Productivity is Happiness

[galii]

How I solved MY procrastination
I cant speak to anyone else, and i won't assume to understand anyone else to tell them what to do. All i can do i share my own experience...

Procrastination was my life. In all the ways you know it, i did it. Couple that with what was medically described as "A pretty decent dose of ADHD" from my doctors. So yeah, as you can imagine, my life hasnt been really great on that front. The only way i would ever get anything done is by terrifying myself into thinking my life would be over if i didnt get that report in, or call that person, or whatever day to day things you have to do. It worked well enough to keep my afloat, but my "quality of life" was complete shit.

My procrastination got bad to the point where my boss was commenting on it. This was completely unacceptable. My family's work ethic is beyond everything else, and so is mine. Work came first, and procrastination was not going to be the end of me, i wouldnt let it. So i seeked medical help.

Through the sessions i had realized a very important tendency i had. Whenever i looked at my to do list, it would usually have quite a few things on it, my mind would look at the entirety as a singular object. The immensity and impossibility of completing that singular object was overwhelming, to the point i didnt even want to think about it.

So i didnt. I would go on reddit, i would watch youtube videos, watch movies, and everytime i would glance over at my to-do list, my self loathing would grow bigger and bigger. I would occupy my time with whatever i could so that i had some kind of excuse for not getting things done. I did this subconsciously. I didnt even know i was doing it until it was pointed out.

Once i realized i was evaluating the ENTIRETY of my tasks as a single task, i decided to ignore everything on the list except the top priority. I literally said to myself, "This one thing is the only thing i have to do today". Lo and behold, and hour later that task is complete. And then i said to myself "well shit, why didnt i do that earlier?, ok fine, the next thing is all i have to worry about."

Rinse and repeat and before i knew it, my task lists were regularly getting done. My quailty of life has skyrocketed (mainly because productivity=happiness for me).

As time went on, I started to smooth out this new tool. I dont use a "to-do" list anymore, i use my outlook calendar (same can be done with google/ical). If i need something done, i schedule it into the calendar. Everything is prioritized based on urgency. Sometimes i inaccurately estimate the time i need for a task, pfft, whatever, work until its done, or schedule it later for the day. At least now i have the experience for similar future items.

Then i thought to myself, shit...I am a slave to my calendar. At first that REALLY bothered me. But thats when you remember, UH DUR - YOU CREATED YOUR CALENDAR. So in reality, you are a slave to a more objective self, which i needed in the first place; to listen to the "you need to do that report, not check reddit".

Every single day i have an entry at 9am which says "schedule your day". I have 10 minutes allocated to it (it usually takes me 2). That brings me to my next point.

Overestimate needed completion time. ESPECIALLY if you are just starting out. Does sending an email take 30 seconds? schedule 5-10 minutes. Now you dont feel like you are rushing, you can feel comfortable, and most importantly, you dont start to hate this calendar. the calendar is nice to you, its understanding, its loving, but at the same time, it expects certain a certain level of productivity.

Caveat: you may feel "i have no idea how #5 of my to-do list will take" - THATS OK. Thats the type of experience that comes with time. One of my tricks is to think of every task as a science experiment, that the "data" i'm trying to collect is

How good quality can i make this?

How long will it take (dont rush, you need the objective data)

There are other things that go into it, but that epiphany of putting on proverbial horse blinders and only focusing on ONE thing, while completely IGNORING the rest, was what really started the "holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, my stuff is getting done"

So stop living vicariously through the successes of everyone else, and start the path that allows YOU to become the person OTHER people live through. Stop consuming; Start Producing.

PS. I still procrastinate every once in a while, i dont think that will ever go away, but at least i've learned to catch myself. I know that i will get the important things done way ahead of when they should. That kind of confidence can not be harvested from anywhere, it must be grown within.

TL;DR

Stop using "tl;dr" as an excuse. Read it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/productivity/c ... stination/

[galii]

You have to do your duty!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/REjd1QQpsDI
Dog says: You are not that guy

[galii]

You have to do your duty!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/REjd1QQpsDI
Dog says: You are not that guy

Edit 1

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RjdA3PXXtRU
Sometimes your duty is:
"let me put my head between another dudes legs while he slaps me"