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Comment by Tenoke | Hacker News Reader

>'Just get started'? If I could just get started then I wouldn't have a procrastination problem." I thought: fair enough.

This never worked for me. I write one sentence or do the small task and then I go off and do something else. Perhaps it's due to my (bad) habit of context-switching but either way I've never benefited much from this approach despite often trying it.

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It helps for me because starting neutralizes all the exaggerated ideas I had built up in my mind about how horrible it was going to be. When I start on a task, it usually turns out to be only mildly annoying rather than pure misery.

However, I think there is a huge trap with the just get started trick. Often, what is driving you to get started is guilt. If your only promise to yourself is that you will start, then starting alleviates the guilt. And then the motivation disappears.

One possible way around that is to commit to a little bit more. Instead of committing to just getting started, commit to doing a small but significant piece of the work.

Another idea is to just be aware that, if you do the bare minimum that counts as getting started, you're not really applying the method in good faith. Essentially you're just wasting your time by trying to game the system that you yourself created.

Yes but once you're in the trap, you have to play the game.

I am exactly the same, though ADHD medication has helped tremendously in this respect. Terrible context switching, not lack of attention, is the bane of my existence.

Have you ever had a test?

Here are a few things I noticed when I started using ADHD medication.

I was suddenly able to focus on a task in a way that I wasn't able before. It was such an epiphany to experience what other people call focus.

That made me also notice that I'm really good at context switching. It's what I naturally do. It also makes me good at breadth first approaches.

Which makes me ask: Are you lamenting terrible context switching or the amount of context switching that you experience?

The latter. I’ve heard someone explain it this way before, and I think it neatly sums up my own experience: “your brain is like a TV, except there’s 30 channels on at once, and someone else has the remote” (paraphrasing).

If I can just get into “The Zone” things do work out, and I’m finally able to direct my attention towards a single task. Taking Ritalin greatly increases the probability of this occurring, and so does, amazingly, cannabis.

In general, I have trouble both starting, and then consistently doing a task for any reasonable amount of time. I’ll start watching a movie, then 30 minutes in go for a walk, then come home and cook dinner, then forget about it and go back to watching the movie, then remember the dinner and start eating, then... and on an on.

I’ve been told it doesn’t look that bad from the outside, but it gives me great anxiety that I can’t consistently finish anything I start :(

>Have you ever had a test?

At university a councilor (or similar) said they believe I have ADHD but it was near the end of a school year so nothing came out of it.

For what is worth, I've tried most common adhd meds on my own and while they definitely they also ruin my sleep so I am not convinced that going through the hassle of getting an official diagnosis will help all that much.

I agree, it’s definitely a difficult balance to strike.

I found that even small amounts of stimulant medication does help even if it’s not super obvious in the moment, and the upside is that it doesn’t interfere with sleep too much, but I try hard not to make a habit out of it. Sleep, above all else, is the best predictor of my mood / productivity / physical health.

I try not to take anything after about noon, though. This is especially true about caffeine, for me. I might get a crash in the late afternoon, but it’s a price worth paying for a good night’s sleep.

Have you considered going to someone who is qualified to diagnose the condition and prescribe medication?

You're absolutely right! I've personally only just been diagnosed, well into my thirties, and am on month 3 of trying to get my medication correct, compounded with fun things like pandemic lockdown. It's a ride.

I know the struggle all too well, but once you’re (very slowly) able to form healthier habits, things do get easier, I promise!

I’ve been reading “Deep Work“ which talks about the negatives of context switching. I wonder what could be done in cases like yours to avoid needless context switching. Do you have any feeling as to how or why it happens? Eg do you get bored of tasks easily or something else?

I tried to ditch as much context switching from my workstation as possible, it has helped in those low-hanging fruit distractions like switching windows and finding yourself on reddit/HN. To the point where I have done my best to eliminate the mouse, because it would often trigger habits that caused me to context switch.

"Alt-tab" was a trigger to forget what I was doing, even if I was alt-tabbing to something I needed. I would alt-tab, instantly forget what I wanted to do, then start something else. Any window switch would trigger procrastination habits too.

So now my code, terminal, file manager, database etc are all in one tool in front of me all the time, and if I am at my workstation, that is what I'm doing. Most of the time.

For me it depends strongly on the task whether 'just get started' works or not. With menial tasks like emptying the dishwasher I only have to convince myself to do the minimum possible amount of progress and I will usually keep doing until I'm done. I might even get inspired to do some related task afterwards. But if it is something boring but purely cognitive, like say data entry, I start, congratulate myself for making progress and promptly switch to something more fun.

Even in those cases it doesn't work for me. I actually try this with the dishwasher all the time and end up emptying a few dishes at a time. Laundry is more time-sensitive though so with that one I often do do it in one swoop when I start.

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