Procrastination
- Thread starter conjamuk
- Start date
Think back to when you worked the hardest and what you were doing at that time... Then try to get back to that zone...
For me, I got the most shit done after I took a giant bong toke and just focused for 3,4,5 hours!
For me, I got the most shit done after I took a giant bong toke and just focused for 3,4,5 hours!
I delegate tasks I don't like (or am not good at) to employees. No need for me to be a jack of all trades.
pretend that if you don't get moving you'll be living in a cardboard box under a bridge soon.
that always helps me.
that always helps me.
Exactly!
If you don't like what you're doing, procrastination is always going to be a problem.
That's just how our brain works, we're unbelievably good at rationalizing.
If you hate certain tasks, your brain will constantly "help" you find reasons to procrastinate. As your business grows, procrastination stops being a huge problem because your time is limited and you'll most likely be forced to delegate shitloads of boring tasks.
Making important decisions, working on new deals, negotiating... I love that stuff, my long-term goal is obvious: all of my businesses need to pretty much run themselves. My involvement should only be necessary whenever there's an important decision that needs to be made.
Easy, make what you do when you procrastinate your work. If you procrastinate all the time you're not working on what you should be.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QNVP7M/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001QNVP7M&linkCode=as2&tag=ppbz-20"]this book has been excellent at explaining why we do it[/ame], and some techniques to get around it.
edit: i really don't wanna post this because most of my life I've been that guy who always talks about what I'm doing and then I end up not doing it. but i also know much shitty and crippling it feels to be in that procrastination and anxiety mode.
edit: im skimming over this and making it look really easy but + the right knowledge + coupled with being genuinely and utterly fed up with the situation you put yourself in in your life led me to finally break free of this shit
I read the Power of Habit and eliminated all the cues that lead to my procrastination. It was very easy to procrastinate when my computer was setup for it. A desktop full of games, a bookmarks folder full of shit that at any time I can click and waste time with. toolbar full of time wasting sites like Reddit. So instead I got clever. Wiped the harddrive, installed Linux instead, had to manually re-setup all of my shit which means I didn't feel like setting up the time wasting shit. Changed all my passwords to randomly generated secure stuff and saved it in KeePass. I changed the passwords to the crap sites but didn't store them in KeePass so now I can't visit them.
Installed a ton of browser plugins including ones that block sites. Setup my /etc/hosts to block those sites as well.
Read Millionare Fastlane, Eat that Frog, Power of Habit, and the Willpower book by Roy Baumieseter which I found all on this forum - which is why I still check here.
Every morning when I wake up there are two things waiting for me
1. My eat that frog tasks / to do list
2. The fact that I have enough metrics and data to know where the next 5 years of my life will go 100% if I do the exact same shit I did in the last 5.
I've changed my entire environment so it's impossible to play vidya 15 hours a day and eat crappy food. The plan is to keep doing these things over and over and over until they become habit and no brainers then I can add more on my plate.
My problem before was trying to do too much at once like learning useless hobbies and read 25 books at once when I was neglecting what I should be doing.
Give your brain a laser focused set of goals and to do lists and it'll be very hard to deviate. Also you'll get a nice little rush when you start chain checking those fuckers off and when you are done with your list taking a nice break you'll see how clear and calm your mind is.
Track all your thinking and planning on paper, I find it much more productive and effective to write on paper. The funniest thing I noticed was the amount of time I spent procrastinating on reddit and call of duty was more or less the amount of time it takes to do ALL of the core shit that has the biggest impact on my life each day. Including work and exercise.
So basically it took me about 6 hours a day on average for 6 years to become a total loser. Let's see how the next 6 turn out if I'm spending 6 hours a day on what is best for me. I don't need any more motivation or procrastination. When you start seriously examining your life and see how much you have wasted it becomes a no brainer. Overall: It is just as easy to be focused for x hours a day as it is to waste time x hours a day so long as you remove the cues and ease of wasting time.
tl;dr i know exactly what is waiting for me if I don't do what needs to be done. Mediocrity.
edit: im skimming over this and making it look really easy but + the right knowledge + coupled with being genuinely and utterly fed up with the situation you put yourself in in your life led me to finally break free of this shit
I read the Power of Habit and eliminated all the cues that lead to my procrastination. It was very easy to procrastinate when my computer was setup for it. A desktop full of games, a bookmarks folder full of shit that at any time I can click and waste time with. toolbar full of time wasting sites like Reddit. So instead I got clever. Wiped the harddrive, installed Linux instead, had to manually re-setup all of my shit which means I didn't feel like setting up the time wasting shit. Changed all my passwords to randomly generated secure stuff and saved it in KeePass. I changed the passwords to the crap sites but didn't store them in KeePass so now I can't visit them.
Installed a ton of browser plugins including ones that block sites. Setup my /etc/hosts to block those sites as well.
Read Millionare Fastlane, Eat that Frog, Power of Habit, and the Willpower book by Roy Baumieseter which I found all on this forum - which is why I still check here.
Every morning when I wake up there are two things waiting for me
1. My eat that frog tasks / to do list
2. The fact that I have enough metrics and data to know where the next 5 years of my life will go 100% if I do the exact same shit I did in the last 5.
I've changed my entire environment so it's impossible to play vidya 15 hours a day and eat crappy food. The plan is to keep doing these things over and over and over until they become habit and no brainers then I can add more on my plate.
My problem before was trying to do too much at once like learning useless hobbies and read 25 books at once when I was neglecting what I should be doing.
Give your brain a laser focused set of goals and to do lists and it'll be very hard to deviate. Also you'll get a nice little rush when you start chain checking those fuckers off and when you are done with your list taking a nice break you'll see how clear and calm your mind is.
Track all your thinking and planning on paper, I find it much more productive and effective to write on paper. The funniest thing I noticed was the amount of time I spent procrastinating on reddit and call of duty was more or less the amount of time it takes to do ALL of the core shit that has the biggest impact on my life each day. Including work and exercise.
So basically it took me about 6 hours a day on average for 6 years to become a total loser. Let's see how the next 6 turn out if I'm spending 6 hours a day on what is best for me. I don't need any more motivation or procrastination. When you start seriously examining your life and see how much you have wasted it becomes a no brainer. Overall: It is just as easy to be focused for x hours a day as it is to waste time x hours a day so long as you remove the cues and ease of wasting time.
tl;dr i know exactly what is waiting for me if I don't do what needs to be done. Mediocrity.
Very good stuff, this one of the only places I still visit because it always has good posts and good book recommendations. I was going to mention meditation in my post I didn't want to be bothered with potential backlash of MYSTICAL-SHMYISTICAL LOL BUDDHA BUDDHA LOL.
Shinzen Youngs - The Science of Enlightenment - audiobook only - best the explains the 4x-10x improvements in focus and one pointed concentration a meditation practice can bring.
You can meditate without it having anything to do with religion, tradition or any sort of belief of which you can place in some class for debate so fuck you.
Other good books
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Meditation-Beginners-Jack-Kornfield/dp/1564558673]Meditation for Beginners: Jack Kornfield: 9781564558671: Amazon.com: Books[/ame] - audiobook format also
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc]Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn - YouTube[/ame]
Over the last 8 months I have probably read 30 books on it as I find it fascinating. But no matter how many you read you still have to do the practice.
This is pretty fucking cool, I'm basically doing all of this more or less with slightly different contexts. Where he says he won't go out on Saturday if he slacks I work because I know my life will remain shit if I don't. I thought about taking a break on Sundays to eat bad and play video games as a rest day but realized that is 52 Days a year of wasted time. Haven't I wasted enough Jameel.
Over the years I have found different pieces of the puzzle, read this book there read this one there, realized this and that. I'm sure more of the puzzle will be added later but now I feel I have a large enough chunk to make substantial change and progress.
My life in many ways is like my post count. Yeah it's in the 500's but seriously maybe the last 10 have actually said anything of value.
Like someone said a few posts before make your work your procrastination well I sort of did that also. Since I switched over to Linux and no mouse I've basically had to learn VERY quickly how to adapt. Now I actually navigate much faster and get more done without a fucking mouse. I use a tiling windows manager called i3 which is really nice. And at the same time filling in the gaps in my linux / computer knowledge which directly comes in VERY HANDY for server stuff and backing up my files / organization.
Seriously just make it really hard to fail go to the store and buy $500 dollars of only healthy stuff and you'll have no choice but the eat healthy.
I used to wake up and there was a computer full of games and porn just two clicks away with my hard dick waiting to masturbate for the 89th time that week.
Now I wake up and there is my to do list, mp3 player, gallon of water, and a pull up bar.
:bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake::bootyshake:
Alan Watts had a good way of looking at it. I can't remember verbatim, but he made an analogy about having lots of dishes in the sink, and the thought of having to wash every one of them holding you back.
But we're dealing with a matter of perspective, so if you "live in the now" as much as possible, you only have 1 dish to wash.
When your focus is involved completely in what is happening right now, you have no past, worries, insecurities, and no expectations for the future, or fears or stress.
So you wash 1 dish at a time.
But we're dealing with a matter of perspective, so if you "live in the now" as much as possible, you only have 1 dish to wash.
When your focus is involved completely in what is happening right now, you have no past, worries, insecurities, and no expectations for the future, or fears or stress.
So you wash 1 dish at a time.
This is good stuff. Any resource or book that let's me consume info and life more efficiently goes to the top of my list. Helps so much
When you see too many dishes you fall into analysis paralysis.
Best way to defeat it is to break things down into the smallest task possible.
Lets say I have to clean my desk. I'm only gonna focus on the drinks...put the glasses up, throw away any cans, etc.
Ok now that's done. I just did that, might as well clean the whole thing because I have "momentum".
The hardest part of beating procrastination is just starting. Have to write a blog post? I'll just write the first paragraph. After that's done, I just naturally keep writing.
ZuzanaDesigns
All Your Design Needs
I make a list and work my way down it trying not to get distracted. It feels great to cross something off it and move on.