The work you do while you procrastinate is ... | Hacker News Reader

The work you do while you procrastinate is ...

humblepied.com

If I followed this advice, my new full-time, ex-procrastination activity would transform into hard work, and I would seek relief in procrastination - probably doing exactly the thing I just got away from. See also John Perry's seminal essay on "Structured Procrastination": http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

I do agree - at some point you have to do the work, and take the tip with a grain of salt.

I found it was interesting nonetheless.

Full tip: "The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life"

I watch movies/read HN while I procrastinate ! :(

Is there any way to turn 'watching movies' or 'read HN' into some kind of work ?

That's what I am searching for while reading HN

Well - you're on track, then :)

Just label yourself "pre-revenue", and you can tell people reading HN is your job.

me too!

It says "the work you do while procrastinating". Sometimes when you procrastinate it will be by playing (movies, HN); but sometimes you put off one kind of work by doing another kind of work.

And some kinds of play actually involve some work within them, such as writing funny answers on reddit, photoshopping, gathering evidence by online research to prove how someone on the internet is wrong, carefully articulating an argument or idea, attempting to inspire or encourage someone, narrating a personal experience as a relatable story. Even the act of reading is a form of work.

I'm not saying that all those examples of work can be done in exchange for money on their own, but each of them is required by one job or another.

One time I made a page for my personal website instead of doing a Spanish paper. Later, I was forced to finish that Spanish paper on a Friday night instead of partying. I was disappointed, but upon reflection it was a good thing.

Know of any jobs going for Freecell players?

Well - theoretically one could think about a system where freecell players would get paid low amounts to play, and their moves would be used as a crowdsourced processing power.

That's just an idea though :)

You could have an ad on every card! And undos would cost you the filling out of one survey!

Great. Now I just have to find someone to pay me for reading internet, ranting and solving problems of my choosing.

"[1] reading internet, [2]ranting and [3]solving problems of my choosing"

[1] For reading the internet, you could do a startup where companies that intrusively search the internet and facebook for disqualifying statements for new recruits and insurance clients could outsource that work to you instead.

[2] Doing [1] may discourage you from ranting online, which won't help you to be paid for ranting but could lower that need's priority.

[3] If you choose to do [1] then you will have solved at least one problem of your choosing.

Jessica's work is amazing, and she has a cool CC-licensed graphic design project: http://dailydropcap.com.

Exchanged a couple emails recently encouraging her to allow comments on it and she was quite gracious.

Great advice, too.

I must start doing something having to do with RSS feeds then ... :P

Reply on news.ycombinator.com