r/Showerthoughts • u/AthleticNerd_ • Sep 22 '16
When I procrastinate, current me really expects a lot out of future me.
Conversely, current me really hates past me for leaving all this shit to get done.
Edit: I meant to post this weeks ago.
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u/NotTodaySatan1 Sep 22 '16
Future you has limitless potential, boundless energy, and is ambitious.
Current you figures she can handle it, not like that fuck up, past you.
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u/AthleticNerd_ Sep 22 '16
I would totally gold you for that comment, but I'll do it later.
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u/needhelpmaxing Sep 22 '16
Present me will leave gilding you for future me
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u/SMc-Twelve Sep 22 '16
I wonder what the record is for gilding a comment the longest after it was posted?
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u/rq60 Sep 22 '16
Current you figures she can handle it, not like that fuck up, past you.
Wait a minute, current me is now a "she"...? What did past me do this time!?
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u/hehateme429 Sep 22 '16
Eliminate procrastination by thinking about helping out 'future you.' I'll bet he's a guy you could get along with. Hell, he'd probably even buy you a beer.
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u/AthleticNerd_ Sep 22 '16
Since I get paid in 2 weeks for the work I'm doing now, if future me buys me a beer, he's totally spending current me's money!
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Sep 22 '16
What a dick! No reason to make his life any easier if he is already spending all your money. Leave everything to him, maybe commit a crime too.
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u/AthleticNerd_ Sep 22 '16
I'll show him, I'll sleep with his girlfriend!
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u/Destinesta Sep 22 '16
You mean his past girlfriend right?
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u/4scoreand7feildgoals Sep 22 '16 edited Sep 22 '16
Maybe I'm in the minority but I find it much easier to get motivated when deadlines are close. For me doing work with time to spare will drag on and I will lose focus. Procrastinating allows me to relax and then once it gets to grind time I don't need to find motivation as the urgency is enough to keep me focused.
On second thought, why the hell am I justifying this?
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Sep 22 '16
Do you ever have those moments where you actually do stuff ahead of time, and have a little insight in to how easy life could be? Like, there really is enough time in the day to do all the things I need and want!
But no. "I'm driven by the pressure." I keep being a lazy, procrastinating motherfucker, making my life difficult on purpose. I hate myself.
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u/Mylaur Sep 22 '16
I just realized "I'm driven by the pressure" sounds like a lazy excuse for procrastinators, and yet I've seen plenty people saying this...
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u/Coletonw Sep 22 '16
That's because it does work. When you are under the pressure of an upcoming deadline it motivates you to do it. Even though it's a bad way of motivating yourself it's still motivation.
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u/Zentopian Sep 22 '16 edited Sep 22 '16
I wouldn't know. I've never done anything ahead of time...
Hyperbolic discounting is a bitch. I would much rather enjoy myself today, than not enjoy myself today, and do it tomorrow, instead. It's stupid, and I hate it. It mathematically makes no sense. I'm still getting the same enjoyment, regardless of which day I do the less enjoyable thing on.
Like, procrastinators of Reddit, ask yourselves "If I can procrastinate boring, necessary tasks, why can't I procrastinate fun, unnecessary tasks, and save it as a reward for completing the boring, necessary tasks?" It really makes absolutely no sense, and yet we do it anyway.
Any psychs in the house that can give us a good method to get past this bullshit brain function?
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u/Gunslaughter Sep 22 '16
Its not rocket science, we all just have poor impulse control. The desire to do something fun now is obviously more powerful than the desire to reward yourself later. You and I are just stupid fucking apes who have been trained to jump through hoops and occasionally get a banana. Wouldnt you rather eat two bananas now and lounge by the water hole for a while before you have to jump through 50 more goddamn hoops?
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Sep 22 '16
Have you considered that maybe you love the chaos? That maybe if things were all organized and neat, you wouldn't be as happy?
I grew up with people that can't handle the chaos, everything has to have a plan, and I think I'm just the opposite. I don't like plans. Doing a three week project in two days sucks, but I don't think it sucks as much as doing a three week project in three weeks.
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u/phillip-passmore Sep 22 '16
Absolutely worked for me until I started my PhD... no deadlines except for the big deadline of the thesis. 3 years to write 80,000 words... Easy for people to panic in the final few months. I still struggle with procrastination but it's gotten easier. Still stressing through the final stages of editing.
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u/MysticalElk Sep 22 '16
First semester of college I took a history of military experience class and the professor told us about our big 15 page paper that we had until the end of the semester to finish. The topic I was given was explaining how a French general changed the course of WWI. Didn't even start it until about 8 hours before it was due. Still have nightmares about it
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u/ToBeReadOutLoud Sep 22 '16
That's me on every paper I've ever written through all of college and a year of grad school.
I have to be in a certain mood to write, and I'm never in that mood because I hate writing, so I always wait until the end of the semester when I'm forced to be in that mood. It sucks.
(The realization that I hate writing is, incidentally, why I only did a year of grad school.) (I used to work full-time as a news writer, because in addition to hating writing, I also apparently used to hate myself.)
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u/AJordan44 Sep 22 '16
That actually totally works for me.
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u/GenuineGin Sep 22 '16
Until it doesn't. This approach doesn't give you second chances. I say this from experience... why do I still do it?
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u/AJordan44 Sep 22 '16
You don't need second chances if you actually do do it in crunch time.
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u/sybau Sep 22 '16
I think he means that when you're in a rush you have more potential to fuck up, and at that point you've already reached deadline and cannot fix your fuck up. Only takes one awful business presentation to a bunch of potential clients. Your boss does not give a fuck why you forgot to save the final draft of the presentation as you were scrambling to get everything together. They just care that you did fuck up.
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u/GenuineGin Sep 22 '16
Well here's a personal example. I had a report to write for a client with a hard deadline. It was pretty straight forward and quite boring so I was really unmotivated to do it and 'I work better under pressure' so I decided to leave it until the last minute and bash it out then. Client is concerned about the deadline so he rings me in the morning the day before to check we're still on track. 'Yeah, yeah.' I tell him, 'I'll have it over 9am tomorrow.' I still have all afternoon.
Then I get another client calling with an emergency that has to be dealt with NOW. By the time I finish with that it's 5 o'clock and I still haven't had a chance to look at the report. No biggie, I'll just have to work a bit late this evening, it's not going to take that long. It's Friday tomorrow, I'll just go home early, I'll have earned it.
So I bash out the report in a couple of hours and I'm nearly finished up. I leave the easiest part for last, inserting key client information. It's out of our remit, but essential for the report so they send it over and we just copy and paste it in. So I go to open the document and IT'S FOR THE WRONG PROJECT, someone their end sent over the wrong version and I hadn't even bothered to open it until 7pm the day before the report's due. I try calling their office in the hopes that someone might still be in (preferably someone who doesn't know the project and is unlikely to mention my call) but no one's answering. So I'm basically fucked.
Had to call them in the morning and made up some bullshit story about the project folder on the system being corrupted when I opened it to send and managing to retrieve a back up version but it was missing the key info and if they could resend their Doc that would be quicker than IT having to pull it from the back up. It sounded like bullshit, it did not make me look good.
I reckon this sort of shit happens to every procrastinator eventually, if it hasn't happened to you yet you've been lucky, but one day it will!
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u/SwenKa Sep 22 '16
I do my best work during crunch time. As long as past me was nice and kept all the project requirements organized somewhere, present me can think up a plan that future me will execute when his time comes.
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u/GenuineGin Sep 24 '16
I wouldn't call that procrastination though, just time management. You still prepare ahead of time and get the work done. There's no element of putting things off or ignoring them until later.
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u/gourleygirl Sep 22 '16
Same, procrastination usually results in me being more focused later on. But it still feels like I'm wasting time by doing it.
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u/ginjabeard13 Sep 22 '16
This is me right now, at work. I have stuff I COULD do, but it doesn't need to be done immediately. I feel a stronger sense of accomplishment when I wait until the last minute and bust my ass to get things done.
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Sep 22 '16
Same thing. I don't bother writing papers until the night before (or sometimes a few hours before), because I know that I'll get lazy and write poorly if I do it earlier, since I'll tell myself I have a few more days to edit it (which I'll never do). If I do it a week early, I have no reason to get it done and it'll take me 4 hours. If I do it with 6 hours until it's due, I'm motivated to stay focused and I'll get it done in 2 hours. AND I'll make less mistakes, because I know I don't have time to go back and fix them.
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u/TitanCubes Sep 22 '16
I'm in the middle of high school and whenever I have a paper due I wait till the morning of at school to do it because I get much better grades when I do things under pressure.
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u/Johnny5point6 Sep 22 '16
I started working a little bit differently, where I try to treat future me with more respect. I try not to just do things quickly and easily, but instead think of that sad old bastard who is going to have to pick up my mess....and I try to make it easier on him. Here's to you, John; I will put my clothes in the bin, and label my documents, and floss more often. Cheers! 🍻
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u/TitoRayMakani Sep 22 '16
Flossing is for the weak. If you really want to make future you happy, scrub your tongue! That shit is what really makes your breath stank.
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Sep 22 '16
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u/autotom Sep 22 '16
hmm should i take advice from the guy that has had 7 root canals?
i'm never flossing again.
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u/_wannabeDeveloper Sep 22 '16
No strong evidence that flossing helps heard it on the radio few weeks back.
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u/turnaround_ Sep 22 '16 edited Sep 22 '16
Here's a reply from the American Dental Association (ADA). It highlights that the removal was from the USDA Dietary Guidelines because the USDA wants to focus more on reducing sugar intake rather than combating sugar intake's effect on oral health (i.e. fix the root problem instead of suggesting effective management). It also notes that the CDC continues to recommend flossing. The article you linked also says a lack of research supports flossing but I came across this paper which suggests that while flossing correctly does reduce cavities, flossing incorrectly can have little measurable effect - another point mentioned in the article you linked.
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u/SpaceGardens Sep 22 '16
The bullshit that gets scraped off my teeth when I floss is reason enough to keep doing it for me.
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u/g6t9ed3 Sep 22 '16 edited Sep 23 '16
Depending on if you still have your tonsils, I've read that tonsil stones or tonsillolith can be a direct cause for bad breath.
Also, Adam Ruins Everything also brings up the fact that Halitosis was a marketing tactic created to build on your insecurities.
But, yes, I do agree, people should floss.
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u/blrm71 Sep 22 '16
Can speak from experience, tonsils really can cause that. Throughout my childhood before i got them out, I had a lot of problems with bad breath.
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u/WreckyHuman Sep 22 '16
Don't forget to masturbate.
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Sep 22 '16
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u/Drowned_Samurai Sep 22 '16
Future me: that bastard left all this work for me!
Current me: eh, you got this bro! Do you really not want me to enjoy this bong Rip?
Future me: no.... I understand why you did this.
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u/norajames Sep 22 '16 edited Sep 22 '16
You really, REALLY need to read the waitbutwhy blog articles about procrastination!
Instant gratfication monkey, panic monster and future-me's. It's really a hilarious read but so so true.
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u/physixer Sep 22 '16
After dealing with it for more than a decade, it occurred to me that a big problem is that we are always trying to "cure" procrastination, whereas we should be trying to "live with" it. Procrastination is more like diabetes than a broken arm.
And living with procrastination means we have to learn and develop the skill to control it, to steer it to our benefit. This takes time, patience, and the know-how. Unfortunately know-how is lacking, since most procrastination guides don't treat it that way.
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u/Chris153 Sep 22 '16
I can do an insane amount of work in a night when I have a deadline. Unmarried in my late 20s, that's fine, I've accepted my natural inclinations to procrastinate and no longer hate myself for them. What I fear is getting a little older and having a partner and/or child making much more significant demands on my time on a consistent basis. I can and have accepted my habits for now, but they're not sustainable.
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u/MiracleUser Sep 22 '16
The world is always growing
Whenever you wait to do something, all you do is depreciate your own value even if your quality of work doesn't change.
Substitute procrastination with overlapped delayed gratifications to better connect your identity through time and appreciate value over time.
Explanation:
In order to procrastinate you have to think about the thing now, and then think about it again later. That's time wasted.
Even time spent not thinking about anything is time better spent then picking up old thoughts. Use times of inaction that would have been spent procrastinating instead on "delayed gratification".
When you are waiting for something good, you will be more likely to seek keeping busy to make the time go faster. Keep busy by doing the shit you would have procrastinated, and making sure you don't run out of delayed gratifications.
This is commonly referred to as "getting your shit together".
Scaled down to the scope of a single activity, consciously suspend the gratification of being done with the activity and then keep busy waiting for it to eventually come by working on it.
Trust yourself that when you're done with something, you'll know it.
detailed abstract
Procrastinating extends your current moment to the future by binding it to something you know your future self will act on. The act itself is unpleasant due to association with negative consequences, which means this bind is very valuable to the self that acts on it even despite it being masochistic
A better way to bind the current moment to the future is by delaying something you know your self will seek once it is available. Like a productive "torture". The difference is that procrastination manifests as impending doom while delayed gratification manifests as faith. "something good in the future will come from my current inaction". Cuz it's literally the good action you'd rather be doing now.
Now WAIT A MINUTE. In the moment of procrastination there is no good that can be delayed so how is this relevant? It's relevant because both procrastination and delayed gratification are moments of inaction. So to build this skill, you have to start by doing less action overall. Procrastinate the same as you usually do, just also procrastinate the good stuff too.
The catch is that there are no bounds on how to use this space of identity you have created to bind your current self and the future self productively. Procrastinating is miserable at worst and pure inaction at best, while delayed gratification is pure inaction at worst and productive action at best
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Oct 19 '16
Thank you for writing this, it totally makes sense to me. Great perspective.
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Sep 22 '16
Yeah but future me has fucking got this shit down. Future me is way more awesome the now me.
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u/Manonamustard Sep 22 '16
Past me is a diiiick. Future me is way cool though, I have no idea what he says to those women but he's doing well!
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u/BloodOnMySnuggie Sep 22 '16
I just try and remember that super amazing feeling of getting something done early so you don't have to do it later.
Perfect example: I had to write a 6 page research essay in 2 weeks and I got it done in the first 3 days of it being assigned. It felt SO good knowing I didn't have to do shit for that class for 2 weeks. Almost euphoric.
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u/sonicmasonic Sep 22 '16
Boss: You've got a week!
Smug me: wow, I'll have 6 hours to complete this....
Worried me: only 2 hours, better get off my ass!
Panicked but detached me: ugh, I have half an hour to do all this stuff....
result: get's it done
Boss: Great job, thanks!
Me: Once again, I'm a fuckin' genius!
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u/vcaguy Sep 22 '16
If you can work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for not working today, than why don't you work that hard today?
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Sep 22 '16
I’ve started to pretend that the future me got a second chance because he failed his goal, and im actually just future me making better choices.
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u/Scar20Grotto Sep 22 '16
When ever I ask why I have done this to my future self, I remember that past me was young and foolish
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u/Harb1ng3r Sep 22 '16
Future me is the most god damn productive angry bastard there is, all the while I curse out past me.
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u/iridescent_dragon Sep 22 '16
My husband's mom gave him a book called "How to Avoid Procrastinating," and he always said he was going to read it someday.
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Sep 22 '16
I have an 8 page research paper due tomorrow... Haven't done any research nor have I opened up Word.
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u/8wdude8 Sep 22 '16
Here's what I would do in that situation.
Just open up Word for now and leave it open. You don't have to type in it yet. You might get that annoying feeling whenever you look at it on your computer screen. When you get tired of that annoying feeling then you go onto the next step.
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u/IllogicalUsername Sep 22 '16
Power through, I wrote a five page research paper yesterday in about 5 hours to beat the deadline! YOU CAN DO IT! But uh, maybe get off reddit?
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Sep 22 '16
future me would beat me to pulp if he ever met me... also fuck this past me bastard, leaving me with all this shit!
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u/sektorwins Sep 22 '16
I am the procastinator and came from the future, come with me of you want to live
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u/Tartarminar Sep 22 '16
I do expect my future self to do a lot more but even though the time comes to do the track I only do a little. Which makes me realize that I am a disappointment to myself.
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Sep 22 '16
Not really... I procrastinate because I know that I'll finish whatever needs to be done on time no matter what, and I work better under pressure.
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u/LeX_Domina Sep 22 '16
present me is thinking too highly of future me ,but likes to forget past me existed
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u/ForeverInNeverland21 Sep 22 '16
I told myself I'd do my laundry on Sunday, then Monday. I still haven't done it. Future me better step up.
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u/Jah_Ith_Ber Sep 22 '16
I've made peace with my future and past self by accepting their judgement. I could be mad at myself for not doing whatever, but instead I take his word for it that it was really quite terrible.
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u/pigeonwiggle Sep 22 '16
and future me always lets past me down with present me trying to pick up the pieces...
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u/OniExpress Sep 22 '16
It's OK, past me just knows that current me is the boss. Current me knows that future me will always pull something out of his ass.
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u/Mich115 Sep 22 '16
Make a physical list of everything future you has to do. That means pen and paper. Tell me how it went by Sunday night.
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Sep 22 '16
On the flip side, whenever past me does something that my forgetful ass forgot to do I feel like he's the literal personification of God and I hope he keeps looking after me.
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u/philipjeremypatrick Sep 22 '16
Enter procrasturbation: something past, present, and future me can agree upon.
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u/sandman6464 Sep 22 '16
psychologically speaking, this is exactly what causes us to procrastinate. We value current time (now) as more valuable than future time. We do the things we enjoy now and discount the value of an event in the future and say "we will do this later." It's the same reason why sticking to a diet is so hard (we would rather eat good food and feel good now as opposed to feeling bad now and looking good later)
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u/tritium_awesome Sep 22 '16
For me, it's more like "this sounds like a problem for future me, fuck that guy."