[joaomacp]

It may be a common trait in programmers, since we're rewarded by getting to the bottom of things: "why is this function failing? who calls it? in which possible states?"

Most programmers have experienced being so immersed in code that we don't notice time is passing, forgetting to eat or sleep.

It's similar with immersion in social media / food / whatever. We become lost in the activity and lose our sense of self.

I've recently heard of the concept of conscientiousness as a personality trait. People with low conscientiousness tend to procrastinate more, and it's tied to ADHD. Apparently it can be trained. I'm trying (though not really succeeding) to make pauses, take a deep breath and think about "what am I doing right now? What should I be doing instead?". Seems so basic, like I've regressed to being a child who has no self control...

[bityard]

I identify with all of this, but this:

> to make pauses, take a deep breath and think about "what am I doing right now? What should I be doing instead?".

this too can have its pitfalls. In my case, I always feel like I have BOTH too many things that I WANT to do and too many things HAVE to do and whenever I step back and try to look at the bigger picture, I realize that I don't feel like I'm making tangible progress on any of them. And then the anxiety sets in and I feel like, "well, if I'm working this hard and not even keeping up, why am I working at all?" And so I sort of "give up" for a few days or a week and feel even MORE guilty because literally nothing is getting done and I'm getting even further behind.

A lot of the comments I write here may sound like I really have my shit together, but that's just because I have a lot of generalized experience that just basically comes from lots of introspection and time being alive. But I have yet to figure out the one weird trick to being both productive (making progress toward future life goals) and happy (enjoying what I have in the present).

[robocat]

Perhaps try to distinguish where your wants and pressures come from?

So many of our "wants" are social status goals, or social expectations.

I find it very hard to discriminate my own desires from my unconscious programming by others.

Whenever you feel pressured, try and find the root cause of the pressure?

Just an idea - perhaps damaging but hopefully enabling.

[billti]

I joke about my procrastination with my team: "I looked at my TODO list for the day and there's no way I can get to 90% of it, so I might as well just not get to 100% of it". Sometimes there's a lot of truth to the joke, however.

As much as I know I should prioritize it based on urgency, highest impact, what I could delegate etc., if the willpower required to do that is more than the ramifications or not doing it, it can be a losing battle.

On days when I push through a ton of work, I'm energized at the end of the day. Compared to the feeling of guilt that I just wasted a day when there's so much to do and I achieved little. Yet knowing that still just doesn't provide the necessary motivation some days. I've yet to figure out a reliable solution for it.

[trash_cat]

It's worth mentioning that conscientiousness is a personality trait that's part of the "big five" personalities traits. It's a personality trait brouping that is supported by evidence [1] unlike Myers Briggs [2].

[1] https://www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/mar/...