10 ms·

How Seinfeld's Productivity Secret Fixed My Procrastination Problem

151 points by scriptstar 13y ago

ww520 13y ago
The Seinfeld productivity calendar works, at least it has helped me. So much so that I've created an Android app based on the idea. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mhillsystem.dailybadge https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mhillsyste...
JackMorgan 13y ago
I know it may elicit eye rolls, but I love using Github's built in "streak" feature for this exact thing. Best of all, it is public and motivating. I agree that it is hard to do something highly valuable on a green field project everyday, so I often work through exercises from textbooks (right now I am in the middle of SICP) to fill in days when I would otherwise just be directionless. I used to feel guilty for not "doing enough" to advance my career, and would "binge code" whenever the guilt built up too much, but now I feel so much more confident and relaxed, knowing I'm putting in a sustainable amount of high quality reading and practicing every day.
- scriptstar 13y ago
  But how can we use that streak feature to do some non-programming things like exercising, flossing the tooth etc? I think it fits for our side projects a lot but nothing more than that. There is an app in App store called 'Commit' (Nathan Barry's) which does that.
  - JackMorgan 13y ago
    Sure, I never meant to say it works for other things outside programming. I was just pointing out a tool I have used that I felt might help out someone who was just interested in programming (this being a largely tech-centered site) and not exercising or cleaning. I also use it for writing, since my blog is backed up on github. If it doesn't meet your needs, no problem, Commit sounds great too.
  - unepipe 13y ago
    I use an app called Lift (https://lift.do/ https://lift.do/). It allows you check in to habits you want to form, it notifies you if you're on a streak, and you can look at historical graphs for your weekly and monthly rates. Makes it really easy for me to see if I'm falling off (or doing well) in exercise, my side projects, etc. (I'm not affiliated with Lift)
  - j21 13y ago
    I built a web app to do something like this for myself. Now slowly rolling it out to users other than myself. https://jots.me https://jots.me It's not as visual as the Seinfeld calendar but it works great for what I use it for. I use it to record what I've done for work, my side projects, exercise logs, etc. I even use it to roughly track expenses. It keeps me motivated to keep adding entries for my projects, so I guess that helps with procrastination. At the least it gets me to do something daily so it can be recorded.
  - wastedbrains 13y ago
    based on the old "calendar about nothing" site that eventually became Github's streak feature. I built http://nothingcalendar.com/ http://nothingcalendar.com/ to track working on one of my goals every day. Haven't worked on it for years, but still works well for tracking simple streaks.
- ionforce 13y ago
  It's not stupid at all. I've been using three language learning apps and they all have streak features. That feature is helping me maintain a level of commitment far greater than I ever would have done if I said "well I'll just study big next time".
danso 13y ago
One of the quick hacks I like to do is create a Google Spreadsheet with my goals/things-to-do across the top as column headers. As rows, I use dates, which can easily be generated by starting the first row with today's date and dragging down. Then, I use GDoc's Conditional Formatting to color in cells...if there's anything in them, perhaps a "y", the cell turns green. Makes it very easy to see how consistent I've been... If you're not worried about making this task into a whole chore in itself, you can always add more data in each cell and then analyze it later because, hey, it's a spreadsheet. But at the very least, you get get an easy visualization in an app you probably already use frequently and can update from just about anywhere.
jonmb 13y ago
I think having a large physical calendar works better for some people, but there are many excellent apps for using this technique too. Web: http://www.joesgoals.com http://www.joesgoals.com - http://www.42goals.com/ http://www.42goals.com/ - https://chains.cc/ https://chains.cc/ Phone Apps: Streaks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/streaks-motivational-calendar/id345184462?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/streaks-motivational-calenda... (Free) Goal Master: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goal-master/id347105327?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goal-master/id347105327?mt=8 http://wayoflifeapp.com/ http://wayoflifeapp.com/
- nevster 13y ago
  I use this one: http://dontbreakthechain.com http://dontbreakthechain.com
- baby 13y ago
  way too many choices. I don't know which one to start on...
  - icebraining 13y ago
    http://www.random.org/dice/ http://www.random.org/dice/
vl 13y ago
There is a webtool for that: http://www.joesgoals.com/ http://www.joesgoals.com/ I used it for awhile, then gravitated towards GTD lists, which, are, of course, not that good for periodic tasks. Maybe it's time to try Joe's Goals again.
crazygringo 13y ago
I'm glad that works for some people. It would never work for me, though. I can't imagine how spending 15 min/day on a screenplay would be productive at all -- when I sit down to program, or write, it takes me that long just to "restore state" and remember what I was in the middle of previously. I only really find myself becoming productive at things after the first hour -- plenty of people call this being in the "zone", etc. This might be a good thing to do with fairly menial/brainless tasks, but is it really useful for more than that? But even with cleaning the house... it seems so much more efficient to spend an hour every week, when you've got spare time, than vacuum a room and a half one day, dust half the house the next...
- enraged_camel 13y ago
  I find that the more often my mind is in a certain context, the shorter it takes to switch to that state. For example, when I work on a programming project every single day, then every time I sit down to work on it, it takes a mere 5 minutes to remember where I was previously. But if I come back to it after, say, a week, it can take up to 20 minutes. This isn't based on any kind of science whatsoever though. Just an observation I made about myself.
- DigitalJack 13y ago
  You've heard the phrase "perfect is the enemy of good enough?" I think it applies here. There may be better ways of doing things, but I'd rather get something done than do nothing, lamenting the fact that the method at hand isn't the most perfectly efficient way possible.
- OvidNaso 13y ago
  Your no different than the people this normally works well for. Being in the "zone" for most people is a very pleasurable activity. If one could sit down or start running and immediately be there, procrastination would be a much smaller problem. It is precisely this unproductive, introductory stage that this method is compelling you to complete in order to get past. By forcing 15 or however many minutes a day you are hoping that more times than not this period will transition into one of productivity in which you don't need to time or force yourself to do more. Some days this won't happen and you can quit after 15 minutes. But for some it equate to more long term productivity sessions per week than strictly scheduling each long term session.
MikusR 13y ago
At least for me the "streak" or chain methods don't work. Because if for any reason i happen to break the chain the probability of me returning to the task decreases the longer was the chain. For example i was doing Codecademy, broke a month long chain - did not return for a year (lost all motivation).
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  The trick is to learn that when you fall off the wagon, it's ok if you get back on the wagon. What matters is most-of-the-time compliance, not 100.00% compliance
- MarkTee 13y ago
  I had the exact same experience with Codecademy. I've found that any type of motivation/gamification methods that are tied to time don't work for me at all.
iambateman 13y ago
Ya'll, what amount of time do you find is enough for your streak? I am on day 11 of 1 hour/day working on a startup concept.
coopdog 13y ago
And if you miss a day don't forget to say "serenity now!"
usernew1817 13y ago
I wanna know how the author managed to write 30 pages of text in 1hr45mins (15 minutes each day for a week), the most I can manage in that time frame is most 7, 30 is incredible.
- thatthatis 13y ago
  His goals were minimums. Probably there were a few times when he was on a roll and kept going.
smita622 13y ago
We built a chrome plugin to make it easy for you to actually get a task on your calendar from anywhere without stopping your train of thought: http://get.spoton.it http://get.spoton.it Using all day events for things you want to check off also totally works.
vonskippy 13y ago
Must be a Gen Y thing (or whatever you call 20 somethings these days). I'm afraid to me, it seems exceedingly childish to need something like a chain of Red X's in order to get something as simple as "workout" or "clean" or "do job" or "work" done on a consistent basis. It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. Now get off my lawn.
- g0lden 13y ago
  some of these "Red X's" help people develop their self discipline
- Permit 13y ago
  >It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. Do you think self discipline is inherent or learned? If it's inherent, then you can't fault an individual without it. If it's learned, how does one acquire it? It seems like programs like this are the "Gen Y" approach to learning self discipline. Perhaps the baby-boomers learned it from their families, whereas Gen Y did not. Which (if anything) speaks volumes about the parenting quality of your generation ;)
- pivnicek 13y ago
  Self discipline has no relation to generation. It's a human condition problem. This method seems to have some merit and may be a tool that can help people suffering from depression climb themselves out. I look forward to trying it.
- auctiontheory 13y ago
  It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. I looked at your last half dozen comments. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: How many days can you go without making a snarky or negative comment on HN?
- icebraining 13y ago
  Benjamin Franklin used a similar method: In his twenties he set out to improve himself very systematically. He first ascertained the qualities that he found most important to cultivate, including Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity and Humility. He then devised a simple daily record and chose one of these virtues each week to focus upon. His record contained a matrix with a list of the virtues he wished to perfect in his life down the left side and across the top a list of the days of the week. He would then mark a dot or check in each box when he failed to meet his own expectation for the virtue he was seeking to practice that day. His goal was to have a week free of all marks showing success.
_sabe_ 13y ago
I used to think I had a procrastination problem, but my problem has never been getting started. For example, if I come up with a new personal programming project I dig right into it, and I also keep it up for a long time. But I still can't manage to follow trough. It's like I settle for such great perfectionism that everything ends up taking an unreasonable amount of time, and in the end I give up because it's not practical anymore. Nobody else who can relate to that?
- visakanv 13y ago
  This is me x1000. Everything I write has to be shipped almost immediately, because the next day it looks like shit to me. Random question- did you do really well in school when you were young? If yes, did you then get progressively worse as it required more prep?
  - _sabe_ 13y ago
    When it comes to work or school I've always managed to do what's expected even if it's sometimes a struggle. But as soon as I'm left with only my own expectations to fulfill, that's when I hit the wall. I was okay in school, nothing out of the ordinary. Always did my best, but never a talent. But what I noticed is that the more I learn in a subject, the more of a perfectionist I become and the longer It takes to accomplish a task (which sounds like a paradox).
  - candydance 13y ago
    That's my life. Did great in school, grades started dropping near the end of highschool. Instead of learning self discipline my parents got a tutor to help me focus. Graduated school top of my class, got a full scholarship for a good college so I moved away from home. Dropped out after a year because I couldn't handle having no structure. God it's depressing just typing that out.
    - _sabe_ 13y ago
      I actually did drop out of University for the same reason too.
prezjordan 13y ago
I became obsessed with "the chain" and it made me absolutely miserable [0]. I imagine it works for some people, though, and I'm glad I tried it out. [0]: https://medium.com/lessons-learned/ab219377be93 https://medium.com/lessons-learned/ab219377be93
B-Con 13y ago
I tried doing this for a while (after this or something similar surfaced on HN a year or so ago) and used Chains[1], but I didn't feel that it helped much. Honestly, a simple daily todo list as one of my "app" tabs is the best thing I've found. It puts a simple reminder of whether I've done something or not close to my face a couple times a day. For me, simply forgetting after I put it off the first couple times is half the problem. [1] http://chains.cc http://chains.cc
Cor 13y ago
I really like the Seinfeld method. It works surprisingly well for me. I first came across it when I started using 750words.com, a journaling website. The website prominently displays your streak at the top of every page, and there are achievements and rewards for building up longer and longer streaks. At the moment my streak is at 572 days, which is testament to the effectiveness of the method. Unfortunately, the Seinfeld method, in my experience, isn’t perfect. For me, it’s only really good for small activities that can be done daily for small amounts of time. I’ve tried using it for work projects on several occasions (for example, doing 2 hours of extra work a day) and I’ve failed every time. I recently came across a fix, though - http://beeminder.com http://beeminder.com Beeminder is essentially a more configurable version of the Seinfeld method. I first tested it on a goal that I’ve tried (and failed) to do several times before - ‘read and make notes on business books for one hour a day, six days a week’. Not that hard, but for some reason, I’ve always fallen off the wagon with this particular goal. With Beeminder, I found it effortless. There’s something strangely satisfying about adding data onto the website. I ended up completing 30 days without much difficulty. Since then, I’ve added a ton of extra goals with Beeminder, and I’ve been accomplishing them surprisingly easily. I’ve been gradually ratcheting up the difficulty on each goal (for example: I recently started with the goal of ‘spend 3 hours working on own projects every week’, and I slowly increased the goal requirements at a rate of 3 hours extra per week; currently, I’m doing an extra 24 hours a week without much difficulty on my part), which I find works really well. I’ve also started using Beeminder for other goals like ‘meditate for 5 minutes every morning’, ‘go to the gym 3 times a week’, ‘cook at least 5 new recipes every week’, 'spend 30 minutes cleaning the apartment 3 times a week', and it’s worked incredibly well for each of them. Beeminder has inspired a massive change in me in a surprisingly short amount of time. I’ve always thought I had a procrastination problem, or that I’m simply lazy, but Beeminder is showing me that this isn’t the case. I recommend giving it a go.
- GhotiFish 13y ago
  WOH-HO Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. That is just a flat out recipe for massive credit card charges and a boat load of pain. They have a monetary incentive to interpret your data as failing to meet your goals. That is a huuuuuuuge amount of trust to bestow on a random company.
ruricolist 13y ago
Unfortunately this doesn't work for programming, because in programming we never really know in advance how long anything is going to take, not even within an order of magnitude: a five-day problem looks just like a five-minute problem until it's over. It's the worst thing about programming, the lack of granularity, and why we're always staying up much too late.
- rwallace 13y ago
  Not really seeing why this can't work even so. Spent an hour ruling out one possible cause of that intractable bug you've been trying to figure out, then felt too tired to try anything else? Very well, mark an X for some progress today.
scrrr 13y ago
Procrastination is just being lazy. Laziness is a habit. That person overcame the habit using this method. Good for him, but this is a somewhat complicated way of doing it.
- rwallace 13y ago
  Well, the world is full of people doing things in complicated ways because they find they work better than any simple way they know of.
cl3m 13y ago
I've made an iphone app for it like four years ago. It seems to work really well for some people according to the feedback I've got. I guess it depends if your goal is well defined and can be done easily everyday. Having such system helps to keep the inertia. You can get the app for free at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-break-the-chain!/id313567772?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-break-the-chain!/id3135...
armini 13y ago
I had the same issue with procrastination and ended up using www.aznoe.com I would personally suggest it for anyone with that problem. That list is available on the web, ios and android so you can alway add to it no matter where you are.
marincounty 13y ago
I had a girlfriend who loved Seinfield--memorized the episodes, etc. At first I thought it was because it was a fairly amusing T.V. show, and she grew up in upstate New York. After a lot of thought I realized the reason she loved the show is because it affirmed her selfish behavior. If you don't know what I mean; you might want to reexamine how you interact with the world? Ya, I', talking about you Wendy.
JoeAltmaier 13y ago
This is a single-person idea. My house is chaotic. Any attempt to do orderly things is quickly derailed. I've learned to embrace the disorder.

151 points by scriptstar 13y ago

ww520 13y ago

The Seinfeld productivity calendar works, at least it has helped me. So much so that I've created an Android app based on the idea. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mhillsystem.dailybadge https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mhillsyste...

JackMorgan 13y ago

I know it may elicit eye rolls, but I love using Github's built in "streak" feature for this exact thing. Best of all, it is public and motivating. I agree that it is hard to do something highly valuable on a green field project everyday, so I often work through exercises from textbooks (right now I am in the middle of SICP) to fill in days when I would otherwise just be directionless. I used to feel guilty for not "doing enough" to advance my career, and would "binge code" whenever the guilt built up too much, but now I feel so much more confident and relaxed, knowing I'm putting in a sustainable amount of high quality reading and practicing every day.

scriptstar 13y ago
But how can we use that streak feature to do some non-programming things like exercising, flossing the tooth etc? I think it fits for our side projects a lot but nothing more than that. There is an app in App store called 'Commit' (Nathan Barry's) which does that.
- JackMorgan 13y ago
  Sure, I never meant to say it works for other things outside programming. I was just pointing out a tool I have used that I felt might help out someone who was just interested in programming (this being a largely tech-centered site) and not exercising or cleaning. I also use it for writing, since my blog is backed up on github. If it doesn't meet your needs, no problem, Commit sounds great too.
- unepipe 13y ago
  I use an app called Lift (https://lift.do/ https://lift.do/). It allows you check in to habits you want to form, it notifies you if you're on a streak, and you can look at historical graphs for your weekly and monthly rates. Makes it really easy for me to see if I'm falling off (or doing well) in exercise, my side projects, etc. (I'm not affiliated with Lift)
- j21 13y ago
  I built a web app to do something like this for myself. Now slowly rolling it out to users other than myself. https://jots.me https://jots.me It's not as visual as the Seinfeld calendar but it works great for what I use it for. I use it to record what I've done for work, my side projects, exercise logs, etc. I even use it to roughly track expenses. It keeps me motivated to keep adding entries for my projects, so I guess that helps with procrastination. At the least it gets me to do something daily so it can be recorded.
- wastedbrains 13y ago
  based on the old "calendar about nothing" site that eventually became Github's streak feature. I built http://nothingcalendar.com/ http://nothingcalendar.com/ to track working on one of my goals every day. Haven't worked on it for years, but still works well for tracking simple streaks.
ionforce 13y ago
It's not stupid at all. I've been using three language learning apps and they all have streak features. That feature is helping me maintain a level of commitment far greater than I ever would have done if I said "well I'll just study big next time".

danso 13y ago

One of the quick hacks I like to do is create a Google Spreadsheet with my goals/things-to-do across the top as column headers. As rows, I use dates, which can easily be generated by starting the first row with today's date and dragging down. Then, I use GDoc's Conditional Formatting to color in cells...if there's anything in them, perhaps a "y", the cell turns green. Makes it very easy to see how consistent I've been... If you're not worried about making this task into a whole chore in itself, you can always add more data in each cell and then analyze it later because, hey, it's a spreadsheet. But at the very least, you get get an easy visualization in an app you probably already use frequently and can update from just about anywhere.

jonmb 13y ago

I think having a large physical calendar works better for some people, but there are many excellent apps for using this technique too. Web: http://www.joesgoals.com http://www.joesgoals.com - http://www.42goals.com/ http://www.42goals.com/ - https://chains.cc/ https://chains.cc/ Phone Apps: Streaks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/streaks-motivational-calendar/id345184462?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/streaks-motivational-calenda... (Free) Goal Master: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goal-master/id347105327?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goal-master/id347105327?mt=8 http://wayoflifeapp.com/ http://wayoflifeapp.com/

nevster 13y ago
I use this one: http://dontbreakthechain.com http://dontbreakthechain.com
baby 13y ago
way too many choices. I don't know which one to start on...
- icebraining 13y ago
  http://www.random.org/dice/ http://www.random.org/dice/

vl 13y ago

There is a webtool for that: http://www.joesgoals.com/ http://www.joesgoals.com/ I used it for awhile, then gravitated towards GTD lists, which, are, of course, not that good for periodic tasks. Maybe it's time to try Joe's Goals again.

crazygringo 13y ago

I'm glad that works for some people. It would never work for me, though. I can't imagine how spending 15 min/day on a screenplay would be productive at all -- when I sit down to program, or write, it takes me that long just to "restore state" and remember what I was in the middle of previously. I only really find myself becoming productive at things after the first hour -- plenty of people call this being in the "zone", etc. This might be a good thing to do with fairly menial/brainless tasks, but is it really useful for more than that? But even with cleaning the house... it seems so much more efficient to spend an hour every week, when you've got spare time, than vacuum a room and a half one day, dust half the house the next...

enraged_camel 13y ago
I find that the more often my mind is in a certain context, the shorter it takes to switch to that state. For example, when I work on a programming project every single day, then every time I sit down to work on it, it takes a mere 5 minutes to remember where I was previously. But if I come back to it after, say, a week, it can take up to 20 minutes. This isn't based on any kind of science whatsoever though. Just an observation I made about myself.
DigitalJack 13y ago
You've heard the phrase "perfect is the enemy of good enough?" I think it applies here. There may be better ways of doing things, but I'd rather get something done than do nothing, lamenting the fact that the method at hand isn't the most perfectly efficient way possible.
OvidNaso 13y ago
Your no different than the people this normally works well for. Being in the "zone" for most people is a very pleasurable activity. If one could sit down or start running and immediately be there, procrastination would be a much smaller problem. It is precisely this unproductive, introductory stage that this method is compelling you to complete in order to get past. By forcing 15 or however many minutes a day you are hoping that more times than not this period will transition into one of productivity in which you don't need to time or force yourself to do more. Some days this won't happen and you can quit after 15 minutes. But for some it equate to more long term productivity sessions per week than strictly scheduling each long term session.

MikusR 13y ago

At least for me the "streak" or chain methods don't work. Because if for any reason i happen to break the chain the probability of me returning to the task decreases the longer was the chain. For example i was doing Codecademy, broke a month long chain - did not return for a year (lost all motivation).

jacques_chester 13y ago
The trick is to learn that when you fall off the wagon, it's ok if you get back on the wagon. What matters is most-of-the-time compliance, not 100.00% compliance
MarkTee 13y ago
I had the exact same experience with Codecademy. I've found that any type of motivation/gamification methods that are tied to time don't work for me at all.

iambateman 13y ago

Ya'll, what amount of time do you find is enough for your streak? I am on day 11 of 1 hour/day working on a startup concept.

coopdog 13y ago

And if you miss a day don't forget to say "serenity now!"

usernew1817 13y ago

I wanna know how the author managed to write 30 pages of text in 1hr45mins (15 minutes each day for a week), the most I can manage in that time frame is most 7, 30 is incredible.

thatthatis 13y ago
His goals were minimums. Probably there were a few times when he was on a roll and kept going.

smita622 13y ago

We built a chrome plugin to make it easy for you to actually get a task on your calendar from anywhere without stopping your train of thought: http://get.spoton.it http://get.spoton.it Using all day events for things you want to check off also totally works.

vonskippy 13y ago

Must be a Gen Y thing (or whatever you call 20 somethings these days). I'm afraid to me, it seems exceedingly childish to need something like a chain of Red X's in order to get something as simple as "workout" or "clean" or "do job" or "work" done on a consistent basis. It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. Now get off my lawn.

g0lden 13y ago
some of these "Red X's" help people develop their self discipline
Permit 13y ago
>It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. Do you think self discipline is inherent or learned? If it's inherent, then you can't fault an individual without it. If it's learned, how does one acquire it? It seems like programs like this are the "Gen Y" approach to learning self discipline. Perhaps the baby-boomers learned it from their families, whereas Gen Y did not. Which (if anything) speaks volumes about the parenting quality of your generation ;)
pivnicek 13y ago
Self discipline has no relation to generation. It's a human condition problem. This method seems to have some merit and may be a tool that can help people suffering from depression climb themselves out. I look forward to trying it.
auctiontheory 13y ago
It's called SELF DISCIPLINE and it's really not rocket science. I looked at your last half dozen comments. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: How many days can you go without making a snarky or negative comment on HN?
icebraining 13y ago
Benjamin Franklin used a similar method: In his twenties he set out to improve himself very systematically. He first ascertained the qualities that he found most important to cultivate, including Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity and Humility. He then devised a simple daily record and chose one of these virtues each week to focus upon. His record contained a matrix with a list of the virtues he wished to perfect in his life down the left side and across the top a list of the days of the week. He would then mark a dot or check in each box when he failed to meet his own expectation for the virtue he was seeking to practice that day. His goal was to have a week free of all marks showing success.

_sabe_ 13y ago

I used to think I had a procrastination problem, but my problem has never been getting started. For example, if I come up with a new personal programming project I dig right into it, and I also keep it up for a long time. But I still can't manage to follow trough. It's like I settle for such great perfectionism that everything ends up taking an unreasonable amount of time, and in the end I give up because it's not practical anymore. Nobody else who can relate to that?

visakanv 13y ago
This is me x1000. Everything I write has to be shipped almost immediately, because the next day it looks like shit to me. Random question- did you do really well in school when you were young? If yes, did you then get progressively worse as it required more prep?
- _sabe_ 13y ago
  When it comes to work or school I've always managed to do what's expected even if it's sometimes a struggle. But as soon as I'm left with only my own expectations to fulfill, that's when I hit the wall. I was okay in school, nothing out of the ordinary. Always did my best, but never a talent. But what I noticed is that the more I learn in a subject, the more of a perfectionist I become and the longer It takes to accomplish a task (which sounds like a paradox).
- candydance 13y ago
  That's my life. Did great in school, grades started dropping near the end of highschool. Instead of learning self discipline my parents got a tutor to help me focus. Graduated school top of my class, got a full scholarship for a good college so I moved away from home. Dropped out after a year because I couldn't handle having no structure. God it's depressing just typing that out.
  - _sabe_ 13y ago
    I actually did drop out of University for the same reason too.

prezjordan 13y ago

I became obsessed with "the chain" and it made me absolutely miserable [0]. I imagine it works for some people, though, and I'm glad I tried it out. [0]: https://medium.com/lessons-learned/ab219377be93 https://medium.com/lessons-learned/ab219377be93

B-Con 13y ago

I tried doing this for a while (after this or something similar surfaced on HN a year or so ago) and used Chains[1], but I didn't feel that it helped much. Honestly, a simple daily todo list as one of my "app" tabs is the best thing I've found. It puts a simple reminder of whether I've done something or not close to my face a couple times a day. For me, simply forgetting after I put it off the first couple times is half the problem. [1] http://chains.cc http://chains.cc

Cor 13y ago

I really like the Seinfeld method. It works surprisingly well for me. I first came across it when I started using 750words.com, a journaling website. The website prominently displays your streak at the top of every page, and there are achievements and rewards for building up longer and longer streaks. At the moment my streak is at 572 days, which is testament to the effectiveness of the method. Unfortunately, the Seinfeld method, in my experience, isn’t perfect. For me, it’s only really good for small activities that can be done daily for small amounts of time. I’ve tried using it for work projects on several occasions (for example, doing 2 hours of extra work a day) and I’ve failed every time. I recently came across a fix, though - http://beeminder.com http://beeminder.com Beeminder is essentially a more configurable version of the Seinfeld method. I first tested it on a goal that I’ve tried (and failed) to do several times before - ‘read and make notes on business books for one hour a day, six days a week’. Not that hard, but for some reason, I’ve always fallen off the wagon with this particular goal. With Beeminder, I found it effortless. There’s something strangely satisfying about adding data onto the website. I ended up completing 30 days without much difficulty. Since then, I’ve added a ton of extra goals with Beeminder, and I’ve been accomplishing them surprisingly easily. I’ve been gradually ratcheting up the difficulty on each goal (for example: I recently started with the goal of ‘spend 3 hours working on own projects every week’, and I slowly increased the goal requirements at a rate of 3 hours extra per week; currently, I’m doing an extra 24 hours a week without much difficulty on my part), which I find works really well. I’ve also started using Beeminder for other goals like ‘meditate for 5 minutes every morning’, ‘go to the gym 3 times a week’, ‘cook at least 5 new recipes every week’, 'spend 30 minutes cleaning the apartment 3 times a week', and it’s worked incredibly well for each of them. Beeminder has inspired a massive change in me in a surprisingly short amount of time. I’ve always thought I had a procrastination problem, or that I’m simply lazy, but Beeminder is showing me that this isn’t the case. I recommend giving it a go.

GhotiFish 13y ago
WOH-HO Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. That is just a flat out recipe for massive credit card charges and a boat load of pain. They have a monetary incentive to interpret your data as failing to meet your goals. That is a huuuuuuuge amount of trust to bestow on a random company.

ruricolist 13y ago

Unfortunately this doesn't work for programming, because in programming we never really know in advance how long anything is going to take, not even within an order of magnitude: a five-day problem looks just like a five-minute problem until it's over. It's the worst thing about programming, the lack of granularity, and why we're always staying up much too late.

rwallace 13y ago
Not really seeing why this can't work even so. Spent an hour ruling out one possible cause of that intractable bug you've been trying to figure out, then felt too tired to try anything else? Very well, mark an X for some progress today.

scrrr 13y ago

Procrastination is just being lazy. Laziness is a habit. That person overcame the habit using this method. Good for him, but this is a somewhat complicated way of doing it.

rwallace 13y ago
Well, the world is full of people doing things in complicated ways because they find they work better than any simple way they know of.

cl3m 13y ago

I've made an iphone app for it like four years ago. It seems to work really well for some people according to the feedback I've got. I guess it depends if your goal is well defined and can be done easily everyday. Having such system helps to keep the inertia. You can get the app for free at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-break-the-chain!/id313567772?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-break-the-chain!/id3135...

armini 13y ago

I had the same issue with procrastination and ended up using www.aznoe.com I would personally suggest it for anyone with that problem. That list is available on the web, ios and android so you can alway add to it no matter where you are.

marincounty 13y ago

I had a girlfriend who loved Seinfield--memorized the episodes, etc. At first I thought it was because it was a fairly amusing T.V. show, and she grew up in upstate New York. After a lot of thought I realized the reason she loved the show is because it affirmed her selfish behavior. If you don't know what I mean; you might want to reexamine how you interact with the world? Ya, I', talking about you Wendy.

JoeAltmaier 13y ago

This is a single-person idea. My house is chaotic. Any attempt to do orderly things is quickly derailed. I've learned to embrace the disorder.