Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate | Hacker News Reader

Why I Taught Myself to Procrastinate

nytimes.com

93 pointswallflower16 comments

Very interesting. Especially regarding the starting a task, e.g. writing a sentence, and stopping midway only to return a day later. It resonates with me.

I think an important distinction in procrastination, that was not explored in this article, is that a task has to be started or at least prepared in order to successfully procrastinate upon it. For example, it won't help to put off finishing a university assignment until the last minute if you haven't read the task description. In that case, the thought processes that were mentioned in the article would never have a chance to start. On the other hand, if you have read a task description, even if you are procrastinating while binge-watching Netflix, a background process is still running and working on the task. The author of this article describes it as "Our first ideas, after all, are usually our most conventional" vs "When you procrastinate, you’re more likely to let your mind wander."

This ties in with a work methodology that works for me very well. Instead of working on a project non-stop as soon as it starts, I prefer to work in small chunks that give me enough time to "background-process" the task at hand while I'm not working on the given task. It is similar to practicing or physical exercise, in that the time that you spend on the activity is as important as the time that you are not spending on the activity. Your brain and muscles need time to regenerate and help strengthen the abilities that you are trying to nurture.

Glad you called that out. It was alluded to when the author mentioned the minesweeper example. People were more creative when they were given time to play the game but only after task was assigned.

Couldn't planning in big work sessions but making sure to use something like the Pomodoro technique achieve the same "Background processing", only it will happen during breaks?

Procrastination and creativity, cause or effect though? Are people who are creative more likely to procrastinate? Does procrastinating make you more creative?

I don't find when I procrastinate I all more likely to let my mind wander AT ALL. The thing is, my brain is trying to ignore what i'm trying to do by often absorbing in something else. I feel, my mind wandering reduces. Positive mind wandering, for me, happens when i'm relaxed, chilled out on the way home on the bus, bored, many other conditions. Not when i'm chronically anxious trying to hide away from the world and the tasks at hand.

Purposely waiting...is not really procrastinating...it's purposely waiting...it's thinking...

But it's nice to see a different outlook on procrastination. And to hear about precrastination.

If you're able to structure your "procrastination" time, it's not procrastination, it's just enforced breaks.

I would say that this is better thangaving no breaks at all.

I so wish I had this "problem".

"But if you’re a procrastinator, next time you’re wallowing in the dark playground of guilt and self-hatred over your failure to start a task, remember that the right kind of procrastination might make you more creative."

On the other hand, if you're not procrastinating you might end up being a professor, a published author and writing articles for The New York Times... I'll just stick to the guilt and self-hatred, for now.

I read an article once with a professor who claimed that all his interesting and good work was done as procrastination from his proper duties.

I think you might be referring to John Perry :)

http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/ [0]

I really liked his book "The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing". I read a lot about procrastination, as a form of procrastination.

It's not all bad, of course. But it can be a problem. These professors writing about it clearly has managed to make it work for them somehow. I guess the grass seems greener on the other side of the procrastination spectrum.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151481

"So I woke up one morning and wrote a to-do list for procrastinating more. "

This guy had some good punchlines. Lol

I am definitely guilty of being a pre-crastinator. It's really hard to turn off anything when you're like this. You just go at something 100% every day until it's done, otherwise you can't enjoy anything.

On the flip side, I've been the total opposite for the last 6 weeks. Maybe it's the definition of burn-out having had just shipped multiple things that took a lot of mental effort.

I found progress to be the 1 thing that helps me balance both. Work for an hour or 2, meet some short term goal and take an hour break (reading, walking, video games, whatever you want).

Also the best thing I've done recently is to start taking full days off rather than work every day. Being able to flip the switch off and actually enjoy yourself is a big deal.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development can fix procrastination

But YAGNI.

Too much contradicting stuff on the internet, it's hard to know what to assimilate and what to filter out.

-To procrastinate, or not to procrastinate. That should not be a question

Sounds like you've got a severe acute case of Epistemic Learned Helplessness.[1] Previous discussion on HN.[2]

1. http://squid314.livejournal.com/350090.html 2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10279864

Shameless self promotion: I just wrote a blog post about it yesterday [1] and while this method have been effective for me, I try to stay away from procsatination and do some non-mental activities that make part of my routine, and thus give my brain the opportunity to subconsciously organize its ideas an thoughts to make it a one piece that fits together.

[1]http://blog.kiloreux.info/my-approach-to-problems/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com