Procrastination, or how to stop being a lazy ass and start living
The topic of procrastination has recently been particularly hotly debated on the mega brain and GT, as well as many other near-italic resources. Everywhere many opinions were expressed, often opposite. Well, let's try to analyze and structure a little of what I read, speculate on the topic and try to find a solution.
The author is neither a physician nor a psychologist, but is just a lazy person who is trying to learn from his own experience, and also to draw conclusions based on someone else's. Who cares - I ask under the cat.
So, on the websites of TM for the recent time many articles were published, one way or another touching on the theme of procrastination.
Based on everything I have studied on this issue, I can divide the approaches into three main groups
')
Procrastination as a disease
In many places today, the idea is expressed that procrastination is a disease, and that a person, allegedly, cannot do anything, and everyone else must respect this.
As the main thesis, a certain theory of the hunter and farmer is given for the authorship of Thomas Hartman , who has certain degrees in homeopathy and herbology, as well as an active leader of NLP.
The essence of the theory is that some time ago some people were hunters, and others were farmers and gatherers. The first was important mobility and activity during the hunt, the rest of the time they were engaged in all sorts of others. Others worked measuredly, keeping the level of concentration constant. As a result, the descendants of the former now have ADD, they cannot concentrate in calm conditions, but they do well in stressful situations, while others are ordinary hard workers who simply work without frills. So, those of us who suffer from this ailment are the descendants of the “hunters”, so we can concentrate on an urgent task and work hard, but in the daily routine we constantly shift our attention to lower priority tasks.
I will not condemn the theory from the point of view of genetics and the fact that the probability of the existence in all races of such clans of "hunters" and "farmers" who existed without interbreeding with each other for so long that this feature was reflected at the genetic level , tends to zero . I will leave it to people who really understand genetics, unlike me and some homeopaths.
Let us turn to another concept commonly used in American psychotherapeutic practice - ADD (G) . On the one hand, they are explained why small children cannot sit still (and why they need to take Ritalin), and on the other hand why adult uncles are lazy and do not want to work normally. Judging by the article about depression , it turns out that a person does not begin to stop doing the right things, lazy and distracted, but because of some incurable diseases that are treated with various amphetamines.
We will not delve into the controversy about the disease itself and its real impact on human life. Obviously one thing - taking the fact of the disease is a very simple way to “take the blame” for your own laziness. Instead of undertaking something, looking for approaches to organizing your time and changing your lifestyle, a person accepts the hopelessness of the situation - “I am not lazy butt, I am very, very sick, and the people around need to understand this” - and gives up.
However that may be, the history of medicine shows that fighting a disease, whatever it may be, brings much more benefit than humility.
Procrastination as a result of stress
Another version of the cause of procrastination is stressful situations. And rather a constant presence in stress, rather than short-term stress.
It cannot be denied that procrastination and stress often go hand in hand and generously complement each other. But is the second cause of the first, and not vice versa? Not sure. More likely no than yes.
Imagine a situation where you experience constant stress - for example, you have a not very qualified boss, and you expect what you are about to get from him. Or you know about the reduction of staff, but do not know who will be cut down - you, or your colleague, who occupies a similar position. In general, pleasant enough. Will this situation cause a loss of attention and difficulty in concentrating? The answer is unknown.
Someone constant tension really knock out rut, and he will begin to worry, all the time to calm himself down with something, such as reading the news on the GT.
The other person, on the contrary, will concentrate on his work in order not to fall under the distribution. And both in the short and in the long term.
The third one will even get motivated for more productive (rather than usually) work, and, undoubtedly, will be great for the month.
And what about the opposite direction? It's a little different.
Imagine (and for someone it is not necessary to represent anything) the usual situation - the deadline is in a month, the task is somehow stated in the documentation, the roles are distributed vaguely. You can begin to understand the problem today, but in a week you can code it, in fact, for two days, but the analysis is longer. In this position, and pulls to switch anything less straining brains - such as video cats or NASA's Mars program.
But when switching, some part of the consciousness tells itself that it is not good, that it is necessary to drop all this and take up work. Of course, the brain does not listen to her, “but the sediment remained”. So stress builds up. And where there is tension, there is a loss of concentration. And it entails the desire to unload the brain - to switch to something simpler than work. It turns out a vicious circle, from which you can exit only with great effort, and most likely, not on your own initiative.
So does distraction from tasks cause stress and loss of concentration? The answer is yes, almost always, if you do not stop in time.
Procrastination as a manifestation of laziness
The third option - procrastination - is a fashionable name for ordinary human laziness, taken from the same bag as “millenial”, “start-up” and “SaaS in an hour”. We just do not want to admit to ourselves that all of the above is our own doing.
But there is some difference to which Wikipedia refers - laziness doesn’t seem to create anxiety, and procrastination makes you tense. But it seems that the whole thing is about certain moral qualities of the person himself - some people call this by conscience - someone will grow to the last minute, and he will not blink. So everything is relative.
Since this option is the most likely and least pleasant - and it usually happens - I will consider it
Based on my own experience, I can conclude that there are only a few reasons:
Unclear tasks
It often happens that the task is such that it is not clear from which edge to start, and the edge itself is often undefined. In such a situation, I really want a little longer and not to look for this region - the presentiment of a complex analytical task makes the brain look for tasks simpler - and it easily finds them.
Little work
The other extreme is when there are not enough tasks to fill all the working hours. This does not happen to everyone, but this is the place to be. In this case, thoughts appear like, “Well, now I’ll read the news, and after lunch I’ll start,” or, “Well, today’s Monday, I’ll give myself a rest, and since Tuesday I’ll go into battle.” It is clear what this leads to - and the wolves are not yet full, but the sheep are already so-so.
Heterogeneous tasks
Disease managers at different levels - leads, PMs and above. And it can also meet with freelancers, and just with people who are seriously engaged in something other than their main job - for example, a hobby that takes up all their free time.
A situation is created when at the same time there are several actual tasks that need to be performed. Yes, and constantly distract. In this case, the brain begins to "boil" and is looking for shortness of breath - hello procrastination. This is really a difficult situation when the accumulated stress is very much affected.
Options that don't work
At least they didn't help me, but maybe someone will find them useful.
Options that helped
This is what will help to become productive again and generally well done. Of course, simply following these points will not get you out of the pit, you need to “want” to get out of it, just like alcoholics.
In conclusion, I want to say that I myself have not yet comprehended the Tao of "productivity" and have not stopped being lazy. But on the other hand, to stop being lazy is to stop being yourself. It is important to understand that you should try to avoid in life what does not make you happy. And the happiness of satisfaction with the tasks performed is much more happiness from senseless laziness among the working day. This is the balance, the golden mean - to do what you need, but do not force yourself to do more than you really need.
PS: the author does not believe that everything described in the article is the ultimate truth, so he invites everyone to the discussion in the comments
The author is neither a physician nor a psychologist, but is just a lazy person who is trying to learn from his own experience, and also to draw conclusions based on someone else's. Who cares - I ask under the cat.
So, on the websites of TM for the recent time many articles were published, one way or another touching on the theme of procrastination.
Here are some of them
What is procrastination?
Based on everything I have studied on this issue, I can divide the approaches into three main groups
')
Procrastination as a disease
In many places today, the idea is expressed that procrastination is a disease, and that a person, allegedly, cannot do anything, and everyone else must respect this.
As the main thesis, a certain theory of the hunter and farmer is given for the authorship of Thomas Hartman , who has certain degrees in homeopathy and herbology, as well as an active leader of NLP.
The essence of the theory is that some time ago some people were hunters, and others were farmers and gatherers. The first was important mobility and activity during the hunt, the rest of the time they were engaged in all sorts of others. Others worked measuredly, keeping the level of concentration constant. As a result, the descendants of the former now have ADD, they cannot concentrate in calm conditions, but they do well in stressful situations, while others are ordinary hard workers who simply work without frills. So, those of us who suffer from this ailment are the descendants of the “hunters”, so we can concentrate on an urgent task and work hard, but in the daily routine we constantly shift our attention to lower priority tasks.
I will not condemn the theory from the point of view of genetics and the fact that the probability of the existence in all races of such clans of "hunters" and "farmers" who existed without interbreeding with each other for so long that this feature was reflected at the genetic level , tends to zero . I will leave it to people who really understand genetics, unlike me and some homeopaths.
Let us turn to another concept commonly used in American psychotherapeutic practice - ADD (G) . On the one hand, they are explained why small children cannot sit still (and why they need to take Ritalin), and on the other hand why adult uncles are lazy and do not want to work normally. Judging by the article about depression , it turns out that a person does not begin to stop doing the right things, lazy and distracted, but because of some incurable diseases that are treated with various amphetamines.
We will not delve into the controversy about the disease itself and its real impact on human life. Obviously one thing - taking the fact of the disease is a very simple way to “take the blame” for your own laziness. Instead of undertaking something, looking for approaches to organizing your time and changing your lifestyle, a person accepts the hopelessness of the situation - “I am not lazy butt, I am very, very sick, and the people around need to understand this” - and gives up.
However that may be, the history of medicine shows that fighting a disease, whatever it may be, brings much more benefit than humility.
Procrastination as a result of stress
Another version of the cause of procrastination is stressful situations. And rather a constant presence in stress, rather than short-term stress.
It cannot be denied that procrastination and stress often go hand in hand and generously complement each other. But is the second cause of the first, and not vice versa? Not sure. More likely no than yes.
Imagine a situation where you experience constant stress - for example, you have a not very qualified boss, and you expect what you are about to get from him. Or you know about the reduction of staff, but do not know who will be cut down - you, or your colleague, who occupies a similar position. In general, pleasant enough. Will this situation cause a loss of attention and difficulty in concentrating? The answer is unknown.
Someone constant tension really knock out rut, and he will begin to worry, all the time to calm himself down with something, such as reading the news on the GT.
The other person, on the contrary, will concentrate on his work in order not to fall under the distribution. And both in the short and in the long term.
The third one will even get motivated for more productive (rather than usually) work, and, undoubtedly, will be great for the month.
And what about the opposite direction? It's a little different.
Imagine (and for someone it is not necessary to represent anything) the usual situation - the deadline is in a month, the task is somehow stated in the documentation, the roles are distributed vaguely. You can begin to understand the problem today, but in a week you can code it, in fact, for two days, but the analysis is longer. In this position, and pulls to switch anything less straining brains - such as video cats or NASA's Mars program.
But when switching, some part of the consciousness tells itself that it is not good, that it is necessary to drop all this and take up work. Of course, the brain does not listen to her, “but the sediment remained”. So stress builds up. And where there is tension, there is a loss of concentration. And it entails the desire to unload the brain - to switch to something simpler than work. It turns out a vicious circle, from which you can exit only with great effort, and most likely, not on your own initiative.
So does distraction from tasks cause stress and loss of concentration? The answer is yes, almost always, if you do not stop in time.
Procrastination as a manifestation of laziness
The third option - procrastination - is a fashionable name for ordinary human laziness, taken from the same bag as “millenial”, “start-up” and “SaaS in an hour”. We just do not want to admit to ourselves that all of the above is our own doing.
But there is some difference to which Wikipedia refers - laziness doesn’t seem to create anxiety, and procrastination makes you tense. But it seems that the whole thing is about certain moral qualities of the person himself - some people call this by conscience - someone will grow to the last minute, and he will not blink. So everything is relative.
Since this option is the most likely and least pleasant - and it usually happens - I will consider it
Causes of procrastination
Based on my own experience, I can conclude that there are only a few reasons:
- unclear tasks
- little work
- heterogeneous tasks
Unclear tasks
It often happens that the task is such that it is not clear from which edge to start, and the edge itself is often undefined. In such a situation, I really want a little longer and not to look for this region - the presentiment of a complex analytical task makes the brain look for tasks simpler - and it easily finds them.
Little work
The other extreme is when there are not enough tasks to fill all the working hours. This does not happen to everyone, but this is the place to be. In this case, thoughts appear like, “Well, now I’ll read the news, and after lunch I’ll start,” or, “Well, today’s Monday, I’ll give myself a rest, and since Tuesday I’ll go into battle.” It is clear what this leads to - and the wolves are not yet full, but the sheep are already so-so.
Heterogeneous tasks
Disease managers at different levels - leads, PMs and above. And it can also meet with freelancers, and just with people who are seriously engaged in something other than their main job - for example, a hobby that takes up all their free time.
A situation is created when at the same time there are several actual tasks that need to be performed. Yes, and constantly distract. In this case, the brain begins to "boil" and is looking for shortness of breath - hello procrastination. This is really a difficult situation when the accumulated stress is very much affected.
Problem solutions
Options that don't work
At least they didn't help me, but maybe someone will find them useful.
- Task categorization - a well-known matrix is ​​important — not important / urgent — not urgent, which time-management coaches promote, and it already exists in Outlook — everything ends when the task is distributed to these categories
- Different blocking of extraneous sites in the browser is a hoax over deception, nothing will come of it. Lazy "I" turns out to be smarter
- Programs like - do not look at the phone for an hour - the tree of fields - you just hammer on them, since there is even less practical benefit from them than irritations
- Articles like “15 habits of a productive person”. No, they work. First time. If you live exactly the same way as the person described in the article. But, most likely, you will not be able to instill in yourself these habits, very quickly losing motivation. Or they won't suit you at all. No, habits are developed from well-adjusted and resultant actions, and not from the very desire to “develop the X habit”.
Options that helped
This is what will help to become productive again and generally well done. Of course, simply following these points will not get you out of the pit, you need to “want” to get out of it, just like alcoholics.
- Acknowledgment that you are a lazy ass, and that is the cause of everything
The most difficult step. You can break for a long time, read about “12 principles of productivity” or “30 things that successful people do,” but still remain in place. Being lazy does not mean being bad. This is normal. It `s naturally. Utilitarianism tells us that all good actions are those that make a person happy or beneficial. Happiness from laziness is much closer and more understandable than the indistinct use “later” in exchange for the work “now”. This is the nature of man, and one cannot get away from it. We need to accept this postulate in order to be able to curb our inner lazy and make it work, so as to rest “later” when the work is completed. - Time management
This is a complicated thing, and no time management courses can motivate enough.
However, I found a simple hack - technique Pomodoro . The point is to work for 25 minutes, and between them to rest for 5, and every two hours to make a big break (for example, for tea). It sounds so-so, but it really works, especially when there is a lot of work. If you have several tasks at the same time, set aside a certain number of intervals for each of 25 minutes, and do not switch between them at this time.
For convenience, I downloaded a program for my phone, but in my office there are people who bring a real kitchen timer to work. - Time Management 2
Make a to-do list for the day. Keep a calendar. Better when they are synchronized. I use aCalendar and GTasks, they sync with Google Calendar and with each other. Very convenient and free. - Keep the information handy
Store all the documents you need in the cloud storage - in the one that is more convenient for you. Get organized in the hierarchy of folders so that nothing lies incomprehensible where. This greatly simplifies the search for documents, and also reduces stress due to the fact that the necessary files are scattered across several computers / flash drives / mail - Set goals
No seriously. Set goals for six months, a year, and so on. And as less abstract as possible - for example, not “learn English” but “get online certification for such a level of language”, or not “learn Django”, but “View such a course, write a website on Django”. All this sounds trite, but it really sets up a working mood, helps to somehow plan actions to achieve these goals.
Come here: encourage yourself for accomplished goals. Decide how. - Daily regime
This does not mean that you need to get up with the first roosters, and go to the sunset - no. Just get up and lie down at the same time every day, including weekends. I do not know how, but it is great invigorates the body and cleans the brain - Meditation
Funny thing. When you feel a strong tension, just close your eyes and try not to think about anything for about five minutes. In fact, nothing. Visibly raises the tone. This is of course a great approximation of meditation, but the essence is as follows. Of the minuses - colleagues will try to wake you up.
Total
In conclusion, I want to say that I myself have not yet comprehended the Tao of "productivity" and have not stopped being lazy. But on the other hand, to stop being lazy is to stop being yourself. It is important to understand that you should try to avoid in life what does not make you happy. And the happiness of satisfaction with the tasks performed is much more happiness from senseless laziness among the working day. This is the balance, the golden mean - to do what you need, but do not force yourself to do more than you really need.
PS: the author does not believe that everything described in the article is the ultimate truth, so he invites everyone to the discussion in the comments
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/294104/
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