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Comment by _gd3l | Hacker News Reader

"Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment." - Nassim Taleb

People procrastinate because they're doing something they don't like.

I procrastinate when I'm doing homework. But wouldn't you know, I always get motivated when hacking on an open source project or when working on a freelance project.

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Reminds me of this Twitter comment: "Suddenly realized the problem with all to-do lists: they are filled with things we don't want to do. Everything else is already done."

Personal anecdote: I once came across some months-old to-do list. It included some furniture rehabbing project. The piece of furniture in question had since been gotten rid of, so I rolled my eyes and removed the project from my to-do list. My sons teased me about being a failure for not accomplishing it.

I found my old Wunderlist account which has stuff on it from at least nine months ago. I've done a lot of related things since, but 90% of the items on the list, I've still not done and still need to do. If anyone ever needs to study procrastination, get in touch because I am a pro.

Or perhaps you need a better problem-solving paradigm. If you have too many things that you "need" to do that you can't seem to make yourself do and if life has not simply forced your hand or led to catastrophe after nine months or more of not getting them done, maybe some of those things aren't really as important as you think they are.

No, they're pretty important, but they aren't absolutely crucial (make or break) and so I can put them off.

This.

I really like Taleb, but I think his quote is a bit wrong. I love to just pick up my guitar and try to learn songs by ear but I usually find myself procrastinating against doing such things. I try to take procrastination as a sign that I've been doing too much of one thing and need to start doing other things (The thing I've been doing too much =/= what I am procrastinating against).

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