Ok, so I'm a horrible procrastinator. Everything gets done at the absolute last moment to the deteriment of my health. Surfing the internet, checking email, doing favors for other people, chatting online, eating food, random stupid things... absolutely everything seems to kill my time. Heck, at this very moment I'm wasting time on 4-ch... The fact that I live in a dorm-like setting means also that a) my roommate is a severe distraction and that b) people wandering into my room in the wee hours of the morning make it worse. I'm not a bad student either, so I try to perform well on items at hours long past when normal people would have given up. The simple techniques touted for "curing" procrastination just do not work (ie: tell yourself you'll work on something for five minutes and then after five minutes promise yourself again).
I have some serious issues with procrastination that need to be fixed before I end up dying of sleep deprivation. Can anyone please help??
I know that problem, as I am an horrible procrastinator too. I have a tendency to do things just before it's too late, or worse right after it's too late. Delaying them for random things ranging from making tea to answering you. In fact, anything that isn't quite useful compared to what I need to do. (ie. paying taxes - I just realized I've got only five days left).
So anyway, I don't know about the "promise yourself you'll work after five minutes" but I don't think it would be very useful - I've been telling me for something like 2 months that tomorrow, I'll pay my taxes. What I know does work, if a little, is disassembling what you have to do in little bits, and doing them one by one, then doing your average random stuff inbetween each little part of what you had to do. Still you won't be as productive as someone who doesn't have that issue, but at least things will get done. Hopefully in time.
Be organized. You'll have to organize yourself more than the busiest businessman in order to manage to achieve something. Use agendas, calendars (I figured Google Calendar with its mail reminders is good, and it's online so you put it as your homepage and everytime you start your browser it bumps in your eye). Maybe consider buying a PDA. I don't have one (too expensive) but a friend of mine with the same problem has and he tells me it helps him a lot.
And document yourself about Attention Deficit problems (ADHD probably the most known). It doesn't always apply, but your problem could be deeper than you think.
try starting really early and at a leisurely pace
http://studygs.net/ (lots of good links, this is good even for stuff that aren't study situations)
http://studygs.net/attmot3.htm
http://studygs.net/adhd/index.htm
http://stevepavlina.com/blog/ (use the category links in the left link section)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/personal-effectiveness/
>>1, >>4 is very harsh, but without a doubt has a big grain of truth in their message. If you need to do non-computer stuff, having your computer on is like leaving a big glass of boose next to a recovering alcoholic. Not nice, and a too evil and unnecessary temptation. Avoid enabling yourself to easily procrastinate. Chances are that you're procrastinating because it either gives your more intense positive stimulation than what you're supposed to be doing (you might have ADHD), or because you've emotionally put yourself in a situation where you feel avoiding to do the work for as long as possible is the best option (e.g. if you have unreasonably high demands on the results/process).
If you do need to do computer work, then create a second account for yourself, and cripple it in all the good ways (i.e. ban website access for everything but a few select sites, deny access to the leisure parts of your HDD except for perhaps your music or so, etc). Also, if you need constant stimulation then you might want to get a stress ball or something similarly not too distracting to semi-play with while you're working, to ensure that you won't get too twitchy, lacking enough stimulation. >>2's "Be organized" is very true. >>2 has lots of good stuff, really.
>Maybe consider buying a PDA
Or make a hipster PDA! xD Paper technology ftw? The sucky bit is that it takes more effort to sync any online/computer calendars/agendas with it.
Never have an un-dated To-Do list. Schedule in things you need to do in your paper calendar (pocket-sized, to always bring with you), either at a certain time at a certain day, or schedule it in for some month if it's not that urgent, and then later put it into a certain time-slot.
Also, NEVER EVER schedule yourself to get a certain amount of work done in a very specific amount of time (as in "I need to do these chapters within these two hours"). Schedule time to work on things, and try to get as much done on them as possible, but never set a too tight plan (as in "I'll try to get as much as possible done of these chapters within these two hours". You need margins: you're not a machine.
Also, never forget: planning and strategies exist for your sake, not you for their sake. You will, and will need to constantly re-tune and change your plans when comes to the finer details, possibly even the bigger details, depending on how much things change. Don't feel you're a slave for your calendar, that's exactly the opposite of what it's supposed to be like. Plans exist as a tool, an aid for your sake. Never forget that.
If you get too twitchy without enough stimulation, you might want to try stuff along the line of chamomille tea/valerian "medicin" or tea/soothing herbal incense, meditation (will up your focus skillz), and get yourself checked for ADHD or mental problems (such as not dealing well with performance anxiety etc - yep, performance anxiety isn't just for sex).
Exercising daily for a minimum of 30 minutes also tends to have a very beneficial result for people that are too restless.
>>5
Add this to your link list.
http://www.slowleadership.org/2007/02/what-stopping-you-part-1.html
>>5
Thanks for the good post and the links, lifehack seems to be very resourceful, I'll read it more deeply when I get back from school.
The problem about a paper agenda is I'll never read it; I had that issue up until High School, when I decided it wasn't even worth buying one. The great thing about computer agendas is that you have tons of ways to force yourself to read them - homepages, desktop, popup/mail reminders, and so on. As for PDAs, you have alarms which can help. No paper agenda is going to yell at you for forgetting them for 2 weeks.
Also, about computers; the problem gets worse if you actually have to work on the computer; and need frequent access to internet. But if you don't have to use it: truth is you probably should turn it off, and go work far from it. People with attention problems should avoid having TV playing in background too, and as a matter of fact any source of easy disturbance. But it should be noted that things such as music can be as much a disturbance as a focus-helper; I know I can't work/get focused on something without music. Of course, not every music style may work, and it depends on your tastes. Being very eclectic, I figured that ambiant electro/trip-hop are really good, being rythmic/melodic enough without you having to actively listen.
>>9
Music usually enables focusing because people rarely use new music as background music, while as tv runs new stuff all the time.
This creates a comfortable, recogniseable background static that mostly drowns out other stuff, yet is ignorable because it doesn't contain any new information you might need to focus on, nor use as an as good excuse as new music.
I have attention problems but TV works for me, sometimes. Provided things I know is not interesting for me are running, nothing that's too slow like series episodes, those are dangerous. Music channels are good for that, in spite of having new music sometimes. I usually do best working at school, though. It's more difficult to slack off and surf randomly on the internet when there are others in the same room, working hard.
Oh, another thing I've noticed... My attention span goes from bad to utterly horrible, when I'm not properly hydrated (i.e. drinking a sip of water often is good, rather than drinking a lot of water once every few hours). I've done some diet changes as well that helped my attention span by making my blood sugar stay more stable throughout the day (whole grain products, a lot of fresh greens, etc).
How to stop severe procrastination? GTFO.
Seriously. You must have something more important to do than spending time here.
lol i'm procrastinating right now by reading the links about how to stop procrastinating lol.
haha I entered only one day and it replied
"You have less than one day to get this done. I hope you're just playing with this thing."
lol
>>12
As long as you actually learn from the links, and (most importantly of all) actually implement the strategies into your life, it's okay.
I think you have the right idea.
Also, you could have someone with a bayou accent stand over you with a double barrel over-under shotgun and say "Yew geet tah wawk nah boy!" every 10 minutes or so.
I find that often I just physically can't get started working without music. I'd like to be a 'self-starter' but hey, I'm part of a media-bombarded generation with a 10-second attention span.
Seems that we're media-dependent now.
>>16
I find music and tv playing bloody distracting when working, and always turn it off immediately. So I guess not everyone.
There is nice podcast on procrastination on 43 Folders. One of the things it says is that we avoid doing things that are close to us and that bother us in some way. The implication is that by targetting the things we delay the most we change ourselves for good.
Editorial
March 24, 2007, 7:18PM
None so blind
In his new memoir, DeLay blames everybody for his woes except the obvious suspect in the mirror.
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
>>20
Depends on the piece. Wagner might be a little too... distracting for me, but I guess Vivaldi would do.
I've been told that the best way to get things done that you may not want to do is to just assign good outcomes to them and keep those outcomes in mind. Lets say you wanna get a report done but it's about something you couldn't give less of a shit about. Just tell yourself, and mean it, that you're gonna get like, a game or something afterwards. That way you're doing what you need to do while getting things that you may want faster. Also, keep in mind the consequences of NOT doing them. Do you really wanna have to deal with them not being done right or not done at all? Most people don't.
If that doesn't work for you you could just start telling yourself to get off your lazy ass and just do the dam thing and get it over with so you can go back to whatever it is you were or want to do.
>>22
I think I have the same problem as the OP, And I can tell you that just doesn't work. I tried that many times. I try to think of the good outcomes, and the bad, and in the end, I still do it at the last minute. And When I mean the last minute, I really mean it. I start on it so late, there is no possible way I'll finish, and I end up giving up and doing something to get my mind of my failure.
From where this thread is going, It seems like I might have ADD or something, because I've been struggling with this problem since 6th grade. I didn't fully hit during high school. When I stopped being a Grade A student and began just barely passing. Problem was, I was doing extremely well on test, but did no homework, most of the time, the homework was the part that could have gotten me a Straight A. I always desperately tried to do it every night, but the second I get home, I'd completely forget about it and play video games, go on the internet, or something else. And I'd remember during school. And try to desperately do it during lunch.
I remember when I was doing my History homework, I told myself that I would hold my breath until I solved this problem. I'd easily lose my attention on it though. And just start on my math though. And then do the same except it would be science homework of computer homework.
To tell you the truth, I think the only homework I did was my Computer class homework, because it seemed so easy to me, and it was something I found fun.
I wish I found all the other homework just as fun.
Work in something you find fun, then. Your history homework won't matter in ten years.
By the way this story sounds way too much like my life. Stop creeping me out please.
Working on something fun is easier said than done. It's not like I'll be thrown something fun to do all the time. Especially when it comes to homework.
How to Prioritize
Virtually every time management system teaches that you must prioritize your projects to make sure you’re working on what’s truly important instead of getting caught up in minor things. However, few systems explain precisely how to do this. How do you decide which task is really the most important at any given time? Is it the one that’s most urgent, the one that will earn you the most money, the one that will produce the greatest long-term happiness, the one that will please your boss the most? If you don’t use an intelligent method of prioritization, you’ll lack consistency and bounce from one task to another with no rhyme or reason.
In this article I’ll share with you a simple and effective prioritization method adapted from the military.
From a pure military (i.e. non-political) standpoint, the goal of any engagement is to achieve victory by inflicting the greatest damage on your enemy with the least amount of resources. Wouldn’t you say this is the essence of personal time management as well? You want to make the greatest amount of progress towards your goals with the least amount of effort.
Objective
For prioritization to have any meaning, it’s imperative that you have a clear objective. For the military your overall objective may be to achieve a decisive victory. Your personal objective may be a set of goals, your mission statement or purpose, or even a state of being. The role of prioritization then is to help you achieve this result with as little effort as possible.
Resources
The second consideration is the resources you have available. Military resources include troops, guns, tanks, bombs, planes, fuel, supplies, etc. Your personal resources include time, money, your social network, your physical energy, and so on. Time is generally your scarcest resources because it cannot be replenished.
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[continued]
Prioritization
Now in order to prioritize intelligently, we need a method that tells us how to evaluate projects in terms of their overall importance. Which projects will help us achieve our objectives most efficiently?
CARVER
A key component of military strategy is selecting the most important targets to attack. But how do you know which targets are the most important? Centuries of warfare have provided us with a reasonably intelligent answer.
CARVER is an acronym for a military method of target selection. CARVER stands for Criticality, Accessibility, Return (or Recuperability), Vulnerability, Effect, and Recognizability. I’ll explain what these are in a moment.
For every potential target, we assign a value of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) for each CARVER factor, thereby creating a CARVER matrix. Then by summing the six CARVER values, we can calculate a total score for each target, and those scores represent the targets’ relative prioritization. The higher the CARVER score, the more “important” a target becomes.
Now lets explore the six CARVER factors, and consider how we can apply them to personal projects.
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[continued]
Criticality. How critical is the target with respect to the main objective? Will it move you significantly closer to your goal, or is it a relatively puny and insignificant item? A low criticality project might be cleaning out your garage. It would be nice to do, but it’s probably not going to make that much difference in your life.
Accessibility. Can you actually reach the target, or is it so well defended that attacking it directly is impossible? Do you have the means to tackle this project immediately, or does it have prerequisites? Starting a new business might not be very accessible if you work long hours and are living paycheck to paycheck, but asking for a promotion may be very accessible.
Return. In military operations the term Recuperability is used here, referring to how quickly the enemy can recover from the destruction of the target. There’s little point in attacking a target that can be rebuilt or replaced with minimal effort. For personal effectiveness we’ll use Return instead. How great is the expected return on your commitment of resources? Developing a new passive income stream may yield a significant return, while watching the news may yield virtually none.
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[continued]
Vulnerability. How vulnerable is the target? What amount of resources will be required to take it out? How vulnerable are the projects you’re considering? A one-day project will score a high vulnerability rating, while a six-month project will score much lower. Similarly, an inexpensive project is more vulnerable than an expensive one.
Effect. If you successfully destroy the target, how widespread will the impact be? If you successfully complete your project, what effect will it have on your life as well as the lives of others? Writing a best-selling book may have a significant effect, while completing your tax return will have very little effect.
Recognizability. Can we see the target well enough to attack it, or is it highly camouflaged or mobile? Is your project crystal clear or totally fuzzy? How easy is it to recognize the steps necessary to complete the project? Have you completed this type of project before, or will you have to figure out the steps as you go along? Clear goals with clear steps will score higher on recognizability than foggy goals with unclear steps.
Now let’s see how we can create a CARVER matrix to prioritize certain projects. The 1-5 rankings for each factor are simply for the sake of example, so your own rankings may vary. Keep in mind that these rankings are all relative to your primary objective, mission, or purpose.
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[continued]
Criticality
Accessibility
Return
Vulnerability
Effect
Recognizability
(goal) C A R V E R Total
Write a book 5 3 3 1 5 3 20
Start a blog 2 5 2 5 4 4 22
Run a marathon 2 4 3 1 4 5 19
Make new friends 4 2 5 3 3 1 18The numbers tell the story. According to our CARVER matrix, the most important project to tackle next is to start a blog. While it’s among the least critical items and won’t necessarily produce a great return for the time invested, it’s relatively easy and straightforward to do. Next comes writing a book, which is a more critical long-term project (at least for our arbitrary person making these evaluations), but it will also require a lot more effort to achieve. The worst project is making new friends, its main drawbacks being that it’s too fuzzy and ill-defined, so it might be wise to replace that one with a more specific project.
[cont.]
[continued]
Even though we’re just using simple addition instead of a more complex weighting of these factors, CARVER does a fairly decent job of spitting out an intelligent prioritization of projects. It’s really good at depicting which projects are worth the effort and which aren’t. It also shows when you should tackle a piece of low-hanging fruit vs. initiating a really big project.
I used CARVER often when running my computer games business. For example, my CARVER matrix suggested it would be wise to release an add-on for my top selling product instead of creating a whole new game from scratch. Although the add-on wasn’t going to sell as well as a new game, it was a fairly straightforward two-week project that produced solid results.
Feel free to adapt the basic concept of CARVER to your specific needs. You can assign extra weight to certain factors as well as introduce additional factors like enjoyment or financial payoff. Just be careful not to get carried away. The point of CARVER is to select a reasonably intelligent project and then get into action. Don’t lose yourself in hours of analysis paralysis.
For group decisions you can even have each team member create their own CARVER matrix and then average the results. You’ll quickly discover whether the team leader and team members are on the same page.
By using a simple system like CARVER, you’ll know which projects are important enough to deserve your attention and which are, relatively speaking, a waste of your time and energy. You’ll benefit from greater consistency in decision-making and better results for your efforts.
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