Procrastination is a nasty pig. It always is in want and can never be satisfied.

Therefore be satisfied!

What helps with productivity is not, "I should be productive". Silence that. What you should be asking yourself is, "What do I want to accomplish in life?" Then make sure you actively work towards that. If what you want to accomplish in life is look at youtube videos all day and talk with chat bots, do so. You'll find once you have a goal that you truly wish to pursue, procrastination will turn into, "I like doing these other things too, but they're at a lower priority for now."

And if its basic maitainence and work that you would rather not be doing...you're screwed. :D

I see :wink: atleast I'm not screwed as yet

Must you call your determination and resolve "spite"? A poison, no matter its application, remains exactly that, a poison. Proceed with caution, young scholar. Well, that's what I'd tell me if I met myself in the past, at least. Whatever works I suppose. :smile:

Welcome to the forum!

Spitballing here.

Spite is an underrated motivator. But I don't think it's healthy to be the unique motivator in your life. If I'm motivated to do something, I think I'll experience that motivation as a result of one of the following drives or causes:

• A sense of need - this might be for food or social contact or routine tasks.
• A sensation of nervous energy - this might be for a deadline or deescalating a fight.
• A sense of duty - doing what I perceive is right regardless of any circumstance to the contrary.
• A sensation of pleasure - it just feels good to do the thing or to keep going.
• A sense of purpose - the task satisfies a deeply held belief or desire.
• A belief that it would be funny.
• A belief that the behaviour would be transgressive in a satisfying way.
• A feeling of anger - at injustice or a perceived wound/slight.

I'm sure there are many others.

Some of these states are sustainable, if often used, and some of them are not. The sense of need for food, social contact or routine tasks is something that can come and go without much effort, and can thus always serve its purpose. The sensation of nervous energy has contexts in which it is helpful and contexts in which it is unhelpful - the stress of nervous energy will impact you if it is sustained. Being bound by duty regardless of your other principles is taxing - often so taxing that a person's preferences will change to match their duties. The sensation of pleasure is sustainable, but the body quickly adapts to it and the sensation reduces. Humour and transgression are circumstantial, even if the attitude which sustains them is a facet of personality and thus always possible as motivations. Anger comes and goes quickly.

Of these drives, only duty, purpose, humour and transgression are things which can be cultivated through trying to improve one's resilience and insight. If a person can combine them, as you might with transgression through spite to act in accordance with a higher purpose, perhaps the motivation is heightened and easier to reinforce.

However, perhaps one needs to be careful that sustainable motivations are only mixed with sustainable motivations when trying to cultivate drive. Transgressive spite with a sense of purpose, that is a humorous lifestyle of a sort in which one's passions are exercised, transgressive spite with a sense of purpose and anger will make you persist in a state of stress if called on as one's principal drive.

Thus a person has to be careful how they mix their states and projects to cultivate their drive, else you end up poisoning yourself against your own nature over time.

Procrastination is the result of internal conflict, and hence of a divided mind. If I am single minded, there can be no conflict; I am doing what I am doing, wholeheartedly.

I want the dishes clean and the kitchen tidy, but I want to go on sitting in my comfy chair dreaming. Such a conflict is uncomfortable, and there is no resolution, unless perhaps my wife will go and do the job. Procrastinating, I jump from one side to the other, arguing back and forth, and neither doing the job nor relaxing.

It is fairly easy to see the whole conflict as I have just described it, and obviously, the solution is that since i cannot relax properly until the dishes are done, I want to get the dishes done, and then relax.

But typically, the conflict is hard to see; perhaps I want to write a really good essay, but I am afraid I will not be able to, so I do not want to start and find out.

Or I want to stop smoking, but I do not want to suffer the withdrawal symptoms, so I want to smoke.

In such cases, it can be hard to see the whole conflict, and one is always on one side. and avoiding or ignoring the other. And until one can see the whole, there can be no resolution. There is a moment, possibly, though, when one becomes aware of the conflict as a whole, and in that instant, the conflict is ended. One writes the essay as best one can, or else one abandons the essay for good. One remains a contented smoker, or one stops smoking completely.

I tend to trust procrastination. It's happening for a reason. Wait for the wave of inspiration and then ride it. Although, sometimes finishing what I started is a toughy. I can reward myself for getting shit done...like I won't eat lunch until x is finished.

At first I didn't like the way you were using the word "productive", but here's another way you might stick with that.

Every moment you're making the next version of you.

There are people out there who have ideas about what they would like you to be -- a pair of eyeballs connected to a bank account, maybe.

But also your parents have ideas about what you should be. Your friends do. Your teachers or your bosses do. Those ideas aren't all bad, probably. You should always be willing to learn from other people.

But the thing is, they can't make you anything. They need to get you to make yourself into what they think you should be.

And that's what going on when you're chilling on YouTube or whatever. You're making the next version of you, but you're making a you that someone else wants, not a version of you that you've thought about and chosen.

Welcome to the forum!

We all need a strategy to protect ourselves from being consumed by consumption. Yours sounds good. I mostly use self-binding. There are only certain hours in the day I get to use the internet for leisure. Usually two, separated by a break. Often what happens is I end up being productive / creative while I'm waiting--suffer boredom for a while and it often resolves that way--writing, playing the guitar etc. I also get to think if I'm lucky. Almost no one is thinking when they use the internet (TPF is generally an exception). Combine that with the fact that most people now spend most of their free time on the thing and welcome to our modern mental dystopia.

So, yes, whatever works.

Procrastination is the result of internal conflict, and hence of a divided mind. If I am single minded, there can be no conflict; I am doing what I am doing, wholeheartedly. — unenlightened

Yes, exactly that! And it's unwinnable: if you force yourself to do what needs doing, you resent the process; if someone else has to do it, you feel guilty and obliged; if it doesn't get done tonight, it will be waiting for you in the cold light of morning.
Every minute you're aware of procrastinating, your Inner Critic is either actively chiding or quietly stockpiling blame.
One approach is to consider all possible options and deliberately, purposefully choose the least objectionable path. The fact of being purposeful already gives your mood a lift: See, Inner Critic, I'm in control again.
Another approach

I tend to trust procrastination. It's happening for a reason. — frank

is to figure out the reason. Most common: the task is unpleasant. (Like neglected leftovers in the fridge, it will only become more unpleasant with putting-off.) Also common: creative block. That, you have to wait out, confident in the knowledge that the whole time you're distracting yourself with solitaire, the kitten or You Tube, the little wheels somewhere deep in your brain are turning furiously: the story or design or shape of a nose will come into focus when it's ready. (That's hard with a deadline; you have to find more energetic distractions, like racket ball or tossing a frisbee for someone's dog.)

Although, sometimes finishing what I started is a toughy. I can reward myself for getting shit done...like I won't eat lunch until x is finished.

Setting goals and rewards is sometimes a viable strategy. It may help to divide a daunting project into more manageable portions. After I've removed all the stakes and binding from the tomato bins, I can have a snack and watch a tv show. Then I'll pull all the dead tomato plants and carry them out to the compost. That will get me to dinner time. Tomorrow, I'll turn the soil and cover the bins.
At least, that's the plan. I haven't put on my shoes yet and I'm already tired. Still, it must get done before the snow flies (like, tonight?)

Covert Assault Zen, maaan is what is needed...

Yep, it's that or the Cum Cruise / Leon Musk ultra dystopia of cyborg super consumers with the only free beings forced to live like rats at the edges of the internet and in their mother's basements.

cyborg super consumers with the only free beings forced to live like rats at the edges of the internet and in their mother's basements. — Baden

Hear, hear. I suppose it isn't a bad life. Don't let your imagination fool you, it sounds like a sober life.

There is also inertia which has nothing to do with motivation, and is more biological/neurological than psychological and requires different remedies. Routines, appointments, promises to others.

There are also executive functioning issues like difficulty prioritising and analysing tasks.

All these can result in procrastinating, or look very similar to procrastination.

thanks for dropping that info