Paraphrasing pg, going in to work and wasting 90% of your time is like getting uncontrollably drunk at lunch. It's very bad habit/behavior/addiction. So first of all, take it seriously.
Here's some things that work/have worked for me, in no particular order. They all interact and work best in bunches. None have cured me. All have helped.
1. meditation - many meditation practices develop your ability to prevent your mind from wandering. Letting your mind wander is a big part of procrastination. It also helps with patience which is also important.
2. Recognize the impulse and address it - This is very complimentary to meditation. You sit down to do a task, then your mind looks for some sort of procrastination (reading, games). Recognize that feeling and feel it. Don't fight it, just experience it for a few seconds. Then place your hands flat on your desk. Your feet flat on the ground. Straighten your back. Breath deep 5 times. The impulse should pass. Tweak this as you like as long as you recognize the impulse, experience it & have a little ritual (sitting straight, breathing, etc.)
This sounds like hippy dippy bullshit said out loud, but it doesn't feel half as lame when you do it. It is very effective.
3. Collaboration - If two people are at a computer, procrastination does not go on for hours. More generally, try to seek out work less procrastination-inducing.
4. Do work in small batches - Take 5 minute breaks every hour. etc. This increases the feedback to you that you are procrastinating.
5. Talk about it.
6. Accountability mechanisms - Your ability to hide is an enabler. Try timed screenshots sent to a friend. Twice daily 2 minute confessional phone call to a friend. Mirror your screen someplace it can be seen by everyone. Coaching sessions. Lots of options. Quirky is ok.
7. Drugs - ADD medication (eg ritalin) can help.
8. Sleep - Less Sleep = More Procrastination. Maybe you need more sleep. Maybe you need 10 hours. everyone is different. Try getting 10 hours for one week and see if it helps.
Strange how embarrassed I feel writing it down. Even weirder is that I feel like recommending ADD medication legitimizes me recommending meditation and breathing rituals. I actually find them complimentary.
Don't ADD medication looks like an easy way of not improving your willpower ?
You let an external mechanism do the work for you.
I think the author is in the right way :
>it's starting to really gnaw at me
tehwalrus's advices are really good, except for the 1st one.
> 1) don't waste cognitive energy on silly tasks (games, arguing in comment threads, etc.)
You should not focus on that, but on all the other points : Go do some sports (Because you didn't do it in the past doesn't mean you're doomed not to do some now)
And when you do it, time yourself and push it a little bit more each time (lifting stronger weights, running a bit faster, etc.). You don't need some instructor to yell at you to do that, just by strongly thinking of the idea of improving yourself (mentally and physically) will yield to incredible results.
At the end, the " don't waste cognitive energy on silly tasks (games, arguing in comment threads, etc.)" will happen without you paying attention to it : You must not force yourself from not playing games, you just mustn't feel the need to.
At work it's a bit different, if you feel you're still doing nothing, it would really help you to remove distractions from you, as said in some blogs : block websites that makes you unproductive from your work computer. When you feel you need a break, just look at them on your tablet, if possible, by changing of physical location, that will make you realize when you're not working, and so you will say to yourself : "ok, time to get back to work".
If you stay at your computer desk all day it's harder to have this "time to get back to work" kicking.
Paraphrasing pg, going in to work and wasting 90% of your time is like getting uncontrollably drunk at lunch. It's very bad habit/behavior/addiction. So first of all, take it seriously.
Here's some things that work/have worked for me, in no particular order. They all interact and work best in bunches. None have cured me. All have helped.
1. meditation - many meditation practices develop your ability to prevent your mind from wandering. Letting your mind wander is a big part of procrastination. It also helps with patience which is also important.
2. Recognize the impulse and address it - This is very complimentary to meditation. You sit down to do a task, then your mind looks for some sort of procrastination (reading, games). Recognize that feeling and feel it. Don't fight it, just experience it for a few seconds. Then place your hands flat on your desk. Your feet flat on the ground. Straighten your back. Breath deep 5 times. The impulse should pass. Tweak this as you like as long as you recognize the impulse, experience it & have a little ritual (sitting straight, breathing, etc.)
This sounds like hippy dippy bullshit said out loud, but it doesn't feel half as lame when you do it. It is very effective.
3. Collaboration - If two people are at a computer, procrastination does not go on for hours. More generally, try to seek out work less procrastination-inducing.
4. Do work in small batches - Take 5 minute breaks every hour. etc. This increases the feedback to you that you are procrastinating.
5. Talk about it.
6. Accountability mechanisms - Your ability to hide is an enabler. Try timed screenshots sent to a friend. Twice daily 2 minute confessional phone call to a friend. Mirror your screen someplace it can be seen by everyone. Coaching sessions. Lots of options. Quirky is ok.
7. Drugs - ADD medication (eg ritalin) can help.
8. Sleep - Less Sleep = More Procrastination. Maybe you need more sleep. Maybe you need 10 hours. everyone is different. Try getting 10 hours for one week and see if it helps.