Comments on: Why Procrastination Sucks (explained in pictures)

By: Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence, Circle of Control

Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence, Circle of Control — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:50:15 +0000

[...] of those things, unless you really enjoy doing it, you’re wasting your energy. (It’s completely fine to have some quality play-time. But if you’re spending your time upset and angry, that’s neither relaxing nor [...]

By: When Good Advice Goes Bad – How I Escaped A Self-imposed Work Trap

When Good Advice Goes Bad – How I Escaped A Self-imposed Work Trap — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:05:26 +0000

[...] I believe that procrastination is when you get stuck between fun and work. Work is great. Fun is absolutely great too, and very important for your well-being. But when you [...]

By: Interesting, Useful, or Neither? — Fun Life Development

Interesting, Useful, or Neither? — Fun Life Development — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:04:21 +0000

[...] mean interesting-only information is bad. It just means it falls firmly in the Fun zone of my Work-Fun-Procrastination model. If having fun is all you want at the time, “interesting” is very good [...]

By: Vlad Dolezal

Vlad Dolezal — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:58:20 +0000

@Piranha:

You’re welcome! Always glad to bring straying piranhas back on the right path

By: Ze Piranha

Ze Piranha — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:17:25 +0000

Wow! Your blog is very useful and truly inspiring! I WAS procrastinating, but now I’ve decided that there are so many other fun things I could be doing! Like studying for exams in two weeks’ time to make sure I get a good grade and then having a break that I really will deserve! And also, I chose my subjects – so studying should be fun, right?

Thanks, Vlad!

By: Vlad Dolezal

Vlad Dolezal — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:21:54 +0000

@Mongoose:
Okay, I gave the (10+2)*5 technique a try.

It sounds like a great idea in principle, and I can see why. It nicely leverages activation energy to make starting a task much easier. After all, if you’re only going to do 10 minutes, it’s much easier to get started than if you’re going to do a whole hour.

But it doesn’t work too well in practice. When you stop-start your tasks, it takes you several minutes to re-focus. And if you work in 10-minute bursts, you’ll end up wasting half of your time on re-focusing.

So, thanks for the tip, but I’m going to stick with my method of working for roughly one hour, and then taking a 20-minute break.

By: Vlad Dolezal

Vlad Dolezal — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:01:11 +0000

@Alok:
I guess you randomly posted the comment a few minutes before I decided to check my e-mails. Maybe I’m not the only mind-reader around here

Do I get tired from writing blog posts? Hell yeah! But it’s totally worth it. Not only does it help other people, it also helps myself! For some reason, once you try explaining something to somebody else, you understand it much better yourself. Try it.

I consider the time spent blogging very well spent indeed. There’s a ton of less useful stuff I do that I still consider productive.

By: ALok

ALok — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:49:12 +0000

@Vlad:
That was quick!!….ok great….which brings me to the more pertinent question>

Doesnt writing blogs(like for couple of hours..whew…) sap the energy outta you? I am also inclined to writing;not in blogs though….but nevertheless having the same idea in mind to convince someone on something…(usually to boss for an alternative solution in the software code i write or explaining business on why a particular functionality shd be there or not..aah..dont guess my proffession )….BUT the point i am driving home is that this activity, while it takes few minutes to couple of hours, it saps the energy out of me…..and yes i do rejuvinate myself with a coffee break or something…..but lately i realized its not the energy level that is bothering….it is the satisfaction that i get after doing this convincing writing; the satisfaction level is so high and i feel so happy that i feel i have done enough already!!
So in a way it is not the procrastination for things to be done yet ….but it is Procrastination alright!!! (me a wierdo??…maybe!)

By: Vlad Dolezal

Vlad Dolezal — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:35:09 +0000

@Alok:
Good question. On some days, just a few minutes, spent approving new comments and replying to them.

On other days, if I have a lot of great ideas running through my head, I might spend a couple of hours, and write like 3 posts all in one go. So… it depends

By: ALok

ALok — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:51:53 +0000

Ok Vlad….you may feel this might be totally unrelated…..but i had to ask you….so here it is…How much of your time in the day are you devoting to your blogs (and others)? Your reply would really help me broaden my perception of procrastination in a different light!!…