[WhompingWindows]

Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion. Other comments mention a pointlessness or lack of purpose, which I consider secondary, since it's arguable if it's truly procrastination if the work is truly pointless. Procrastination as a term seems best applied to important/mandatory tasks. Though, I acknowledge many BS tasks of today's workplace are both pointless and mandatory.

[notheguyouthink]

> Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion.

Perhaps this is wrong, but I feel like another important (and possibly most common) source of procrastination is not avoidance, but rather simply getting more enjoyment (dopamine/etc) of other activities. Ie, I don't think I have to be avoiding work to procrastinate, I may simply get more dopamine from Reddit-ing and thus mentally prioritize it.

Focusing on why your work or w/e you're procrastinating from is often the wrong approach in my opinion. The competition for tasks being avoided are typically pure entertainment, all dopamine and no effort. Tasks that are "meaningful" such as work, learning, etc often can't compete with entertainment for your brains drug dependencies.

Instead of focusing on tactics to improve procrastinated tasks, I've found my life is better when I instead limit their competition. I've had serious Reddit problems in the past, where I become basically addicted to it, and so my brain keeps injecting Reddit it any time I'm compiling or w/e. If I instead break that habit through heavy limitation of the dopamine provider, I've found myself to be far more productive.

Now methods to make tasks you want to do give you more dopamine are always welcome. I love micro-todos, and found them to be pretty effective at giving me a sense of accomplishment and, I imagine, dopamine. But micro-todos will never compete with pure entertainment, so I need to cut that. Or, at the very least, cut it from my default response of when I'm having spare brain cycles (like compiling) and jumping to fill it with entertainment dopamine.

[gepi79]

Maybe there are 2 kinds or conscious expressions of procrastination:

- One related to lust for fun. Like you describe.

- One related to inhibition, fatigue, powerlessness, dread. You escape work even though you feel bad because you know you should be doing it to avoid an even worse situation. You do something else in the (false) hope to relax and to improve your mood and motivation for the task.

[Infernal]

I’m glad you spelled it out like that - I can clearly feel the difference between the two in my own life. The first case, choosing fun, is much rarer and always conscious, e.g. “I can mow the grass tomorrow, but my good friend is only in town today”. I normally have to talk myself into it, because my default is to plow ahead with whatever is in front of me, as long as it is clear what I need to do.

I find the second type of procrastination to be 50x more common in my life, a daily occurrence of painfully trying to find /something/ else to do to avoid the wall of dreaded tasks that I don’t know how to resolve.

[narag]

One fact that confirms that: avoiding the fun is not enough to solve inhibition.

[vidarh]

I agree that it's too easy to just blame avoidance. For me there is a very viscerally different feeling when I'm avoiding something because I really don't want to do it, vs. when there are other things I want to do because they're entertaining.

The difference is that if I genuinely have other things I want to do, I'll get enjoyment out of it, while if I'm trying to avoid something else I'll get to a point where I'll think "hold on; why am I doing this? I'm not enjoying this" and realise I'm doing it to avoid something else, and still feel the pull to do some nonsense activity while getting more and more miserable.

One strategy I've used is to try to stop regularly and simply ask myself "am I actually enjoying this? why am I doing it?" - I give myself relatively wide latitude to continue "wasting" time if I'm actually enjoying what I'm doing, because sooner or later I'm "done", and if I was actually myself I often feel energised enough to get much more done afterwards.

But the moment I'm not enjoying myself, I'll start probing into why I feel that way.

Some of it certainly fits under "avoidance", but that's also a very broad category and not very useful without exploring the more specific reasons I'm avoiding things.

Sometimes it's because it's too much to bite over, so I instead "procrastinate" by deciding to break down my todo list into smaller chunks. Often that will break the deadlock by identifying small-enough tasks that I'll be happy to get out of the way (I guess that fits into your "micro-todos").

Sometimes it's just not a fun task, and I'm pushing it ahead of me because I know my self-imposed deadline is not real and is just waiting until I really have to do it. In which case I'll try to reorganise things and do something else instead and just accept my tendency to do things right before a deadline when I know how long it'll take.

Sometimes I'm just too tired, in which case I either go rest or try to pick activities I can do while tired (benefit of working from home: if I'm mentally worn out, there's always housework to get out of the way which doesn't require much thinking).

Sometimes I "trick" myself into it by setting a schedule of 30-60 minutes of different sets of tasks. So I'll commit to "only" doing 30 minutes of what I need to get done, then maybe an hour of something lower priority that I actually enjoy, then another hour of my urgent tasks. Sometimes I'll find when I've just tricked myself into starting, I'll keep going longer than scheduled, if so I'll let it happen, but if not I'll strictly adhere to the limit on the more enjoyable tasks and keep track of whether or not I start lagging behind my schedule.

Sometimes the things I've decided logically I "should" be doing just don't emotionally feel like a good way to spend my time. E.g. I might have decided I "should" be planning some new project because I think it's important, but emotionally I might be drained and need downtime, and dragging my heels is a way of not having to acknowledge I have too much on my plate.

For things like Reddit, I find a major factor is the inbox. If someone replies, and I read their reply chances are I'll compulsively reply. This is easier to avoid with HN. With Reddit, what helped immensely was when I recognised what I was doing, and every now and again go "ok, enough" and click the inbox and physically look away until I've gone back to the main page to get the unread messages safely out of the way without having them draw me in again. Making it less intensive by cutting off heated arguments that way makes it much easier for me to break away and do something else.

[yoodenvranx]

> Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion.

I am pretty sure my main reason for procrastination is the fact that I never learned to endure suffering/discomfort while growing up.

I grew up very sheltered and I was never forced to do anything which I did not like (bring out the trash, clean up the room, talk to people, ...). It was kinda nice growing up like this but when you turn 18 and have to enter the real world you realize you miss all the coping mechanisms which you need to do uncomfortable stuff.

[vbtemp]

I'd warmly encourage you to not make excuses or find reasons from your past to justify current maladaptive behaviors. If you're 18+ and grew up in safety, comfort, and with education you possess all the necessary executive functionality to take hold of what life will deal you.

[mproy]

I agree with what I think is the spirit of what you say, but it's unhelpfully reductive.

Many, many people who meet your criteria in fact are severely lacking in executive function.

Neurological conditions aside, surely you understand that an adult who's developing years formed a healthy "reward system" for accomplishing tasks will have a much easier time getting things done.

While, yes, most of us have the ability to correct past habits and develop discipline ... It's no different than an athlete who began training at an early age versus someone who took up a sport later in life. The difference in skill and ability is predictably and consistently stark.

[selestify]

Just because you possess certain abilities doesn't mean that you have figured out how to make use of them. Working through challenges is an acquired skill, and if you never had the need to acquire said skill until now, it's not entirely surprising when you fail to do so.

[agumonkey]

procrastination is a fuzzy thing too, I used to LOVE discomfort, because I had this desire to feel capable of achieving anything. Could spend hours, days thinking and trying things.

These days I don't, it's not about discomfort, I need something more human and wise behind my efforts.

I'm sure most parents know that, I've seen some that were demotivated, but when their family started, they were moving everything around.

A balance sense of purpose is worth a lot there.

ps: a distraction heavy context is also bad. ironic :)

[jaaames]

This is key I believe.

A lot of successful entrepreneurs had no safety net, and have been through significant adversity.

Those that have been coddled and never held accountable have worse coping mechanisms and drive than those who have dealt with it and overcome obstacles the majority of their lives.

[jonnybgood]

I think that’s survivorship bias. There’s probably more failed entrepreneurs with the same experiences.

[haskellandchill]

It can also lead to paranoia and distrust, trauma has many negative effects. It’s not just bootstraps the whole way down ;)

[aidenn0]

The reason for the discomfort wall's existence is important to figuring out the best way to get over it. Certainly being required to do something day-in and day-out that you find purposeless is one way that the wall might be created.

For me, a lot of times it's boredom. It's boring to have to do 2 hours of work sometime in the next week; it's far less boring to have to do 2 hours of work in the next 90 minutes.

(Note I'm not recommending this, as it's basically medicating your boredom with stress, and stress has a lot of well documented side-effects).

[notheguyouthink]

That's another good point. I work far better when I have a challenging work-load with real goals. As I mentioned in a nearby post, I found micro-todos to help me visualize my workload (which is usually bigger than I imagined lol), and cause me to understand the weight of the work ahead of me.. thus, giving me a kick to get it the hell out of the way.

[projektfu]

Googling failed me. Is micro-todos a term you use to describe what you do, or is it a technique I can learn more about?

[notheguyouthink]

Apologies, it's a made up term. It seems fitting though. Rather than plan the todos like it's something anyone else could read, I write them for me. And because they're just for me, I can make them as tiny as I want. My general rule of thumb for writing them is:

1. As I'm writing, if it's in my head as a "oh, that needs to be done", I write it down. Tiny or large.

2. If it's really large, I tend to word the task as to break it up. Otherwise I'll spend a day working on that one item, which defeats the purpose of trying to give my brain dopamine/etc.

3. If at any point in code I think of those "oh, I gotta remember to fix/refactor/add that" I write it down.

It's quick because I don't need to give others context. It's short, because it's just for me and it shouldn't be too far away from my current context anyway. And finally it helps me actually take breaks, and come back getting right into it. I try to never leave without writing what I should do next.

To pair with that, I chose a todo app (Dynalist atm) that I enjoy using. It should be quick to get ideas onto paper so to say, and not bogged down with features. This is more of a notebook, than a todo.

Anyway, it's all an experiment for me. I'm on week two or so of it, and it's been great so far. Good luck if you try it :)

edit: fix stupid list formatting.

[devmunchies]

I got back from a week long vacation and when i got back there were issues on github for open source projects i maintain. I was able to crush them quickly without that "discomfort/fear/anxiety". it makes me believe that those feeling start to occur when we need a break, which is why we are procrastinating in the first place.

[rconti]

I have never come back from a vacation more excited about working than before :)

[toyg]

I have, but... not anymore.

[IncRnd]

> Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion.

The cause isn't part of the definition. Procrastination is simply the delaying of something, whatever the reason for doing do. One can procrastinate due to wanting to do something else. It doesn't have to be from an aversion.

[mdekkers]

Procrastination is the avoidance of activity due to a discomfort/fear/anxiety and subsequent inability to scale the discomfort wall that exists between you and the tasks' completion.

Incorrect. The dictionary definition of procrastination is To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness or To postpone or delay needlessly. Literally meaning, from Latin, putting off until tomorrow. I procrastinate way too much, but because I get bored, distracted and I'm lazy. None of which is a discomfort, fear or anxiety.

[haskellandchill]

The dictionary is holding you back my friend :)

[mdekkers]

Nope, I absolutely don't feel the need to ascribe my negative habits to some fear or anxiety whatever thing. Not everything in life is a drama. I am fully aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and my personal opinion is that ascribing a negative trait (procrastination) to something that is somehow "external" is a subtle refusal to take responsibility. Often (and I am not saying this is the case for OP) the "oh, this is a fear or anxiety I have" is followed by either the direct or implied expression of "so it isn't really something I can do anything about right now".

That is the attitude I found to be holding myself back in a dark past. What turned the page for me was reading "Invictus" from Henley, who was a man that was absolutely beaten and battered by life, and still refused to give up:

  Out of the night that covers me,  
  Black as the Pit from pole to pole,  
  I thank whatever gods may be  
  For my unconquerable soul.
  
  In the fell clutch of circumstance  
  I have not winced nor cried aloud.  
  Under the bludgeonings of chance  
  My head is bloody, but unbowed.
  
  Beyond this place of wrath and tears  
  Looms but the Horror of the shade,  
  And yet the menace of the years  
  Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
  
  It matters not how strait the gate,  
  How charged with punishments the scroll.  
  I am the master of my fate:  
  I am the captain of my soul.

Own your shit.

[haskellandchill]

I don't give up and I own my shit, not sure what the contradiction is here. That poem could be better, how about Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note:

   And now, each night I count the stars,
   And each night I get the same number.
   And when they will not come to be counted,
   I count the holes they leave.

[vidarh]

There's been plenty of research that suggests that at a substantial proportion of procrastination is due to discomforts and anxieties, so I wouldn't dismiss it that quickly.

[alexkrycek]

There can definitely be a strong connection between procrastination and anxiety. The following link, which I've posted before, rang so true for me:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/201303/6...

[spraak]

This is pretty in line with how the book "The Now Habit" presents it.