Paralysis

[pteromys]

"I should fix bug A before I look at bug B because bug A is more important" is a great way to make sure I don't get either fixed anytime soon.

I'm sure it's useful to figure out what prerequisites are, but too often I fail to weigh their difficulty (and remember to include procrastination and self-control difficulties) against how required they

Comments

[fuurei]

I don't know if I experience the same problem or a different but related one -- whenever I think things like "I shouldn't go deal with B until I'm done with A", it often is because I'm just making excuses because I don't actually want to do B. So I've tried things like "just do something", but then the "I actually don't want to do it" feeling surfaces a bit more and I come up with more excuses or just dawdle until it ends up not being done.

I haven't really learned to deal with this problem (see also why I never get any non-required projects done), and it's entirely possible your sticking points are entirely different from mine. (I've always gotten the sense that you have more... actual *enthusiasm* about things than I've ever managed to muster.)

[pteromys]

Hm, thanks for pointing that out--I should watch for indications that I secretly don't want to do B. (In such cases I might've actually made progress on A and hence not felt as completely paralyzed.)

Yeah

[anonymous]

I think being honest with oneself is a skill that takes time to learn.

If I should do X and don't feel like it, I try and remind myself why X is important, what the consequences of not doing it will be, etc. Sometimes I also bribe myself. Ex. in high school I enjoyed eating salsa from the jar and would let myself have a spoonful for each paragraph of a history chapter I read, for example, when the textbook got so boring I couldn't focus on it otherwise. Or I guess in general I try to find a way to make X more palatable and pleasant.

(This isn't to say I think I'm terribly successful at making X happen in a timely manner.)