Motivation vs Procrastination
Deadlines really help human beings get things done. The only way that I've written books is because I set myself a challenging, but not impossible, schedule with the publisher. This contract of external accountability keeps the fire going through the long slog, and it forces me to make clear-cut decisions about what to include, what to leave out,
... See moreJames Stanier • Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It
Reframe non-productive time. One of the reasons the exploration phase of the work is low value is that most of it doesn’t look like work. It’s lots of reading, and sitting and thinking, and doodling, and trying things that lead to dead ends. Non-productive time feels like a waste—but it doesn’t have to! One way to think about this kind of time is
... See moreDan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
Non-productive is often framed wrongly so
Regaining focus
The main thing I realized recently is how lost my mind has become. I stopped meditating, I stopped reading books, and I'm consuming an unhealthy amount of news. The worst part of all this is that I’m painfully aware of all this happening. I’m mindful enough to notice the inner workings of my mind going to shit but not mindful enough... See more
The main thing I realized recently is how lost my mind has become. I stopped meditating, I stopped reading books, and I'm consuming an unhealthy amount of news. The worst part of all this is that I’m painfully aware of all this happening. I’m mindful enough to notice the inner workings of my mind going to shit but not mindful enough... See more
Regaining focus – Manu
This resonates strongly these days.
“Many people (by which I meant me) seem to feel as if they start off each morning in a kind of "productivity debt", which they must struggle to pay off through the day, in hopes of reaching a zero balance by the time evening comes. Few things feel more basic to my experience of adulthood than this vague sense that I'm falling behind, and need to
... See moreThis gives us a roadmap to doing more creative work. What we need to do is, in the exploration phase, raise the perceived value of doing the work, raise the perceived costs of not doing the work, and lower the perceived value of doing other things.
Dan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
Make it attractive to do more creative work
. Von außen mag es aussehen, als würde man sich mit Netflix ablenken, dabei läuft innerlich ein ganz anderer Film. Denn Prokrastination ist keineswegs einfach nur Faulheit oder mangelnde Selbstdisziplin oder schlechtes Umgehen mit der Zeit, auch wenn ich mir das sogar selbst vorwerfe: Die Wissenschaft widerspricht eindeutig.
"Es gibt keine
... See moreRonja von Rönne • Prokrastination: Dieser Text Hätte Vor Knapp Zwei Jahren Erscheinen Sollen | ZEIT ONLINE
The fourth one is that procrastinators tell themselves that succeeding at a task requires that they feel like doing it; and, fifth, is entertaining the false idea that working when not in the mood is somehow suboptimal—that it’s best to wait till the lightning of inspiration strikes before motivating ourselves to stop procrastinating.
Sharon Salzberg • Real Happiness at Work
The limitations we’re trying to avoid when we engage in this self-defeating sort of procrastination frequently don’t have anything to do with how much we’ll be able to get done in the time available; usually, it’s a matter of worrying that we won’t have the talent to produce work of sufficient quality, or that others won’t respond to it as we’d
... See moreOliver Burkeman • Four Thousand Weeks
This tempo and cadence is crucial for effective leadership. Even though you may not think that people want it, and even if people themselves think they don't want it, knowing that things need to be done by deadlines that are just on the cusp of the comfort zone forces real, tangible progress. If you think that a prototype might take a month, why
... See moreJames Stanier • Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It
People generally underestimate what can be done in a well