This seems an extremely risky strategy if one has not already become master at averting the planning fallacy. When akrasia is a serious issue, as it seems to be in this case, I’d expect this technique to be particularly high risk.
Carefully putting off assignments sounds like a potential solution, but usually assignments are assigned one day and due the very next. I have around 4 hours to get an average of 2 hours of homework done on school nights. But I fail to shift into homework mode which caused me to write this article at 10:00 PM last night, get 5 hours of sleep, then wake up early to finish studying because it seems easier in the morning.
If you work better in the mornings, is it possible to arrange things so you get to sleep and wake up a little earlier? Not ridiculously so, but if moving work time from night to morning lets you use it more efficiently...
(I did exactly this entirely by accident. The trouble was the part where it made it easier for me to forget assignments that needed doing, so while I got things done with less mental strain and without so much time wasted internally, there were more assignments that just got missed. A simple written agenda would probably avert this risk.)
Unfortunately, Akrasia still strikes in the morning and I don’t always have the motivation or energy to finish everything. But that’s only with minimal sleep due to procrastination the night before.
It seems like you’d do well to at least spend some time brainstorming and experimenting with solutions to this problem (ex: do your homework in a different part of the house, or at least take a short walk to get in to “homework mode”, smoke electronic cigarrettes or spray your face with water to stimulate yourself, set up website blockers to block your distracting websites past a certain time) before ditching school… it’s an option that’s always there.
Or just do your homework in the mornings, if that’s what works for you.
I’ve actially spend years trying to fix this problem, with little success. I’ve tried multiple books, read about every productivity system ever invented, tried thousands of articles over hundreds of websites… No luck.
Recently, I’ve been looking into Akrasia on Less Wrong because I thought the suggestions might finally have an impact. I memorized The Motivation Hacker (along with all the techniques shared in the Procrastination Equation). I’ve also tried PJ Eby’s materials. I found that unfortunately it had no impact on my akrasia at all :(
Do you have any recommendations? Am I doing something wrong? It certainly feels like it!
Thanks for your suggestions, I’ll give them a try and see how it goes.
I’ve tried multiple books, read about every productivity system ever invented, tried thousands of articles over hundreds of websites...
“Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought,” he said, “and the tale is yet to run:
By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer—what ha’ ye done?”
Perhaps you just phrased yourself poorly, but the form of your answer does not suggest to me that you have, you know, actually made an effort, extraordinary or otherwise.
I believe the pomodoro technique had me accomplishing many tasks for one day, then it failed. It failed because I failed to start using the pomodoro method itself, I just procrastinated on starting it. I also got distracted while working. I either stopped working and never got on track again, or I forgot about the rules about distraction (record it, apply the 3 steps) and wasted a lot of time. Over time I just forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me, I’ll give it another go because it was so close to working and I can try different motivational techniques to get started.
I believe an “energy pill” (Elebra) also helped me get things done for several days before I succumbed to procrastination. I should try that again as well...
Idea for pomodoro technique: try making a 30 minute audio clip that consists of 25 minutes of “pomodoro timer noise” (some noise you condition yourself to concentrate on, e.g. find some waterfall clip or something), then 5 minutes of silence. Then play it on loop. Makes it easier to not get distracted when the timer is running and also ensures that the timer is always restarted. Make rules related to when you can turn off the looping, e.g. if you’re done with your homework for the day, or you spend at least 30 seconds writing down reasons to keep it on and decide that you should still turn it off even given those because you’re too tired to work effectively or whatever (see also). Maybe also make it give you a warning 30-60 seconds before your 5-minute break is going to end.
Given that you’ve failed at this so many times before, I’d recommend being extremely strict with yourself this time… really figure out in advance what the rules you’ll follow will be, brainstorm cases where you’d want to break them, and either add exceptions and decide to continue following them for every case that you brainstorm, and then be extremely anal about following the rules once you start actually using them. Additionally, probably make the rules pretty reasonable and easy to follow to increase your success odds even more (but still be an extreme stickler about following the rules you do set out; err on the side of following them too well). Also, if you’ve been failing at doing your homework a lot recently, I’d say give up on trying to do it ahead of time and just deliberately do it at the last minute for a few weeks, so you stop practicing the action of attempting to improve your study habits and failing (it sounds like you’ve practiced this a lot, and you don’t want to just keep practicing it. It’s not “practice makes perfect”, it’s “practice makes permanent”.) Have a day planned in advance when you will switch to the new pomodoro productivity scheme you’ve been working on… September 30, say (that’s a Monday, right?)
Since you asked me about the most effective technique I’ve used since this point, I started using the pomodoro technique with Beeminder. I have experienced a very dramatic increase in productivity. Thank you very much!
This seems an extremely risky strategy if one has not already become master at averting the planning fallacy. When akrasia is a serious issue, as it seems to be in this case, I’d expect this technique to be particularly high risk.
Carefully putting off assignments sounds like a potential solution, but usually assignments are assigned one day and due the very next. I have around 4 hours to get an average of 2 hours of homework done on school nights. But I fail to shift into homework mode which caused me to write this article at 10:00 PM last night, get 5 hours of sleep, then wake up early to finish studying because it seems easier in the morning.
If you work better in the mornings, is it possible to arrange things so you get to sleep and wake up a little earlier? Not ridiculously so, but if moving work time from night to morning lets you use it more efficiently...
(I did exactly this entirely by accident. The trouble was the part where it made it easier for me to forget assignments that needed doing, so while I got things done with less mental strain and without so much time wasted internally, there were more assignments that just got missed. A simple written agenda would probably avert this risk.)
Unfortunately, Akrasia still strikes in the morning and I don’t always have the motivation or energy to finish everything. But that’s only with minimal sleep due to procrastination the night before.
I have to see if I can get my parents to agree...
It seems like you’d do well to at least spend some time brainstorming and experimenting with solutions to this problem (ex: do your homework in a different part of the house, or at least take a short walk to get in to “homework mode”, smoke electronic cigarrettes or spray your face with water to stimulate yourself, set up website blockers to block your distracting websites past a certain time) before ditching school… it’s an option that’s always there.
Or just do your homework in the mornings, if that’s what works for you.
Thanks for your helpful replies!
I’ve actially spend years trying to fix this problem, with little success. I’ve tried multiple books, read about every productivity system ever invented, tried thousands of articles over hundreds of websites… No luck.
Recently, I’ve been looking into Akrasia on Less Wrong because I thought the suggestions might finally have an impact. I memorized The Motivation Hacker (along with all the techniques shared in the Procrastination Equation). I’ve also tried PJ Eby’s materials. I found that unfortunately it had no impact on my akrasia at all :(
Do you have any recommendations? Am I doing something wrong? It certainly feels like it!
Thanks for your suggestions, I’ll give them a try and see how it goes.
“Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought,” he said, “and the tale is yet to run: By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer—what ha’ ye done?”
Perhaps you just phrased yourself poorly, but the form of your answer does not suggest to me that you have, you know, actually made an effort, extraordinary or otherwise.
What’s the technique that came closest to succeeding and how specifically did it fail?
I believe the pomodoro technique had me accomplishing many tasks for one day, then it failed. It failed because I failed to start using the pomodoro method itself, I just procrastinated on starting it. I also got distracted while working. I either stopped working and never got on track again, or I forgot about the rules about distraction (record it, apply the 3 steps) and wasted a lot of time. Over time I just forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me, I’ll give it another go because it was so close to working and I can try different motivational techniques to get started.
I believe an “energy pill” (Elebra) also helped me get things done for several days before I succumbed to procrastination. I should try that again as well...
Idea for pomodoro technique: try making a 30 minute audio clip that consists of 25 minutes of “pomodoro timer noise” (some noise you condition yourself to concentrate on, e.g. find some waterfall clip or something), then 5 minutes of silence. Then play it on loop. Makes it easier to not get distracted when the timer is running and also ensures that the timer is always restarted. Make rules related to when you can turn off the looping, e.g. if you’re done with your homework for the day, or you spend at least 30 seconds writing down reasons to keep it on and decide that you should still turn it off even given those because you’re too tired to work effectively or whatever (see also). Maybe also make it give you a warning 30-60 seconds before your 5-minute break is going to end.
Given that you’ve failed at this so many times before, I’d recommend being extremely strict with yourself this time… really figure out in advance what the rules you’ll follow will be, brainstorm cases where you’d want to break them, and either add exceptions and decide to continue following them for every case that you brainstorm, and then be extremely anal about following the rules once you start actually using them. Additionally, probably make the rules pretty reasonable and easy to follow to increase your success odds even more (but still be an extreme stickler about following the rules you do set out; err on the side of following them too well). Also, if you’ve been failing at doing your homework a lot recently, I’d say give up on trying to do it ahead of time and just deliberately do it at the last minute for a few weeks, so you stop practicing the action of attempting to improve your study habits and failing (it sounds like you’ve practiced this a lot, and you don’t want to just keep practicing it. It’s not “practice makes perfect”, it’s “practice makes permanent”.) Have a day planned in advance when you will switch to the new pomodoro productivity scheme you’ve been working on… September 30, say (that’s a Monday, right?)
Since you asked me about the most effective technique I’ve used since this point, I started using the pomodoro technique with Beeminder. I have experienced a very dramatic increase in productivity. Thank you very much!
Wow, great to hear!