I'm doing the same, or at least trying to do it.

Worst periods for me were when I had one clear, important goal, not particularly hard but hairy, and nothing else to do, sometimes because I myself cleared it up. I could spend months doing nothing useful, and end up very, very tired and burnt up.

I also several times had a conversation with managers, whom I told that I'd rather work on something very urgent, or otherwise give me something NOT (really) urgent and a big murky area of things to clear out which no one else knows how to deal with. That something won't probably be done, but that area will be improved a lot in creative ways. Typical managers' responses have been trying to micromanage my time up to personal hourly schedules, morning and evening personal reports, and scold me if I did anything out of the order of the list of priorities they imposed on me. Exactly the opposite of what's needed for me to be productive. And of course "let's just try that, and I'm not asking."

Next time I'll see such a response, I probably will quit on the spot; this is unbelievably cruel.

But it looks like the secret of the author is: just work in academia.

I feel like this seemed a plausible strategy when I first read it as a serial procrastinator struggling through university 17 years ago.

Now, after many years of applying stuff like this successfully for a couple months only to immediately regress at the first sign of life disruption, after an ADHD diagnosis & a bunch of therapy, this all seems like a fairly immature avoidant coping strategy in retrospect. I'm now fairly productive & don't procrastinate much (relatively speaking) and tbh I wish I'd read less of this crap in the past: I might've gotten help earlier.

- This year's submission as of the time of this comment has ~38 references to “ADHD” (not counting multiple references in a single comment).

- The 2022 submission (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30292440): 6

- 2020 (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24884347): zero

- 2018 contains a single reference to “ADD”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16948527

- 2017 contains neither “ADHD” nor “ADD” but a single reference to “ADDeral”: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13618985

- 2015 has no references but I thought this comment was funny: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10163857

This is a testament to ADHD in the software industry.

The hallmark of ADHD is an "interest based attention system".

If you have ADHD, it may be completely shocking for you to hear that most people prioritize "extrinsically", meaning, whether or not something is "interesting" is *not* primary information in their prioritizations.

I never knew I had ADHD until I had a baby and had to start prioritizing tasks based on time.

And guess what, I can't easily prioritize on time constraints. Which is one of the two fundamental prioritization dimensions, the other being space (eg you only need one auth backend, pick one). I can do space.

Now I have no problem writing hours for each segment of a project and getting it within 100% error bars.

Where my life breaks down is daily tasks. I used to have a 5-7 PM sink. If I had a good day, I wrapped at 5 or just kept momentum to 7 PM. If I had a bad ADHD day, I just worked to 7, manufacturing urgency.

With a child you don't work til 7, so just lop off 10 of your 25-30 core productive hours for the week, unmedicated.

I suspect as I adjust I will come to see 2-3 PM as "ahh this is urgent because at 5 PM, death". But, at least I am medicated now and can work consistently at 9 AM.

I swear this is how I've gotten good at most of my hobbies. Playing guitar for 20 years has gotten me to a great level for a hobbyist, but not at all because of any virtues like discipline, self control, or routine.

Rather, every day whenever other more important chores or duties loomed, I'd notice one of my guitars laying around, in my couch or my bed or leaning next to my desk. And most times, I'd give in. There's always a new skill, technique, lick, or song that I'm working on, or something I've recently mastered that gives me joy to play.

If anything I think discipline would have hurt my guitar skills over the years.

> Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation.

This is also true from my observations but what this writing misses is another much more crucial aspect: People with severe, general procrastination problems have a high chance of having (usually undiagnosed) AD(H)D. This is a neurobiological disorder (more precisely, a spectrum), not something you can trick away by reading self-help books/writings. There is effective medication available for those patients.

I started writing a book as a form of procrastination, and after I had written the first (exceptionally bad) draft, suddenly finishing that book rose to the top of the list. Haven't worked on it since.

Over the years I have become more or less convinced that I have adult ADHD. The overlap in symptoms are too difficult to leave unacknowledged.

But, at the same time I have been procrastinating on getting myself diagnosed. Oh, well.

My dad, John Perry, wrote this essay and followed it up with a book - The Art of Procrastination. I love to see the essay rediscovered & will share this thread with him.

Kind of fitting that this is currently #1 on HN

I have found that when someone (someone else, not me) asks for help in the work slack and noone replies, the best way to get people engaged is to send a simple "hm..". This seems to trigger colleagues that are actually busy into being "the first to help". Like they don't want me to be the hero.

Key strategy is to get a job in the past, as a professor, where you can get away with not really doing most things you "have" to do.

I think basically everyone with ADHD discovers this eventually; e.g.,

> Sympathetic Procrastination Rotor: a technique for Time and Task Management.

> To aid in the fight against procrastination, arrange all of your tasks in a cycle, such that the natural opportunity for procrastination is always another task on the roadmap. In this essay I will

https://x.com/jmclulow/status/1390544792946237442

How do we know it's from 1995?

> Site designed by the author's granddaughter, who did the work while avoiding the far more weighty assignment of her literature test.

Impressive for 1995, he must've thought her HTML and how to use a computer first

HTML 2.0 came out in 1995

This is gold, I will read it fully later .

I got a perspective on procrastrination by playing chess. Sometimes in the past I would try to do something like write an essay, read a book or, program something. And I would get this heavy feeling in my brain. Thinking would be like running through molasses. No useful thoughts would pop out. I would have read the same sentence over and over, because as soon as I finished reading it I would have forgotten what I just read. And then I would drop what I was doing and "procrastrinate".

Well, I started playing chess. And the same thing would happen, I would get this feeling. And I would start dropping pieces. I would play the opening out of order. I would try my very best to prevent these things and then run out of time. And it made me realize something - because chess is a microcosm model of thinking and knowledge work, more quantifiable and objective - it made me realize that I wasn't being lazy. I had in fact been completely correct when I thought to myself that I can't do this right now. It wasn't an excuse.

But also it made me reflect on my "a-game". It's simply not possible to always be on your a-agame, and you have to plan around that. Somethings are acceptable to do at a lower standard. Maybe it's okay having half-understood the book? Also doing things at your "b-game" is still practice even if the work is garbage.

If you truly enjoy the procrastination as opposed to fighting it or distracting to another thing - sooner or later you'll want to do the thing you were supposed to do.

Try that out. There is a reason why you don't want to do something and that fundamentally has to do with your mental relationship to the task - the repetition fatigue, the way you think and feel about it etc. needs a reset and enjoying the idle procrastination time gives you that.

IOW Zen mantra - when you procrastinate just procrastinate without resistance.

We've been procrastinating for years here...

Structured Procrastination (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36433304 - June 2023 (1 comment)

Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33515388 - Nov 2022 (4 comments)

Structured Procrastination (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30292440 - Feb 2022 (37 comments)

Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24884347 - Oct 2020 (9 comments)

Structured Procrastination (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16941717 - April 2018 (38 comments)

Structured Procrastination: Do Less, Deceive Yourself, and Succeed Long-Term - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151481 - Sept 2015 (79 comments)

Procrastination and Perfectionism - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287817 - March 2011 (29 comments)

Structured Procrastination - "the art of making procrastination work for you" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=212590 - June 2008 (3 comments)

It all comes down to doing things you don't want to do.

Procrastination as a concept exists to trick you into thinking that you should want to do the thing you don't want to do.

It's much better to just recognize that there's a lot of things I don't want to do, and there is no trick to make me like those things, and it will be miserable doing those things. Sometimes, I'll need to do things I don't want. No way out of it.

In my opinion, it's also beneficial to keep it simple. Instead of playing a game of "if I finish this side project, I'll be able to show it to others, then maybe I'll be recognized, then...", just keep it simple: do you want to work on it or not (does it make you happy?), right now? Do you need to work on it (to pay bills, to support children, etc), right now?

This way, you never procrastinate. You either succeeded at avoiding doing something you don't want to do, or you failed doing something you need to do.

I too struggle with procrastination. I have a big personal project that is nearing completion & very important to me, but also turning into a bit of a slog. However, because I'm procrastinating working on said project, I managed to do many other things that are also important to me, such as writing more & sharpening some skills.

If this is your first time reading about structured procrastination on HN you're not procrastinating enough!

Related. Others?

Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33515388 - Nov 2022 (4 comments)

Structured Procrastination (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30292440 - Feb 2022 (37 comments)

Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24884347 - Oct 2020 (9 comments)

Structured Procrastination (1995) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16941717 - April 2018 (38 comments)

Structured Procrastination: Do Less and Deceive Yourself - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13617083 - Feb 2017 (78 comments)

Structured Procrastination: Do Less, Deceive Yourself, and Succeed Long-Term - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10151481 - Sept 2015 (79 comments)

Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2514972 - May 2011 (2 comments)

Procrastination and Perfectionism - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2287817 - March 2011 (29 comments)

Anti-Akrasia Technique: Structured Procrastination - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=939656 - Nov 2009 (4 comments)

Structured Procrastination - "the art of making procrastination work for you" - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=212590 - June 2008 (3 comments)

I've been using what the OP discusses for several years now, and it works.

In particular, as a scientist I can report that the brain is particularly creative when it is expected to work on something else; it comes up with very interesting and original research topics that are worth being captured in writing (to be executed later on).

The main task can be attacked (better) with Structured Procrastination by making a TO DO list on which we divide it into many small tasks. During procrastination, picking and completing a small task from the list is typically possible, and relatively effortlessly so.

I had fun reading this. Unfortunately the infinite list of tasks doesn't work for me, because in the end they fade into oblivion but are still somehow important to keep track of, putting them in some sort of no-man's land ...

I felt this when I decided to do dev work while going to school. The structure of work was a break from the chaos of school, and the novelty of school was a break from the monotony of work.

I want to understand the mechanism and purpose behind procrastination. It seems like there's a reason evolution chose for ADHD to exist.

In my experience, sometimes the frustrating signal telling me not to do the superficially "productive" thing is a defense mechanism against doing meaningless shit. It's a voice screaming at you, informing you of your mortality.

Didn't have vocab for it, but seems like I have been doing something similar. For example, having a JIRA ticket on my board that I don't want to do will make me finish all the other tickets. I will procrastinate till the last minute -- kind of pitting one ticket against all others for myself to get the stuff done.

Okay so how are we to do the actual hardest thing on our list? All else is resolved (let's say) (I genuinely agree). I just want a nice complete framework to remember this article and what's missing is how to get the top item/hardest thing done.

An old friend of mine had a saying: if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. Fits right in with this article.

Does anyone know why the newest Firefox isn't showing the button for the reader view on this page? The shortcut doesn't work either. It seems to work fine on plenty of other articles on other websites.

Normally I don't rely too much on that feature, but this website is hard to read as-is.

> one is in effect constantly perpetrating a pyramid scheme on oneself

This is wonderful framing. I love it

There's a great book about this, the author writes a bit at https://www.lichtenbergianism.com/ but a paper copy is much more useful imo.

Never in my life have I wanted a single line of CSS more!

To the author: humans with large monitors can't read text that spills across those entire monitors! Add a max-width: 1000px or something.

+1 for a "this has been posted before" check

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Structured+Procrastination

> The procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.

This is the reason this method has never really clicked for me, despite coming across the concept in various procrastination blogs. It's the more important tasks that need doing the most, and this method aims to avoid doing those in favour of less important tasks. Yes, the article acknowledges this:

> At this point you may be asking, "How about the important tasks at the top of the list, that one never does?" Admittedly, there is a potential problem here.

But the offered solution is to put fake important tasks to the top of the list: tasks which have deadlines and appear to be important but really aren't. I don't think the human brain is stupid enough to trick itself in this way. If I put a fake task at the top of my list, I'm going to know its fake (because I deliberately put it there for the reason that it's fake!), and it's going to be the actual important tasks which get neglected instead of the fake one.

This article had a debilitating effect on one of the most talented engineers I've ever met. A charismatic force of nature, whose impact was tragically chaotic.

He read it as a teenager, and it became part of his personal philosophy. And so he used it to avoid feeling responsible for his own priorities, and struggled in every role he had for years.

He routinely derailed projects and created chaos by switching away from projects as soon as they became mission-critical. And he demanded an infuriating amount of managerial attention.

His absolute brilliance and charisma made this far worse, as his attitude was inherently culture-setting. The more impressionable employees around him would inevitably become worse than useless, while the more senior, mature employees ended up hating working with him despite his incredible impact on the thing he was paying attention to at a given moment.

Be convinced of this article's ideas at your own risk.

This article seems great, I will finish it later.

if this article resonates with you, please go talk to a therapist to see if there is/are any underlying "issues" that is leading you to procrastinate; you might have ADHD. i am really tired of reading numerous artciles on how procrastination is matter of lack-of-will, not disciplined, time-waters to gets things done.

Ah yes, yak shaving <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving>

I feel like anything that get onto that list is going get procrastinated on …

I like this approach, feels like something Mark Twain would've advised

As someone who procrastinates, I've intuited this exact thing over time. I need a dozen open threads at once -- unfinished software projects, unfinished books, work projects, areas that I'm just thinking about, topics to learn. At any given time I might pick up any of those threads and make progress on it. Maybe I might spend a few days on it, maybe a few minutes. But over the long term, I do finish them.

It helps to maintain extensive and detailed context notes so that doing this context-switching is easy.

Many great individual works in history were not produced in a "straight line" by the creator just sitting down and powering through them. They were produced as I described, in disconnected sprints over years and decades.

most people don’t procrastinate because they’re lazy, they procrastinate because their brain rejects meaningless work

Also known as 'procrastivity'.

Make procrastination your superpower.