I'm just another chronic procrastinator and from what I've experienced there is no single "cure". Here's where I stand in trying to solve my own procrastination problems:
- Removed myself from things that enable procrastination; I installed software (Coldturkey) that blocks websites and programs on my computer(games), and I won't be able to change the configuration of Coldturkey for another couple weeks.
- I have a calendar next to my work area, I get a red X on days that I do a reasonable amount of work; I got this from Jerry Seinfeld's method of getting better at something, "Don't break the chain!" of red X's.
- I often ask myself "what sort of person do you want to be? Do you want to be remembered as someone that did a half-assed job most of the time? Or do you want to be remembered as someone that killed it any chance he got?"; that sometimes gives me a little push to get stuff done.
- I am always behind in my mind.
- I've been working on making a habit of following through to the end anything that I am tasked with; I have unfinished stuff but there is less than there used to be.
This is just what I've come up with for myself. It's just come down to not trusting myself, so I try to make it so I don't have to.
> It's just come down to not trusting myself, so I try to make it so I don't have to.
Very wise words in my experience. I think of it more as understanding yourself and setting yourself up for success. Make it hard to do the things you want to avoid and easy to do the things you want to embrace. If I have healthy food premade on hand I'm more likely to eat it rather than pick up a cookie from coffee shop down street. If I'm meeting my buddy to work out or surf I'm way less likely to skip it. Recognizing that you're unlikely to change established behaviors easily and having a plan to reward behaviors you want to cultivate and reduce the ones you want to get rid of.
Having kids particularly drove this home. Setting them up for success with good sleep, good food and a good environment of activities makes a world of difference for them and turns out same is true for myself.
What about mixing things you like with things you don't like? For example, you have to build a web app. So you start implementing a little framework (things you like) and then use it to finish the project. That way it takes more time but you enjoy it. I found out over the years, taking into account all my good, mediocre and bad results, that I did my best work when I enjoyed it, as silly as it sounds. It doesn't matter that I waste 50% of the time if I get the job done and enjoy it. The alternative is to do it even slower and disgusted.
I think procrastination is a kind of anxiety. We enjoy the creative parts and fear the complexities of debugging that monster when it's 99% done. We need to switch back to enjoyment to get in the flow. That means doing things you like, instead of things you should do, but we can be smart and try to combine the two things.
Another example: I had to work on an old script that was really ugly and messy. I took a day to refactor the old codebase, clean it up, just so I don't see it as a scary monster any more. Then I was much more likely to work on it.
Going off the calendar thing -- some years back I managed to lose a ton of weight and be super productive; I had this little system where every day I would try to keep the number of vices I had that day to less than half.
For example, if I smoked a cigarette and ate poorly, to keep that day at 50% I'd need to exercise and do (home or project) work done. If there was a day where I didn't want to exercise, I'd have to do at least 2 of the other things.
Like most people in this thread, I know I can't trust myself to be perfect, so I give myself outs. I can do whatever I want, so long as I pay for it elsewhere.
Those help but the thing that helps me most is to actively engage my rational brain instead of autopilot brain. Try to make it a habit to trigger your rational brain when your autopilot brain is making the decision to procrastinate, and then analyze the situation. OK, I have a choice between browsing news sites and working on the VPTree. What are the pros and cons of each choice? Could I delay browsing news sites by 10 minutes and look into that VPTree first?
Recently I've had success with imagining myself as having finished whatever task it is I'm avoiding, and how good it will feel to be onto the next task. If that's too vague, I will break it down into a task that I can imagine finishing, and envision myself finishing that task.
I think I'm realizing I bite off chunks that are too big, then freeze up when I feel overwhelmed
The "always feeling behind", is actually helping me personally. If I'm not just a tiny little bit stressed, I start procrastinating. I need to have something to lose, otherwise I'll never get going. So I tend to work myself into situations, that require me to put in an extra effort.
It's just how I work, and I've forgiven myself for it.
I think that may work well for me when it comes to work. I'm not sure it would be sustainable when it comes to food or exercise, but there's no reason I can't get a reasonable amount of work done every day at work.
I bought the pro version a couple months ago and I'm sure it's already paid for itself.
In the past I couldn't even have games installed on my computer for fear of getting sucked in for hours on end. Now I don't have to worry, I can be productive and still enjoy games at the end of the day.
Highly recommended for people that work from their personal computers.
- Removed myself from things that enable procrastination; I installed software (Coldturkey) that blocks websites and programs on my computer(games), and I won't be able to change the configuration of Coldturkey for another couple weeks.
- I have a calendar next to my work area, I get a red X on days that I do a reasonable amount of work; I got this from Jerry Seinfeld's method of getting better at something, "Don't break the chain!" of red X's.
- I often ask myself "what sort of person do you want to be? Do you want to be remembered as someone that did a half-assed job most of the time? Or do you want to be remembered as someone that killed it any chance he got?"; that sometimes gives me a little push to get stuff done.
- I am always behind in my mind.
- I've been working on making a habit of following through to the end anything that I am tasked with; I have unfinished stuff but there is less than there used to be.
This is just what I've come up with for myself. It's just come down to not trusting myself, so I try to make it so I don't have to.