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Comment by tjkrusinski | Hacker News Reader

You can say procrastination is the result of the core belief that one is not capable or will not perform the given task well, or once you do that thing, what will you have to worry about then?

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Personally, I don't procrastinate on things I believe will pose a challenge. I procrastinate on the easy but tedious things.

Personally I procrastinate on almost everything that doesn’t either shoot up the dopamines immediately or make the panic monster go away

I always wondered why the panic monster was so great at marshalling concentration, and so bad at defending against the wave of shame that comes once the task is complete and you wonder why you waited so long (again!!)

Regarding the panic monster, I noticed that the only music that can make me focus better than no music is ominous music. Specifically A.n.k.h. - I wouldn't listen to it for pleasure.

Panic monster is a tricky beast to use. In the early university years, looming deadlines could make me superproductive, though at an emotional cost. But after few years of using this, my mind became increasingly resistant, and now the deadline trick doesn't work anymore.

A popular motivation equation: motivation = (expectation of success * expected reward) / (feedback delay * impulsiveness)

I feel "easy but tedious" comes as "low reward" even though expectation of success is high.

The latter rings true for me; I get a lot more done when I have a pile of stuff to do once I'm finished with the task at hand. If the task at hand is the only one left on my plate, I procrastinate, because what will I focus on after?

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