trying to bite off too big a chunk at once, so I'd get confused and wouldn't know where to start.
3.) The task is really boring and takes no real skill to complete, so I just wouldn't bother.
#1 is fixed by backing up and doing something easier - and oftentimes the "something easier" ends up being far more useful than the original task. For example, I spent like 3 years on FictionAlley.org (a PHP/MySQL rewrite of a website that had previously been 40,000 hand-written HTML pages), vs. a week on Scrutiny (Amherst's course-evaluation system). Once I'd done Scrutiny, though, FictionAlley was quite a bit easier for the practice.
#2 is tricky until you get some practice in breaking things down, but then it becomes quite manageable. For example, I was starting a new project for work this morning, one of those unsolicited I'll-build-it-and-then-show-my-manager things. Spent a half hour or so doing nothing but checking HN, then I created a git repository and figured "Hey, I can create a Django app. That's no problem." Then I figured "Hey, I create a basic HTML page with just the app's name on it. That's no problem." Then I figured "Hey, I can wire it up with django.views.generic.simple.direct_to_template", and suddenly I've got working code that just needs to be refined. The rest should be smooth sailing.
#3 is best solved with habits and routines, so that it really does become thoughtless. For example, I think paying bills and opening mail is about the most boring thing ever, so I always do it Saturday morning before going to the supermarket. It gets done, and since it's always at the same time of week I usually don't have to think about it. Same with responding to e-mail - usually, I make sure to respond immediately after reading or else not respond at all.
The smoke and mirrors can be quite useful. It works for me, at least.
I suspect I'm note alone. Thanks for your post.
E.g.
http://zenhabits.net/2007/07/how-to-actually-execute-your-to...
And why don't you switch to ff ?
> And why don't you switch to ff ?
I like Opera better.
- Tasks you really don't like doing are harder to start with. But, are the tasks you have to do really important? What happens if you don't do them? Eliminate as much as possible.
- Start working on a task as late as possible. The pressure, it helps. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson%27s_law)
- Break it up in small steps. Working on a task "Build the next google" is not going to get you started. Split it up in smaller steps, and associate little milestones or 'victories' to completing a small step.
- Another reason for procrastination is feeling overwhelmed (decision paralysis, action paralysis). If you have so much to do that no matter what you finish, it still feels like you have a lot left, it's impossible to start. Again, try to eliminate or make a feasible schedule for yourself, such that you are able to finish your list for the day.
- Stop feeling bad about procrastination. Actually, plan in some procrastination time. Forcing yourself to work all the time and feel bad about not doing it will cause you to procrastinate more. Plan in some time for 'slacking', or even better: exercise, do some sports and get back to work afterwards.
- If you would give yourself 1 hour/day for procrastination; what would you rather do? Read digg about lolcats or sit outside in the sun, and talk with some friends? If you go at it like this, you'll notice how valuable your limited time actually is, and you'll stop reading those websites.
- Again, more sports! Clear mind == more productive.
- If you allow yourself the time to 'procrastinate' (i.e. reading websites, RSS, email, etc.), it will also make it easier to read news/mail in batches. Limit it to max. 3 times per day or so.
- If you want help to get into some new (productivity) habits, start a "Seinfeld calendar" (Google it if you haven't heard of it before)
- Do NOT, _EVER_, start your day with reading news/mail/etc (or keep it to offline news -- yes, news papers ;).
- Unplug. Information overload == bad.
- Start the day with an easy task. It's not hard to start with and it will get you in the "getting-s*-done mood". Once you start ticking of tasks - no matter how little it was - it feels like getting done more!
Hope this helps!
Here is something that helped me: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-cult-of-d...
Seriously though, find your motivation and all else will fall into place...
Here is something that helped me: http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/the-cult-of-d...
Seriously though, find your motivation and all else will fall into place...
Full of practical advice. In the same vein, it's good to read all e-mails / blogs after lunch. Keeping IM, Twitter off till that also helps.
In a nutshell, the mind, like money, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master! Hope this helps.
- Plan out your daily deadlines the day before and stick with it.
- Do NOT extend a deadline. If you go over a deadline, stop the activity and move on to the next one on the schedule. This will condition you to prioritize more effectively next time. (e.g. Knowing that you only have two hours to code something really boost up your code productivity.)
1) The market for the idea
2) Feasibility
I wouldn't advise against reading, the more knowledge you acquire should result in a more sound understanding of the current situation around you.
The term therapy here might seem a bit off-putting, but the approach of being a mindful observer of ones thoughts, accepting them and then taking action in accordance with your values seems like it might be of help in getting you over the inertia you are dealing with.
1) Getting Things Done by David Allen gives you a system that works for keeping track of things and choosing what to work on when.
2) The Now Habit by Neil Fiore teaches you how to get rid of some stupid things we do and think that keeps us procrastinating.
3) Tribes by Seth Godin inspires you to go out and do great deeds, big and small.