Motivation vs Procrastination
This 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
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
“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 moreReframe 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
Putting challenging timeboxes on projects in a healthy environment can lead to serious innovation and creativity. Doing the same with impossible timeboxes in a toxic environment will lead to all of the bad things that you expect.
James Stanier • Parkinson's Law: It's Real, So Use It
Adding time pressure in a healthy helps getting shit down.
The most effective way to overcome both procrastination and reluctance and resistance to practicing is to just do it. Nothing works as quickly or effectively as diligence. The simple act of consistently sitting down and placing your attention on the meditation object, day after day, is the essential first step from which everything else in the Ten
... See moreCuladasa John Yates • The Mind Illuminated - A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science
This task is near the top of my list; it bothers me, and motivates me to do other useful but superficially less important things.
John Perry • Structured Procrastination
Without a proper game plan, procrastination kicks in, and we often choose the most leisurely and most dopamine-satisfying activities over work.
Rahul Chowdhury • The Red Carpet Technique of Getting Things Done
Instead of allowing myself a slow morning after a restless night, I go for a run.
Instead of relaxing on the couch, I'm teaching myself how to code.
Instead of avoiding a difficult conversation, I embrace it.
These things share one important truth: I know that I will feel better once they've happened. These actions are scalable because they optimize
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