The Now Habit
Productivity Engineering
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(Personally tested and recommended by the author of this web. Some links might lead to other websites.)
Collection of quick fixes
Sun, 2005-09-11 15:16 — Procrastination
Collection of quick procrastination fixes that do not require much of time nor dedication, though I can't rule out that something much harder to implement will also appear here. Not sure whether I haven't heard others also reference this kind of tricks or solutions as "life hacks"...
isn't it time to take control?
Comes with a free sample you can hear online right now. By Neil Fiore PhD.
Comments
Shinny distractions
"get attractive tools for tasks that cause your procrastination" - is that a hidden Apple commercial?
I actually disagree with "getting cool tools" approach to procrastination. If anything, it actually creates an "escape path" for a person to concentrate on acquiring "necessary and cool tools", without which one can not do the job. What we have then is the classical case of structured procrastination, when one switches to less difficult and more enjoyable tasks (come one, what can be more enjoyable then to shop for new shinny techno gadgets)
On the other end of the extreme spectrum of tool acquisition are people who love "make your own" tools approach. For instance the DIY Handheld Planner is a classical example. Here the trap is that time spent on creating and supporting the organizational system itself and supplies it required takes too much time for an average procrastinator and just adds to the overwhelming list of tasks.
I liked how 43Folders’ guy said about it – “It’s just a coffee cup”. Meaning – your system is just a habit – you should not notice it. If one does, it needs to be leaned down.
I think same should go for the tools. They have to be lean enough to get the job done. Alas, they should be transparent.
complex time management systems increase procrastination
I see where you are going.
Months, or probably already years, ago, I was using Palm PDA and was quite a fan into in, even learned programming a bit because of that.
There was a disturbing pattern in that community - there were many people that had purchased ALL the major Palm productivity software titles (from Natara Bonsai to Life Balance to various Outlook conduits etc.), and they were constantly switching their main system from one solution to the other. They must have spent looong hours on that, just switching, transfering, tweaking setups to new features once new release of the software was made, it was incredible to observe once one realized. Now, that's of course not the kind of attractive tools I had on mind :). Only those that don't take extra time yet bring extra pleasure and motivation.
Complete agreement with you otherwise. I have my own task management system setup as simple as possible (though in a rather complex software), and that's why it works well I suppose. Unlike in the past where it was setup by what other people told and it was synchronisable, exportable, filterable on many levels, ie. it had all those cool buzzwords attached, but it didn't workt that well until I cut down and built it around what I need, not what is a seemingly cool system (GTD).