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[INTP] How to stop procrastinating?

Tiltyred

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Dec 1, 2008
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4,322
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I'm increasingly having problems with this. I get so overwhelmed by the details of the task before me. So if I set a deadline and then break the task down into its smallest steps, I can do a very little bit at a time and still know that I am progressing toward my goal in good time. For example, before I bake Christmas cookies, I have to review the recipes, make the grocery list, buy the supplies, clean the oven, clean the kitchen, (everything has to be spotless) get the equipment together (cookie scoop, measuring spoons/cups, mixing bowls, mixer, sifter, etc.). If I set the deadline right, I have plenty of time to do each little step without any pressure and without feeling that it's all too much, and eventually I get it finished.

Plan so you take the pressure off yourself and then chip away at it, in other words.
 
N

NPcomplete

Guest
I think I have it upon the answer. I went to a friends facebook page and saw that he was friends with my ex-gf. I hate that ugly bitch. Ugly as my big toe. SHE IS GOING TO GET HER MASTERS DEGREE IN @)!! 2011. Fuck that bitch. I have to get to work. I cannot delay. The dishonor she brings to me is overwhelming.

This anger! Use it!

I haven't been able to conquer procrastination yet but I find listening to battle music (such as soundtracks from epic movies or music like E.S Posthumus') very helpful. I get into a "zone" in which there are only the battle, my sword/dagger and I.

Good luck, Nameless Hero!
 

AlgorithmicThinker

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Dec 15, 2010
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Procrastination can be loosely defined as the deference of action. Importantly, it can arise where one has to perform mechanical and mind-wearying tasks that do not conduce to intellectual satiation but may instead be the product of an obligation or part of some longer-term set of goals. Or, another common reason for procrastination is that the task is highly precision-based and requires a full allocation of mental resources to perform effectively, in which case a person might put it off to continue collecting information and suchlike. From the point of view of completeness, these reasons are not exhaustive, although they give scope to this discussion. Now, let us break procrastination down still further, since a sensible prognosis follows from a good diagnoses. Let us say that prima facie there are things the body declines to do and things the mind declines to do. (Note the artificiality in this distinction, but we can work with it to get the result we want). As an example, while the mind and spirit of a person may want to go for a ten mile run, the body might object and a person will put it off. Alternatively, a person may want to sit and commit case law to memory but the mind will wander. Naturally, the body is easier to discipline and instruct than the mind since there is no supreme suprarational faculty beyond reason to dictate that reason needs to follow this rather than that. Nevertheless, if we know this is how things work, we can use the body to control the mind and the mind the body by setting small concrete goals. If, for example, one finds one's self reading the same line over and over and thinking about what one is going to do on the weekend or a recent conversation one had with someone, one can resolve to write notes initially so that the act of physical engagement helps induce the mind into a rhythm consistent with what is physically happening. On the other hand, if it is a physical activity that is being procrastinated over, one can do little things to stimulate the interest needed to kickstart their engagement--let us call these props, which can be buying a new pair of sneakers to give an incentive to run. Essentially, it is for the human, all to human person to use these things and it is only with mastery that one learns to direct themselves at any object without any props. Generally intellectual props are more cost-effective than consumer props, but consumer props preferrable to incompletion of duties or procrastination to the point of suboptimal performance levels. So these props and learn from them but note that the true hallmark of inventiveness is the ability to do more with less.
 

think2much

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Sep 30, 2009
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239
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intp
I'm increasingly having problems with this. I get so overwhelmed by the details of the task before me. So if I set a deadline and then break the task down into its smallest steps, I can do a very little bit at a time and still know that I am progressing toward my goal in good time. For example, before I bake Christmas cookies, I have to review the recipes, make the grocery list, buy the supplies, clean the oven, clean the kitchen, (everything has to be spotless) get the equipment together (cookie scoop, measuring spoons/cups, mixing bowls, mixer, sifter, etc.). If I set the deadline right, I have plenty of time to do each little step without any pressure and without feeling that it's all too much, and eventually I get it finished.

Plan so you take the pressure off yourself and then chip away at it, in other words.

I think about all the things that needs to be done and I end up buying those christmas cookies, it's always easier that way.

Even deadlines couldn't help me stop procrastinating. story of my life sigh
 

lunalum

Super Senior Member
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Dec 20, 2008
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sp/so
Procrastinate your procrastinating

This is they key right here. Procrastination is inevitable, especially for certain types... just trick yourself into procrastinating on what you were going to procrastinate with.

Easier said then done, I know...
 

JusticeJavert

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Dec 20, 2017
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This is they key right here. Procrastination is inevitable, especially for certain types... just trick yourself into procrastinating on what you were going to procrastinate with.

Easier said then done, I know...

I procrastinate on something, procrastinating on what I was procrastinating on, so instead of procrastinating procrastination being equivalent to productivity, I just stray further from my path. It has many layers. I can procrastinate procrastinating on a procrastination that is a procrastisment on another procrastination which is procrastinating the actual thing I was trying to get done, which at this point may have looped around, or I may have forgotten what I was supposed to do in the first place. I think I have to write a History paper... after I do some math for fun... after I make myself tea... after I watch a couple episodes of a show... after reading and closing all my browsing tabs... after writing this, but I'll probably get distracted again so my essay will figuratively be collecting dust.
 

Riva

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Jun 26, 2014
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They might say affirmations work. They don't in my experience. I tried a few just to test them. But I did find something that might help.

The theory behind this is simple - if you constantly affirm to yourself that 'I am constantly noticing the colour purple' you might notice the colour purple more often than you usually do.

Use that same theory to be proactive. Tell yourself something like - 'I am constantly noticing opportunities to get things done.'

^ That might work. NO it might not make you more proactive like a new age guru would like to make you believe, but by using the same theory of 'always seeing the colour purple' you might actually start noticing opportunities to get things done. Taking it or not will be your choice. Atleast notice you will.

Let me know if it works.
 

Metis

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May 2, 2008
Messages
2,534
Best way I've found to deal with procrastination: What's something that you should do right now, that you're not doing (while you're on this forum, for example)? Go do it. Right now, literally.

I keep a to-do list and a calendar, but when I put something on it, I have the problem that I feel like that thing has now been "deferred to the future" and doesn't need to be dealt with "in the moment". From that perspective, though, the thing ends up getting deferred indefinitely and never gets done. I need to take the leap from "future-oriented thinking" to "present-moment-thinking", alert myself to what I can do right now, and do the fucking thing. I'm getting decent at it, too. Practice makes you get better.
 

dragon21

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Feb 8, 2018
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Don't push a linear process, keep it interesting...I literally have keep coming up with new ways of doing stuff to stay focused. Study in locations, change the pen color, watch viseos on YouTube about the topic, find a stranger to summarize the topic to, draw a map of different concepts to see how they fit together, write a script that some how incorporates what Im studying or trying to learn
 

Frosty

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Just DO it. No excuses. The second you know you NEED to do something- the second that ‘Ill do it later’ bounces in your head- treat that as a sign that no matter how much you dont want to do something- you are GOING to do it now instead of later. A sign that you NEED to do it now.

Its so much better to just suck up the awful stuff and get it over with- no matter how difficult. Whether you procrastinate or not is up to you- you KNOW when you are doing it. You know you are doing it every single second you do it because it fills every moment with a tiny bit of anxiety. So just- DONT do it. Remind yourself if you just get it over with- itll be SO much better
 

Metis

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Just DO it. No excuses. The second you know you NEED to do something- the second that ‘Ill do it later’ bounces in your head- treat that as a sign that no matter how much you dont want to do something- you are GOING to do it now instead of later. A sign that you NEED to do it now.

Its so much better to just suck up the awful stuff and get it over with- no matter how difficult. Whether you procrastinate or not is up to you- you KNOW when you are doing it. You know you are doing it every single second you do it because it fills every moment with a tiny bit of anxiety. So just- DONT do it. Remind yourself if you just get it over with- itll be SO much better


Another thing. Sometimes the longer you procrastinate, the less ready you feel, and it results in even more procrastination. Break that cycle on something by starting to do the thing and not worrying whether it's done amazingly.

For example, I procrastinated on exercise for about a week or so recently, due to sleep cycle problems throwing me off and making me feel overwhelmed. I just went back to exercising yesterday morning, and my ability was severely restricted. My coordination was off because I was tired from the sleep cycle rollercoaster, so I had to drastically reduce what I could do, in order to do it SAFELY. So I did what I could do SAFELY, instead of doing nothing at all.

Now when I go back, I'll continue to do what I can do safely, and I'll start getting better at it again, instead of doing nothing and getting worse.
 

Amberiat

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Mar 10, 2018
Messages
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Sometimes the longer you procrastinate, the less ready you feel, and it results in even more procrastination.

This is it. If you really want to stop procrastinating you just have to push yourself to do it right now, no excuses or you're just falling into a bottomless pit.
 

DragTV

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Feb 14, 2018
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you can't . end of story. you can reduce it . sure. but it never truly goes away ;)
 

Polaris

AKA Nunki
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Apr 7, 2009
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I find that the main reason I procrastinate is that I feel a better time will come for me to accomplish certain tasks. I often don't have enough physical energy, creative inspiration, or plain interest at a given moment to do a good job on something, and I'd rather wait for that to change than do a poor job. How to cure this form of procrastination, I don't know. I'm well aware, as I write this, that my time could run out at any moment. I'm also well aware that an ideal moment to get something done never really comes. And yet, here I am procrastinating on Typology Central.
 

dragon21

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Feb 8, 2018
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not wanting to do anything is a lack of extraversion problem, so more Ne and lack of focus thing is a judgment thing, and that's a Ti thing, you need alot of both

- - - Updated - - -

Prayer also helps if your a Christian
 
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