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> I think I get a lot of work done (solo game dev on my own), but I also re-organise my task list about every week too, does that make me a procrastinator? If I get stuck on a hard problem, I'll often browse the internet mindlessly, then come back and solve it. Does that make me a procrastinator? If I take a week off, am I a procrastinator!?

No, that behavior seems pretty rational, not like what is described in the article. You're not consistently putting off a painful task, you're taking breaks.

> Just because we made up a word for 'not doing work' doesn't make it real, or a problem.

Call it what you will, but procrastination has been a serious problem for me. The negative effects on my life are far too plentiful to mention, but an easy example is that I dropped out of college because I didn't want to write a paper. I tried to write it, couldn't make progress, stopped going to the class, and then didn't sign up for any more classes. There are just some tasks that are very stressful to think about, and for better or worse, my instinctual response is to simply not think about them at all. Unless you've experienced this, and seen relationships, jobs, personal projects, etc fall apart right in front of you, over and over again, I don't think you can say procrastination is not a problem.

I do a fair amount of Yoga, and indeed it helps with relaxation, but that's rather beside the point: it's quite susceptible to the same mental flinch as any other task. If I'm procrastinating on something, it's not any easier to decide to do Yoga to help make progress on it, than it is to just not procrastinate in the first place.

Labeling or not, calling it a problem or not, I don't get your point. Are you saying that you cannot control yourself and it's not your fault that you didn't do all that work?

At the end of the day it seems a personal choice to me. Similar to people with drug problems, it might be harder or easier for certain people to get the willpower to do (or not do) certain things, but it's still under your control and up to you.

I don't see the point in arguing over what to call it and whether it's a problem. Either you do the work or you don't. Just do your work if you want the results.

>Just do your work if you want the results.

Quote from the article: "As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up."

To be fair, that poster sounds like the kind of person who would also tell a clinically depressed person to just cheer up.

That's a frustrating parallel you draw. I wouldn't tell a depressed person to cheer up. I've been depressed.

And I wouldn't tell an addict to just stop. I have friends who are addicts.

But I know that at the end of the day, if you want to fix either of these issues, you are the only person who can do something about it. It's difficult, but possible. Nobody else can stop drinking for you, or fix your depression for you. Sure you can try rehab and antidepressants, but at the end of the day you have to do it.

Same with procrastination. Except there's no pill for it, you just have to do it. I wouldn't say it in such a crude way to a friend, but the fact is, the friend is the only one who can fix his problem.

You could also tell someone to just run a marathon, I mean it's easy: just move your left feet and then the right, and repeat that for next 26 miles. Where's the problem? Problem, of course, is that most of us lack the physical stamina to run a marathon. Likewise many people lack mental stamina/strength to "just do the work", or "just eat less", or "just quit smoking/drinking/doing drugs"... why is that such a hard concept to grasp?

But they don't lack the stamina/strength. It's just more difficult for them. The possibility is still there.

Same with addicts. I know a handful. Yes, it's tremendously difficult for them to quit with the drugs, but it's still possible. It's their decision to make. Any doctor or person at a rehab facility will tell you, they have the ability to do it but it's just more difficult for them than for me.

So comparing it to completely not having the ability to do it is a defeatist attitude. The ability is there.

well, you probably could also walk those 26 miles if you can't run the marathon... but unless you're Joe Strummer you probably wouldn't even consider doing it

You are clearly not a procrastinator, and chronic procrastination seems so far away from your own mental state and experiences that you might not relate and emphasize even remotely with it. I don't mean that in a bad way, it is likely just not been part of your reality which makes it very very hard to understand what affected people feel like and what their reasons could be.

(Please excuse me if I'm putting words in your mouth here. It's an interpretation on my behalf, and I'm just as likely to also completely fail to understand how you feel like and what your reasons are.)

"Procrastination" is a simple word to describe a complex and large range of behaviors. Each behavior on it's own might be something very normal that everybody does once in a while, but that is just one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum it is a massive problem, controlling every part of the affected persons life and likely mixed with other mental and emotional problems as a result of it. Of course the number of people on that extreme end are rare, it's somewhere in between for most.

But I would say that by definition people that identify with that "label" recognize how it is (has been) hurting them again and again, and how hard it is to control those behaviors.

It is a very important first step to admit to yourself that you have a problem, and to learn about your "condition" so you can understand what is actually happening. There are many strategies that helped many people, most base on first recognizing and understanding your own (harmful) patterns and their deeper roots, in order to change them.

Dismissing that this is actually a real problem and that people should just snap out of it is surely not helping affected people.

Just like with many other disorders, as long as it's a mild problem you can use a number of ad hoc remedies, but it just won't work for people with real issues. Telling a junky to just do yoga and stay away from drugs is a valid suggestion, but in real-life it's just not enough. Real procrastinator will not do yoga when procrastinating, simply because most of the time you are not even aware that you're procrastinating at the moment. Or if you are you don't have a mental strength to fight the urge to do it. I know this is very hard to grasp for someone who have never experienced it, but the act of procrastination is actually a kind of reality distortion where your own brain tricks you into not really noticing what you are doing. It's a bit like when magician diverts your attention so that you don't notice when he hides the card in a sleeve. You know it will happen, but you aren't aware of it in the moment it happens and you just can't stop him from shifting your focus away from cards. That is, at least, my impression how it happens to me when procrastinating, simply at some point my subconscious gets bored and jumps to another track without consulting the rationale me about it. Half an hour later you realise you've been reading an article about skeletons of giant sloths found in China instead of working or whatever you've planned to do.

So what's your solution then? What if I agree with you and say: fine, it's impossible for procrastinators to do their work. Is this the end? Do we all just agree that procrastinators can't do their work and sit around not doing work?

What's the solution, if not somehow, some way, gathering the willpower and forcing yourself to do the work? Is there another way around it?

The solution is to view will power as a muscle and treat it as such: Use minor interventions regularly and strengthen it.

Saying just buckle up to a procrastinator is like telling a very weak guy to just squat 150 KG.

Nothing is impossible, but if it's very hard most of people will not manage to do it on their own, it's just a simple fact of life. Push them harder and just more of them will fail. If you throw a 100 non-swimmers in a pool, probably all 100 will manage to swim out alive. Throw them in English Channel and tell them to swim over to France, and most likely all of them will drown.

I get what you say. Blaming oneself for procrastinating (or for anything else) for sure doesn't help. But awareness of the issue is essential. And doing something to address it. Exercise is always a good thing. Naps are good too. Or reading. Or ...

But the most effective thing that I've found is getting some piece of the work done. Maybe just a tiny piece. That puts me on an upward spiral, and so it's easier to get more done. And so on.

>But the most effective thing that I've found is getting some piece of the work done.

Can confirm from personal experience. If you manage to make yourself start working and get at least something done, it is a huge incentive to continue.

Do you think you can attribute the relaxation more to the breathing or stretching component?

I've been doing casual meditation (mostly just mindful breathing) and I wonder if I'd further benefit my mind from Yoga. I already do intense cardio and resistance exercises from other activities.

The stretching to be honest. I used to meditate, but these days I only really do it I can't fall asleep, or need to fast forward my brain getting over some bad experience I've had. For a productivity boost, I'd definitely go with yoga for more 'bang for your buck' per say; I'm probably on the mat for roughly 5-10 mins, a couple of times a day or more (depending on frustration levels!)

Intense exercise is also good, but it gives a different result than Yoga, seeing as you are pushing yourself to the limit. Yoga is more about calming your body, centering yourself, getting the immune system moving and so on.

>...labeling yourself as a procrastinator will just make you even less likely to do the work...

I only started reading this article and it doesn't seem you're talking about what the article is talking about.

Quote from article: “What I’ve found is that while everybody may procrastinate, not everyone is a procrastinator,” says APS Fellow Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University."

Edit: After reading the article. It seems hacker_'s advice is what they are advocating for. Emotional regulation. Since procrastinator's have a self-defeating internal voice. Calming oneself could be beneficial but the science is merky.

I can sit an hour trying to solve a problem, then in my frustration I take a jog, and most of the time find the solution within five minutes. I wonder if we where not self employed, what would the boss say if you suddenly went on a jog or did some yoga!?

Yep this is probably the biggest failing in the modern workplace; expecting employees to be able to sit down all day and be productive. I found in those environments you just end up pretending to be productive a lot of the time.

I'm sorry but you just don't seem do know what you are talking about. I routinely can't do mundane task that would cost me a lot of trouble if I didn't do it, because it upset me. As say in the article, someone just telling me to do it has as much effect as someone telling me to cheer up when I was depressed. I do agree with you that is detrimental to label yourself anything and make it a self-fulfilling prophecy but a lot of what was said in this article resonate with my experience.