I’ve tried several techniques for avoiding procrastination, but I always seem to relapse away from using them.
“I’ve tried using several coffee filters, but they always seem to get filled up with this dark residue and become unusable.”
What if the best way to think about anti-procrastination techniques is the same way we think about coffee filters? When a we stop using a technique, we think of that as a failure. But maybe we should think of it as a success, in proportion to how long the technique was useful and how much it improved our effectiveness. Instead of thinking “darn, back to procrastinating again”, maybe we should be thinking “hey, that was a pretty good run”.
Another idea: Make a spaced repetition card where the front of the card describes a situation and the back of the card describes something (e.g. the attentional control technique) that you want yourself to apply in that situation. Whenever the card comes up in your SR software, give it a rating based on how well you’ve been remembering to apply the technique.
Some meta-cards to start with:
Format is front of card / back of card
The alarm on your cell phone rings at 9 PM / I’ll study my SR cards or set a timer reminding myself to do it later
You notice yourself remembering about a card / I’ll reward myself (with an internal compliment, etc.)
You notice yourself completing the response associated with a card / I’ll reward myself
You are studying these cards / I’ll pay attention, a la kalla724, to amplify the effectiveness of my studying
It’s really cool how well making these cards works compared to just saying “I should really do x”. I think of it as like Soviet propaganda beaming commands in to my head. If I forget one of my cards, I don’t beat myself up, I just figure I’ll wait a while and hopefully the propaganda will work its magic.
“I’ve tried using several coffee filters, but they always seem to get filled up with this dark residue and become unusable.”
What if the best way to think about anti-procrastination techniques is the same way we think about coffee filters? When a we stop using a technique, we think of that as a failure. But maybe we should think of it as a success, in proportion to how long the technique was useful and how much it improved our effectiveness. Instead of thinking “darn, back to procrastinating again”, maybe we should be thinking “hey, that was a pretty good run”.
Another idea: Make a spaced repetition card where the front of the card describes a situation and the back of the card describes something (e.g. the attentional control technique) that you want yourself to apply in that situation. Whenever the card comes up in your SR software, give it a rating based on how well you’ve been remembering to apply the technique.
Some meta-cards to start with:
Format is front of card / back of card
The alarm on your cell phone rings at 9 PM / I’ll study my SR cards or set a timer reminding myself to do it later
You notice yourself remembering about a card / I’ll reward myself (with an internal compliment, etc.)
You notice yourself completing the response associated with a card / I’ll reward myself
You are studying these cards / I’ll pay attention, a la kalla724, to amplify the effectiveness of my studying
It’s really cool how well making these cards works compared to just saying “I should really do x”. I think of it as like Soviet propaganda beaming commands in to my head. If I forget one of my cards, I don’t beat myself up, I just figure I’ll wait a while and hopefully the propaganda will work its magic.
You seem to assume I have spaced repetition software. Link to spaced repetition software 101?
Sorry.
http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Spaced_repetition