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Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by spurgu on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @03:56PM (#23543336)
> The worst is that you procrastinate not only work but rather your own existence because you'll constantly attempt to catch up but just can't.

Idea/suggestion: How about the old "delete all your emails" trick: Sell everything you have. Quit your job. Move to another place.

Having said/suggested that, I've done this email trick a couple of times and while it works wonders short term - I stop worrying about those highlighted emails I should do something about that are getting older and older - I tend to just end up in the same situation later.

But, having moved around a couple of times, it also does work wonders, as long as you keep focus on the "new you" while everything's fresh.

Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by throwaway912319 on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @08:17PM (#23546068)
Watch out, this can be a even bigger trap. Most of the times your issues are not external, but internal, and doing that will only add to the stress since you lose security and your support network.

From experience, I suffered what a lot here describe. Used to be a lawyer, hated it, and the procrastination bled from work to my personal life. I basically stopped living for 3-4 years because I couldn't do anything. Outside of work and basic life necessities, I'd just watch Netflix, play videogames and drink

I thought quitting and moving was the answer. So I did. I found the strength to save money and study coding. After 2 years, moved to another country and am now graduating from CS and just got promoted to intermediate developer.

While life seems better because I've accomplished things, I noticed I still have the exact same feelings as soon as I stop working. I love my work now. I have a nice salary. The problem is that my issues are with me, and no external factor.

I used to blame those feelings on a boring bog, a lack of money (since I used to spend all my nice salary on bad things), a violent country... I eliminated all that, but it didn't work.

So, just a warn here. If the issue is internal, no amount of turning your external life around will change your internal feelings and problems. Work on that instead.

Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by nicbou on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @04:29PM (#23543664)
Are you Rick Sanchez?

I moved to another country some time ago. To me, it was difficult. Starting your social life from scratch is difficult. Learning a new culture, a new language and a new bureaucracy is difficult. Buying everything again is difficult. Upping the difficulty level doesn't solve your procrastination problem, it exacerbates it.

To me, this sounds more like running away from your problems than solving them.

Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by spurgu on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @05:12PM (#23544198)
Agree with all of the above although I've never done it completely myself, I've either had a job waiting or a partner along at the new country, which has helped. And you don't need to be so drastic as to move to a parallel universe, you could just move within your own country.
Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by Apocryphon on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @04:27PM (#23543651)
I experienced a much minuscule version recently when I accidentally closed a browser window full of tabs. It was like letting go. It felt cleansing.
Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by spurgu on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @05:17PM (#23544266)
I know what you mean. I currently have 10 windows open, each containing various tabs of stuff I've been researching and I can't wait to get them closed off. I would be fine with an accident but unfortunately I'm too smart for my own good and have setup safeguards for that, like having [SessionBuddy](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/session-buddy/edac...) installed in Chrome (which keeps snapshots of all open tabs and windows with the option of saving/naming/editing windows/sessions).
Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by Talanes on Tuesday June 16, 2020 @08:29PM (#23546181)
Nothing feels better than being 15 tabs deep and finally finding what you were looking for and hitting "Close Other Tabs"
Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by dorchadas on Wednesday June 17, 2020 @11:29PM (#23559535)
I've done the latter a few times, or, rather, had a chance to do it a few times do to natural circumstances. The first was going off to college (6 hours from home), where I knew absolutely nobody. It really put things in perspective for me, and allowed me to change some habits I didn't like, and it also brought some mental health issues to light.

The second was when I studied abroad. Completely different culture and everything, allowed me to shift my personality more towards what I wanted to be, though it was sadly only temporary and when I returned back to school I slowly shifted back.

In fact, I've noticed it again. I moved back home after college (to my hometown, etc.) and started teaching at my old high school, and I'm kinda falling back into the same habits I had then, and I feel I'm almost regressing as a person in a sense. I think it's time for another change, though I also think the fact that I'm regressing is because there's some internal issues I haven't fixed.

But, overall, I think moving and taking those leaps are a good chance to get started on fixing some of those issues when you're stuck in a rut and just can't get out of it.

Re:Procrastination is driven by our desire to avoid difficul... by galoisgirl on Wednesday June 17, 2020 @06:18AM (#23549773)
YMMV. You can find out you're still the same person with the same issues, just in a different location.