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Comment by ziddoap | Hacker News Reader

The three 'tricks' to start working consist of: "just start", "start sloppy", and "start small".

I get what they're going for, but it's sort of funny to me that the three 'tricks' to start working all amount to "well, start working".

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Me: "I don't feel like working today."

This article: "But have you tried... just working today? :)"

reminds me of the common advice for people with depression (that often comes from people without depression):

"Well, have you tried not being sad :)?"

Or common advice when someone mentions that they're AD(H)D.

"Just be structured", "try to focus more", "just write a journal", "Oh we all feel these things from time to time"

If I had a bullet for everyone person... well, I'd be in a lot of trouble. :)

Not in every case but many times it really is a valid approach. Perspective matters a lot for our mental well being. There are definitely people that get “addicted” to being chronically unhappy.

Me: "I don't feel like going to the gym."

'Have you tried just going?'

I'll tell myself I can do the most absolutely abysmal 3 sets of whatever lift, and I can walk out if I'm not feeling it. 99% of the time, I stick it through.

This is my trick. I tell myself to just do something small then I can quit, which always turns into doing it all like normal. But having the option of bailing makes it feel so much better, which makes the suck less sucky.

I hear you can exercise your pecs and triceps by punching someone in the face. If you grab their neck with the other arm, you can get your lats involved too.

For me, I noticed that my main reason to procrastinate was that the task seemed so big that causes me fear of not being able to accomplish it. So this advice is one I can relate to when feeling that way, because when I break it down to simple things/tricks like saying to myself “I’ll just do 5 min of this”, or even “I’ll just write a few sentences and then we’ll see”, that happens to help me overcome the fear of the task. I know it really feels like BS, but, at least for me, I can find some help just changing the approach from seeing the big picture to more of a micro approach where you feel good if you just start by doing something small, and then it gives you that compounding effect, extra motivation and confidence to keep doing a little more.

Barney Stinson: When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead.

Me: "I don't feel like working today."

This article: "But have you tried... redefining 'work' radically crapward ?"

Of course the ultimate content of any advice for this problem will be "start working". The question is what mental frame to provide so that it actually happens.

I have a weird form of procrastination where I can’t get myself to read/watch content I consider myself an expert on. Probably something along the lines of it will prove I’m not an expert on the subject or something. So I compensate by telling people I’m not good at said thing. It probably comes off as self deprecation but it really isn’t.

Did you start getting into that topic/field as a hobby/passion and now it's just work?

Initially IT was just fun and games (for many people literally, just LAN parties, endless crazy things on IRC), then script kiddies grow up and have to prepare for meetings and review proposed standards :o

For me, I visualize myself doing the work. Thinking about working for long enough reduces the mental barrier to actually doing it.

The problem is often distraction, so turn off your screens and just think about the work you're not doing. Not the consequences of not doing it - the actual doing of the work.

It works.

The only one that works for me is "a little bit of something is better than none of something."

e.g., Don't feel like working out? Well, it's harder to commit to 30 minutes than it is to commit to 10 minutes, and 10 minutes is still beneficial. Who knows, you might accidentally go for 20 minutes.

Dumb article though.

The version I like is “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.” Vacuuming the grossest parts of the floor is better than not vacuuming, even if I don’t bother to clean up all the toys and do a thorough job.

It may be funny, but if your mind is saying this will be hard and/or take a long time, then it’s surprising empowering to limit yourself to work on something for just ten minutes.

I don’t get why you got downvoted. A common piece of advice for building habits is to set trivial goals and to let them snowball.

Start small has worked for me really well recently. Can I find 1-10 lines of css that I can fix first thing in the morning? Great. That is enough for me to actually get into code and get started for the day.

Do you somehow imagine there’s a way to start working that doesn’t involve starting working?

It’s an important skill to be able to reframe things for your brain, and not just in this context.

>Do you somehow imagine there’s a way to start working that doesn’t involve starting working?

Obviously not.

If this article helped you, great! I did not find re-stating "just start" to be an effective motivator for me.

Actually, I have a trick for exactly this.

Start playing in a domain as closely related to the work as possible (i.e. explore a tangent you're curious about), then, if/when you gained some momentum try to identify a good stopping point try to smoothly pivot into what you should really be doing instead of stopping.

It doesn't always work, but every now and then it does.

Sure, the end stage is to work, but the first stage can be anything. Call a friend, ask a coworker to help, or peer programming, or look at the description of the task, keep a journal [like lab notes], write pseudocode, open an empty document and break down the task into smaller ones. add emojis if you want to to keep track of progress

todo: https://emojipedia.org/black-square-button/

done: https://emojipedia.org/check-mark-button/

A lot of people either don't understand or forget that options 2 and 3 in particular are very real. I know better and still sometimes forget. Particularly in my writing (my coding side it mostly comes to me continuing to put off a compiler idea I have because it feels so large). Reminders are good.

What struck me was the irony of having to skip over its rambling introduction.

But it would be even funnier if the advice was something like "to start working don't start working", although I can see how this advice can be very attractive if you 're into counter intuitive zen aphorisms that make you feel smart.

> if you 're into counter intuitive zen aphorisms that make you feel smart.

Can you elaborate a little more on what you mean by that? I’m genuinely curious because the sentence doesn’t make a lot of sense to me!

Think, "If you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life", it's not "work" if it's fun, even if it is "work"

I find it is helpful to have a baby step. For me, that’s: open my laptop and read my notes from where I left off. It takes almost no effort and nearly always gets me into the swing of things. When it doesn’t work, I just take time off (a perk of working for myself).

Agreed. My baby steps often require baby steps ad nauseum until I arrive at something so ridiculously simple I can bring myself to do it right now.

Alternatively, most of my housework starts off as, "just wash dishes for two songs..."

Yeah but the alternative is "this new trick let's you do work without working at all." What else could you expect? It's still good advice.

It reminds me of that meme that says : If you're homeless... just buy a house.

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