Letter to a Young Procrastinator: Some last-minute advice from a veteran slacker | Hacker News Reader

Letter to a Young Procrastinator: Some last-minute advice from a veteran slacker

slate.com

60 pointsrobg30 comments

Personally, I love finding solutions to problems that are new to me. I will work for 20 hours straight on a coding problem, but once I actually solve the problem I lose all interest. If, in the course of finding the solution, I didn't fully implement it, there's a solid chance that if I'm not given a deadline for finishing that implementation it will never be done; I'll have already moved on to the next interesting puzzle.

I think this is the cause of death for a lot of my projects that could have become successful businesses. Once I figure it out, I don't care any more.

Maybe some humility would do you good, then? There's more to successful businesses than most can predict.

I sympathize with mwmanning, and I don't think it's a matter of humility; I think it's that solving an interesting problem is often a much stronger motivator than the prospect of making money -- that is, running a business, as difficult and unpredictable as it is, sometimes isn't as much fun as fleshing out an interesting idea.

I toss a lot of stuff on the scrap heap after "figuring it out," not because I'm confident that I know exactly how to turn a profit from it, but because what I'd rather do is move on to the next idea.

I sympathize as well; this certainly one of my 'faults', too. But there really is value in completing things. Perhaps more importantly, a lot of otherwise bright people can become quite conceited after having 'figured something out'. One of the most valuable things about bringing something to completion is that, on the way, it challenges assumptions.

Yeah, I totally agree. When you keep getting off on knowing you could do something instead of actually doing it, the evidence on which you're basing that knowledge starts to get pretty shaky.

I don't know what you mean by "getting off on" other than the fact that it's fun to solve problems. It's not like I'm gloating about what I do. Most of the little things I work on are completely private endeavors that I never even talk to anyone about.

Knowledge is worth pursuing for its own sake; not everything is a competition.

I meant it solely in the sense of deriving pleasure from the activity, and not at all in the sense of gloating or competition.

This is exactly what I meant. I didn't mean to imply that I was somehow too good to pursue an idea, just that it's hard to stay motivated once you've cracked the interesting problems.

"They hate to work on routine things - they would much prefer to build complex theoretical solutions, and leave the implementation of the system to others. They are intensely interested in theory, and will put forth tremendous amounts of time and energy into finding a solution to a problem with has piqued their interest."

-Description of an INTP

Sounds like a great article. I plan to read this later, after a few rounds of Guitar Hero III.

I honestly think procrastination paid my way through school. When you don't start studying for tests until a few hours before, you suddenly find yourself with a lot of time on your hands.

The key was creating incentives that forced me to spend that free time on my business. IE: artificial deadlines. Turns out clients are a great for this. They become very disappointed when you don't do what you said you would, when you said you would do it.

I'm wondering if there is anyone here who could refute the claim in this article: that once a chronic procrastinator, always a chronic procrastinator? Someone who has managed to overcome their innate procrastinationess and can be a source of hope for the rest of us.

I can personally refute the claim that once a cp, always a cp.

Starting off as a biz major, I found classes super easy. Mentally, I knew I could finish projects on time even if I started wayyy late.

Now that I've got the Med School bug in full swing (similar but different to the entrepreneur bug) and have switched to Bio major, I can't do that any more. Almost every single class requires 15 hrs of outside studying per week to really pull an A and retain the info for future classes.

People work up-to or down-to expectations of their environment and the challenges they face.

Usually, a CP will face a sink or swim moment where they will either continue with old patterns or make a clean break. I am an example of the latter.

In "Buffett & Gates Go Back to School" Bill talks about overcoming procrastination after getting out of school. He says it took over a year.

I found Getting Things Done and The Now Habit useful in fixing my procrastination.

Thanks for that, interesting interviews.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3zBfBs-hBc

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ic1Ro4LkKw -- 5.40 minutes into it

I certainly haven't been able to overcome it. If I know I have more time than necessary to complete a task I will most likely put it off and find something else to do first. The workaround for me is to either work on things with unrealistically short deadlines that leave no room for procrastination, or to work on something extremely interesting (at the expense of the third category of important but not interesting or urgent).

I don't procrastinate because I'm lazy. I procrastinate only when doing the task makes me feel uncomfortable. Reasons for discomfort are generally I don't know how to do it, or the outcome is unsure and I'd rather not know.

I don't procrastinate to avoid work. I do it to avoid the feeling of discomfort that comes with facing something I'd rather not.

I think that for the rest of my life, every time I see the word "procrastination", I'll think of my first pg essay (and the one that got me hooked):

http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html

Interesting read, but I didn't agree with this:

"'Couldn't I be more like that kid if I put my mind to it?' No. You couldn't. That kid will grow up to be a powerful politician or business leader. You won't."

Procrastination != success or lack of success.

Procrastination != success or lack of success.

I don't think that was the point of making that comment. I took it to mean that if you really are a chronic procrastinator, you probably aren't going to end up in a position where you will need to be super-organized and disciplined. You may be the guy that develops that cool app that launches a start-up into success, but you probably won't end up as the CEO of the large company that is created as a result.

That's just my take, and I'm not speaking from a strong position of experience or anything, haha.

Makes me wonder, as non-native speaker: is "slacker" short-hand for "success lacker"? ^^

No. But I am not a native English speaker myself.

I think the techniques the writer suggests are on the right track. If you feel lazy about doing something, don't brute force yourself into getting it done; there are more clever ways to hack the situation. Transform the task you have to do into one that is much more fun, or figure out a way to accomplish your goal without doing the task.

Good article.

Procrastination is usually a sign of not being engaged with whatever is in front. Laziness that vanishes with Guitar Hero, or any other interesting activity, is not laziness.

Then what is true laziness? I seldom see people doing absolutely nothing.

True laziness would be to have no ambition, or not to love anything enough to pursue it. To be in love with a stalemate would be laziness.

Sounds like the author has a classic case of ADHD. He can't get around to things unless it's an emergency, and when it is, he gets into a hyperfocus mode. Sadly, the hyperfocus only happens when a person with ADHD truly thinks he or she is in an emergency. That, and ritalin.

Of course, a friend of mine would leave his assignments for last minute. If an essay was due at 7 a.m. before class, he'd set his alarm clock for 5 a.m. and start the essay then. He did well on them, too. What amazes me is that he knew what was best for him, despite teachers who sermonized about avoiding procrastination.

Maybe I will go roll a spliff now...

Bookmark to read later.

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