Anti-procrastination technique: name and shame
Step 1: Notice when you’re procrastinating. Step 2: Say out loud a) why you’re procrastinating (e.g. it’ll be boring, I find it unpleasant) and/or b) what precisely it is you’re procrastinating (e.g. I’m putting off spending 2 minutes filling out a form). Very often if you look directly at the thing, it'll be too embarrassing not to do. For example, a common one for me will be: 1) Notice that I'm procrastinating answering an email 2) Say in my head "I'm procrastinating writing a 5 minute email because it's ambiguous how I should respond, I'll have to spend a couple of minutes trying to figure out what to say. . . oh god, that's dumb. It's just a couple of minutes of ambiguity." And then I'll write the email. Note, you don't have to say it loud per se. Just say it "out loud" in your head and shine the light of consciousness on it. That's the key step.
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One of the nerdiest things I take creat pleasure in: filling a whole notebook
Here's a pic from me in 2020 celebrating my completed notebooks. Before you ask, yes, most of my notes are digital. I also digitize all of my physical notes. I only take physical notes when I'm conversations with people because taking notes on your phone or computer really changes the social dynamics. People think you're not paying attention and getting distracted by social media when you take notes digitally. Tip for people who take a lot of notes: take photos/screenshots of them and set up the photos as rotating wallpaper on your computer. That way whenever you see your desktop, you get a little reminder of what you wrote notes about. I actually use it a bit like Twitter. Whenever I feel the urge to be distracted/look at something else, I just quickly look at my desktop and get a little dopamine hit of random information I thought was important enough to write down. For example, here's my desktop image right now. Random notes about English history, Byzantium history, and my visit to a temple in Malaysia. About 10 minutes ago, it was notes from something completely different. If you’re ever feeling sad, anxious, or overwhelmed, try what I call the “old wise woman exercise”. The way it works is to visualize an older, wiser version of yourself. The person you hope to become*. Then imagine she or he comes to you and gives you advice, informed by her years of experience and learning. You’ll find you often know what she would say. Then, as you hear her say these things you know to be true, like how you will hardly remember this situation a year from now, or that you’ll figure it out, switch to her perspective. Visualize that you are sitting or standing next to your current self and you are the wise woman. Feel how you would feel towards your younger self. Perhaps you’ll feel compassion, a little humor maybe, patience, or maybe just a feeling of love and warmth. This wise woman or man exercise can often help you snap out of a destructive spiral and make you enact the things you know to be true and helpful but have just forgotten in the moment. Let me know in the comments how you find it and why it worked or didn’t, so I can help modify it to make it more applicable to others. * I personally aspire to become a female, EA version of Dumbledore, but your tastes may vary. Categories All |
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Kat WoodsI'm an effective altruist who co-founded Nonlinear, Charity Entrepreneurship, and Charity Science Health Archives
January 2025
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