tips to help beat procrastination

[YOLOisonlyprinciple]

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html

its pretty fun, check it out

 

[Jennywocky]

I'll read it tomorrow.

 

[Hadoblado]

Maybe once the floor is clean and all my doorknobs are shiny.

 

[RaBind]

I'll read it tomorrow.

Indeed just add it to the pile of things that need getting done.

 

[Perfectly Normal Beast]

Indeed just add it to the pile of things that need getting done.

you should make the pile as enormous as possible to reduce the risk of feeling the slightest temptation to attempt to make a start on tackling it.

 

[Minuend]

I think we should dig after threads like these from 5 years back and see if those people stopped procrastinating.

 

[TheManBeyond]

Imo imo imo im.. i...

 

[Architect]

Advice like that never works because the reasons for procrastination are not universal. Naturally there's a Type and a Personality component. The Personality side is usually habit; a person procrastinated in the past and continues to do so. The advice for dealing with that is the usual for changing any habit (e.g. start a new habit). For Type obviously we are interested in the INTP variant.

At root procrastination is due to not wanting to do something. Why wouldn't an INTP want to do something? Because we don't like doing for doings sake. Consider practicing the piano or a sport, perfecting a video game performance or the like. To us repetition=death for the most part. The mind turns off, painfully because we don't like an non-engaged mind. So the solution is turning the task from a performance into a problem or learning experience, if we can.

My work (programming) involves a lot of, well programming. Writing code, banging it out which is anathema to an INTP. Why do I enjoy it so much then? I've developed the ability to turn tasks into problems. Not hard usually, everything has an interesting learning problem solving aspect to it if you look. Its mostly a matter of perspective. Engage your Ne, if you find a programming task boring then you've probably just not really looked into whats behind it.

For other tasks use your imagination. Its not always possible or easy to find something interesting in a task, in that case I just shut down and do it. Go into 'hyper S mode' as it were.

tl;dr INTP edition

When faced with a task that appears boring see if you can engage with it as a problem to be solved (Ti) or a possibility to be explored (Ne)

 

[Sixup]

Funny/decent article.

Check out the book "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield.

Quick/fun read, but contains some good insight into "resistance" and how to beat it, when it comes to any creative or long-term positive endeavor. And he states procrastination is the most common manifestation of resistance. But there are many others.

The biggest implementation thing I'm getting out of it is habits and rituals. Have a set time, set place, with the right tools, and show up to it every day. Just like a job. The absolute best work might not come out every day, but eventually it will. Something like that.

Now to implement the habit...I'll start that tomorrow.

 

[SleepyDayzzz]

*reads about how to avoid procrastination in order to procrastinate*

I should be working on my english homework...

 

[Owl_is_my_spirit_animal]

The hardest part to doing something you have been procrastinating about is to just start doing it. I find that once I start doing something, it is easier to complete. So my advice is to just start the task. Also, I tend to work best under pressure such as deadlines. Create a deadline for your task. Also, peer pressure works really well for me. If I tell someone I am going to do something, I have to do it.