Procrastination issues...

[Haswellx86]

Having trouble doing my studies from a while now. Whenever there's the laptop on my desk, my dopamine hungry brain prioritizes YouTube and games first. Things have gone so wrong that the meaning of procrastination is to complete the work at the very end of time, but I end up not even completing my work in time. I've noticed that when I do sit for work, it actually becomes a bit hard for me to pack up and sit back watching videos. I have to put everything aside and get my laptop in the center and all... don't like doing that when I am in the flow. The worst part is that I sometimes do need a PC for my studies, so can't keep it off.

 

I've come up with a solution that almost works. While studying, I will be logged in in another user account which won't have immediate access to my games and also no login session stored for my YouTube. If I have to take more steps to get my dopamine, meaning always logging in my account to watch videos, then if I am in the flow of studies, then somehow, I do avoid procrastination. But this way, it's like putting a man in jail but also giving him the key to open it.

 

So, to avoid this, is there any way I could temporarily lock my main user account for a while, so that I can't log back in in study hours, and also lock my gmail/YT account temporarily so I can't access my YT feed as well? And also perhaps lock my games from running as well.

 

lol i am desperate. I don't think it's possible but just maybe?

[SrSuds]

I've had this problem in the past.  Something that worked for me was changing locations.  If you have a laptop, sitting down at a coffee shop and working might keep you on track rather than being at home.  I was less comfortable there with doing things like pulling up YouTube and it doesn't make any sense to pull up a game there which helps keep you working on whatever task is at hand.

[Sarra]

I hit a point where the anxiety of having something incomplete keeps me from being able to enjoy whatever game or video I'm watching, which forces me to get whatever it is, done.

[bezza...]

i should be working now..... im not

[Niiisse]

I found CGP Grey's Spaceship You video to be helpful in these matters, maybe you will too?

[Sarra]

On 6/15/2023 at 1:14 PM, bezza... said:

i should be working now..... im not

I think I'm lucky, once I clock out, barring a natural disaster, massive emergency, or something catastrophic, I'm done. I have nothing to take home with me, there's nothing I can do from home.

 

My problem lately is that, I get home, and cannot relax. I'm so stressed out over everything happening, I just can't. o.x;

[Needfuldoer]

Get a second, "work" computer and don't log into your "fun" accounts on it.

[Stahlmann]

Pretty much the only time i'm active on this forum is when i'm at work. The main reason for why this is happening to me is because i basically have my own office most of the time (the 2 people i share it with are not in house 80% of the time). The only thing that can reliably keep me from getting distracted is when other colleagues are present or i have a specific task directly from my boss that's waiting to be finished.

[lharries]

I definitely struggle with this as well. What helps me is a simple task list. I maintain a list of what I need to accomplish that day, or a goal to work on next. When I feel the pull of procrastination, I refer back to the next thing on the list.
I now actually use Dave Allen's "Get Things Done" framework using Trello - but it still boils down to a simple task list.

[cloneman]

This won't work for Zoomers, but I find it more difficult to procrastinate with my phone instead of my computer. On my computer I have 15 tabs of entertainment open and on my phone its 1 or 2. Some people use a greyscale filter on their phone to make it less exciting. 

You're going to have to get creative overall to find a way that helps you work, it's different for everyone. Some people need to journal and write out their goals and all the substeps to their goals on a regular basis.

When I was trying to exercise, I would have to allow myself to give up after 2-3 minutes, otherwise I would never even start. Most of the time after taking a break after 3  minutes, I would continue. The amount of mental pain I felt in those first 3 minutes was incredible. 

 

If I had to start over in my 20s I'd move in with a girl who forces me to do some work and/or move into an apartment alone where getting in flow was actually possible. Living with people who you have nothing in common with is a huge demotivator, at least it was for me. Escapism is effective for a reason, you might resent the people you live with a lot more than you imagine. Distraction is a YUGE problem for a lot of people, even if it's the subtle noises of boomer parents on the phone.

 

Part of productivity means you might have to come up with creative "breaks" also. If you feel shame in front of people you live with when having to undertake unorthodox "decompression" activities  (screaming, running, whatever) , you might just throw yourself into gaming or youtube because that's more "normal" way to relax.... which would be bad because you're deviating from a plan that works for you

 

 

 

 little bit offtopic, but Anyway. My 2 cents.

 

 

[GTC]

Not me reading this knowing I have 5 days to learn assembly from scratch before an exam

[Haswellx86]

@GTC Learning assembly from scratch? Which exam?

[r00tb33r]

If I didn't have them I wouldn't be here.

[wasab]

those who failed the marshmallow test are often procrastinators and those who are procrastinators always failed the marshmallow test. 

learn some techniques to enhance your ability to delay instant gratification. Learning these key skills is what allows people to succeed in school, jobs/careers, money management/finance, and pretty much everything from social aptitude to health to romance. substance abuse/addictions, living paycheck to paycheck, obesity, inability to stay motivated/lack of discipline, ect are all often the case of a bad ability/inability to delay gratification. 

[r00tb33r]

11 hours ago, wasab said:

those who are procrastinators always failed the marshmallow test. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I had no trouble paying off college and saving enough to buy a house.  I could have been buying fast cars, xboxes and playstations, games, loose women.  Delayed gratification wasn't a problem for me.

 

I do have trouble starting things, more so now than before.

[GTC]

On 6/22/2023 at 7:08 PM, Hensen Juang said:

@GTC Learning assembly from scratch? Which exam?

Not scratch the language, learning from scratch as in starting from zero.

 

"To start from scratch means to begin at the beginning, to restart from the beginning or to start over with no source of aid."

 

It's a computer architecture exam.

[VirusDumb]

On 6/15/2023 at 11:42 AM, Hensen Juang said:

 

So, to avoid this, is there any way I could temporarily lock my main user account for a while, so that I can't log back in in study hours, and also lock my gmail/YT account temporarily

Ask a friend/family/colleague/assistant to change your password and they won't give it to you until you have successfully completed what you wanted to do