Unobvious way to combat procrastination
Surely, many have heard of such a concept as “state of flow”. Now there are a lot of smart books and articles on this topic. But if you do not go into details and speak in simple words, then this is the state in which it is best to work. Concentration and involvement in such a state are maximum, the right decisions come to mind quickly and naturally, nothing surrounding distracts: neither a cluttered desktop, nor an uncomfortable chair, nor a late hour or an empty stomach.
All this is great, and each of us will most likely remember something from his own experience. But the problem is that it is not easy to “rebuild” yourself into such a state, but to “fall out” of it is very easy. Especially when it comes to boring or incomprehensible work, in this case the “inertia for entry” is especially high. Reflecting recently on all this, I realized that from time to time I unknowingly used one trick, which I want to share.
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So, imagine that we have a certain task that needs to be done as quickly as possible, and let it not inspire us very much to immediately rush at her with enthusiasm. Why? Perhaps this is a too large-scale problem, which is not clear from which side to approach. Or maybe this “inheritance” passed to us from previous developers, and at the sight of which, our internal perfectionist cries with bloody tears, but the plan is not provided for rewriting from scratch. Or, finally, it may be just a boring task.
To do anything, a person must motivate himself. And most often, our mind uses two classic methods for this: the “carrot method” and the “carrot method”. The whip method is based on fear. If I don’t do the work, I’ll get a scolding from the manager / customer, I won’t get paid, I won’t pay for the mortgage, I’ll be on the street, I’ll have nothing to eat, etc. In short, everything will be very bad. The gingerbread method, on the contrary, is more like a carrot in front of a donkey. I will do a good job - the boss will appreciate it, I will receive a promotion and a bonus, I will receive an extraordinary day off, I will have a rest and be entertained, and everything will be cool.
And these methods work fine in the case when the “motivators” are in close proximity. Those. understanding that the deadline for the most important project was a month ago, and that the bank that issued the loan to you calls it with threats every half hour, I think it will greatly speed up your efficiency and effectiveness. Likewise, your ability to work will be affected by the confidence that the results of your work on this particular task will directly affect your employment at Google.
But as soon as the motivators are hidden from the line of sight (there is still time), any loss of concentration leads to procrastination, or, more simply, to distract from unpleasant work in viewing the news, surfing the social networks or unfolding the tapeworm. I can say from my experience that this is especially pronounced when work is being done from home.
Are there any alternative ways to enter the “flow state”? In my opinion, one of these workarounds is to start working with interesting trivia. Despite the priorities and planned development stages, some interesting trifle is selected from the entire scope of the project. For a programmer, this may be some kind of insignificant, but cool “trick,” for a designer, a secondary and unimportant icon.
Of course, we can say that a couple of hours of time would be spent on some unimportant garbage, which would have been better spent on really important and priority tasks. But the main thing here is that in the process of working on these trifles, we enter a working state, accelerate to the required state. And the initial interest here is in the role of a certain accelerator and protection against procrastination (friction force). The main thing is not to forget to switch to the necessary tasks later, in order not to begin to rivet ten more “chips” and a new hundred icons.
PS And what ways to combat procrastination do you use?
All this is great, and each of us will most likely remember something from his own experience. But the problem is that it is not easy to “rebuild” yourself into such a state, but to “fall out” of it is very easy. Especially when it comes to boring or incomprehensible work, in this case the “inertia for entry” is especially high. Reflecting recently on all this, I realized that from time to time I unknowingly used one trick, which I want to share.
')
So, imagine that we have a certain task that needs to be done as quickly as possible, and let it not inspire us very much to immediately rush at her with enthusiasm. Why? Perhaps this is a too large-scale problem, which is not clear from which side to approach. Or maybe this “inheritance” passed to us from previous developers, and at the sight of which, our internal perfectionist cries with bloody tears, but the plan is not provided for rewriting from scratch. Or, finally, it may be just a boring task.
To do anything, a person must motivate himself. And most often, our mind uses two classic methods for this: the “carrot method” and the “carrot method”. The whip method is based on fear. If I don’t do the work, I’ll get a scolding from the manager / customer, I won’t get paid, I won’t pay for the mortgage, I’ll be on the street, I’ll have nothing to eat, etc. In short, everything will be very bad. The gingerbread method, on the contrary, is more like a carrot in front of a donkey. I will do a good job - the boss will appreciate it, I will receive a promotion and a bonus, I will receive an extraordinary day off, I will have a rest and be entertained, and everything will be cool.
And these methods work fine in the case when the “motivators” are in close proximity. Those. understanding that the deadline for the most important project was a month ago, and that the bank that issued the loan to you calls it with threats every half hour, I think it will greatly speed up your efficiency and effectiveness. Likewise, your ability to work will be affected by the confidence that the results of your work on this particular task will directly affect your employment at Google.
But as soon as the motivators are hidden from the line of sight (there is still time), any loss of concentration leads to procrastination, or, more simply, to distract from unpleasant work in viewing the news, surfing the social networks or unfolding the tapeworm. I can say from my experience that this is especially pronounced when work is being done from home.
Are there any alternative ways to enter the “flow state”? In my opinion, one of these workarounds is to start working with interesting trivia. Despite the priorities and planned development stages, some interesting trifle is selected from the entire scope of the project. For a programmer, this may be some kind of insignificant, but cool “trick,” for a designer, a secondary and unimportant icon.
Of course, we can say that a couple of hours of time would be spent on some unimportant garbage, which would have been better spent on really important and priority tasks. But the main thing here is that in the process of working on these trifles, we enter a working state, accelerate to the required state. And the initial interest here is in the role of a certain accelerator and protection against procrastination (friction force). The main thing is not to forget to switch to the necessary tasks later, in order not to begin to rivet ten more “chips” and a new hundred icons.
PS And what ways to combat procrastination do you use?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/146842/
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