Here’s the thing. If there’s a 1% chance that the task will no longer be necessary by the time it’s due, I can’t afford to risk wasting the time to complete the task. Much better idea to spend that time in stress-paralysis until there is a 100% certainty of the task being necessary.
The stress will fuel productivity
I’ve settled for a 0.5% chance even
Wait, are the rest of you feeling accomplished after finishing tasks?
Exactly: do the task, feel either nothing or like a fraud depending on if it meets your self-imposed ludicrous standard.
Or find all the flaws after the fact, and feel bad for not doing a perfect job.
You’ll never get it perfect, so I found it useful to reframe it as aiming to get as close as possible to perfect then giving yourself a fair critique so you kniw how to get closer next time. It’s sort of Zeno’s perfection paradox. You get closer each time, but never actually get there.
Yeah. That’s the source of suffering. At some point your bar for good enough is so high nothing brings you joy and all your past “accomplishments” bring you pain.
I can’t say that I feel my past accomplishments bring me pain, each was as well done as I knew how, and brought me new knowledge, which is quite rewarding. The bar doesn’t raise beyond reach either, as you already know how to go as far as you have, and you’ve hopefully learnt a little more. You’re not always going to achieve your best results, but that’s where critiquing your performance comes in. You can inevitably learn something from it.
Do the task not because having it complete brings you joy, but because having it left undone brings you suffering.
Fuuck
I don’t think that’s really a thing. It’s just a ruse to try to convince you to do more stuff.
It’s like that “you feel great after running for an hour”. Well I ran every other day for six months, I never felt anything other than sore and sweaty. It’s all lies.
See, for me, exercise is one of the few reliable ways to actually get those feel-good brain juices.
So you’re part of the conspiracy.
I love to go for insanely long walks - when I’m walking. When I’m not walking I refuse to leave the house. I am deeply suspicious of who this xmunk clone that takes over whenever I’m walking is.
Oh, no, running sucks. I lift weights, commute by bicycle, and dance until I drop.
I use a bicycle too. I have done so for the last thirty years. Because it’s a convenient way to get around.
I wouldn’t even dream of lifting weights though. Even if I was paid for it. That’s the weirdest idea ever. Maybe if I was starving.
Did you properly stretch, warm up, cool down, and stretch again? If you’re still sore after 6 months, either your form is off or you have a medical issue. Can’t help you on the sweaty thing. That’s why I prefer to swim/surf
I was more tired than sore, to be honest. The main point is that I never got to a point where I felt good about running. It was always a chore. After a while I gave up on it because I just hated it.
Nowadays I just walk because at least I can take in the scenery, stop to look at stuff, look at birds, take pictures and whatever.
Those times when I’ve achieved runners high it was when I pushed myself to carry a heavier load, and walk faster. Never during endurance training.
I would feel my legs burn and there’s a temptation to slow down, but that was the signal to forge on commit to walking faster.
At the time I had a very specific motivation for walking, and I wish I hadn’t stopped walking when that motivation was gone. It’s hard to start up again.
nah just exhaustion. but I get that from not doing the task too
I typically complete a task to then immediately jump onto the next thing.
I remember while being rewarded for a job well done, I didn’t hear a single thing because I was mentally trying to solve the next problem.
Me too! There’s always another task
Doing nothing now feels so much better than doing nothing later
There’s also so many fun things to do right now!
doesn’t do those either
sits in place feeling too guilty to actually enjoy the now
FUCK. I REALLY HAVE TO DO MY FUCKING TAXES. ARG… maybe after this round of league.
May you get horrible team mates until you quit from frustration and end up doing your taxes because you’re bored.
Not till the last minute tho, of course
My accountant had a deadline for submitting things and I was stressing as the day got near. I double checked and I remembered the day wrong and it was a little later.
What did I do?
Got it in on the last day lol
For anyone suffering from constantly falling into Option 2, my solution for the past decade has been pomodoro timers (30 mins of music).
Once I hear the music, I just focus.
Then the music stops, my brain and focus stops. I either relax, procrastinate, or restart the timer.
Is there even a choice
You are assuming that I can’t decide to do option 1, when i am just sitting there fully aware of needing to do it and just frozen emotionally by the idea of doing something that could be difficult.(even if it could be easy)
This is so me… “Start to think about it, not sure how to start, brain ‘slides off’ it, do something else”…
If I can get a hook into it, I can move onwards (even a task list is good)…
Then again, as I get older, I’m feeling even less motivated than usual and it’s harder to get on with things.
Sometimes, the more I know, the more I overthink how much I have to do for the “best” outcome. I also do take pleasure watching some YouTube videos on extreme precision crafting or metalworks.
There’s no feeling accomplished.
There is only regret that I didn’t do the other things I could have done
What about contemplating uprooting your entire life and going into the forest to live as a hermit?
Crosses my mind multiple times a day. I’d probably die, but I’d be free.
They wouldn’t even test me for ADHD (“it’s probably something else”), but so much this.
The third option is to just buy more clothes instead of washing them. Or decide you never really wanted to do that hobby anyway.
there’s only option 2
And better yet if option two doesn’t need to be done because it all get cancelled
guess I’ll be needing another coronavirus for that
I have this but only for difficult stuff I am struggling with is that normal?
I think it’s pretty normal to view some tasks as “free” mentally and be able to do them without stress. I rarely hit that trap when it comes to cooking - as an example - I think in part because I was raised in an environment where it was fun and improvisation was encouraged. I suspect what we all consider as free has really complex factors though and will vary wildly.
Ah makes sense thx
I don’t even get the ‘feel accomplished’ part of tasks when I do them on time. Makes it real hard to convince myself to do things, I tell you hwat
From what I understand, our brains lack that ability to different extents. It was explained that this “reward” pathway being broken is one of the reasons why our minds assign a lower priority to different tasks and making something routine is so difficult.
For me, I need to do the first thing in my schedule “right” or else my day is ruined and I lost the motivation to do anything properly.
If you do option 1, there will just be more when you would have done option 2.