Introduction

Lena Sushko

Jedi Techniques of Dealing with Procrastination

The way to deal with procrastination in work and daily life

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Hello dear Reader,

this document features one aspect of the time management system by

Maxim Dorofeev⁠

a Russian researcher in the field of procrastination. He is the author of two books on personal effectiveness. His works are a mixture of psychology, sociology and time-management.

There is an immense quantity of different techniques and methodologies of self-organisation and personal effectiveness. However, most of them are flawed, because they do not take into account the unpredictability of life and difference of people. This methodology may help you to build the time management system designed for your unique needs. The system is complex and this document touches only a part of it concerning procrastination problem.

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Procrastination is the habit of delaying an important task, usually by focusing on less urgent, more enjoyable, and easier activities instead. It is different from laziness, which is the unwillingness to act.

Problem

How can I get nothing done and still be tired?

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truth-potato-just-because-you-re-busy-deesnt-mean-you-re-accomplishing-something-mrbusy-harshgopal.jfif

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Solution

Conviction based on your own experience stands on 3 pillars:

Getting information

Reflection

Action (behavior)

“Most of us know pretty much how we should behave. It is the execution that is the problem, not the absence of knowledge. ... We need tricks to get us there but before that we need to accept the fact that we are mere animals in need of lower forms of tricks, not lectures.”

― Nassim Nicholas Taleb,

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets⁠

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Knowledge doesn’t help in most of the cases as the world has probabilistic nature. There are no guaranteed ways for success. There are only guaranteed ways for failure. We can’t find a universal recipe for success for everyone, as people are very different. You will have to create for yourself a unique recipe for a successful and productive life. The only way to do this is to experiment on yourself.

Recipe components

Vaccine - done once, result for a long time or forever – e.g. to swith the notifications on a smartphone

Indicator - helpful for reflection, something you can observe in judgmental free mode

Practice - Result stays as long as you practice (e.g. create a to do list)

In most cases it’s enough just to observe your behavior to modify it in a desired way. The simplest way to do that is a daily checklist.

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To the daily checklist

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*Note: I’m not affiliated with Maxim Dorofeev. I just watched his videos and read forums. This doc is the essense of my notes and findings on the topic.

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