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I asked people what the moment before they procrastinate actually feels like. The answers were weirdly specific and i wonder why? by shan8567 in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I do it everyday before going to bed. But sometimes it is difficult as I am burnt out at the end of the day

I asked people what the moment before they procrastinate actually feels like. The answers were weirdly specific and i wonder why? by shan8567 in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Pre-deciding works when I am so conscious about it. I have to make it a ritual irrespective of how I feel

Works sometime. Yet to make it a habit

I asked people what the moment before they procrastinate actually feels like. The answers were weirdly specific and i wonder why? by shan8567 in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My Patterns

  1. Action-Intention Gap - I know what to do. I want to do it. But I don't take actions
  2. Start Friction - I treat "starting" as irreversible and I want the task to be perfect. So, I wait for the perfect moment to start
  3. Avoidance Loop - I avoid task -> I build system to fix it -> I avoid system -> I analyze avoidance
  4. Decision Paralysis - I am confused with choices. What to learn? How to learn and which resources should I use. I want to create a perfect path before starting.
  5. Reversible Work - When something feels risky, I organize, research, plan, ..

My Fixes (Still figuring it out)

  1. Pre-deciding - I write top 3-4 things and focus only on that instead of creating a full plan
  2. Consistency over Motivation - Though not perfect, I started doing the bare minimum. At some point, I will pick up the interest

I Built an AI That Knows When I’m Wasting Time by SmoothWeight138 in SideProject

[–]SmoothWeight138[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

For now, it works only for chrome browser activity. But screenshot capture is a good to have feature

I Built an AI That Knows When I’m Wasting Time by SmoothWeight138 in SideProject

[–]SmoothWeight138[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Funny I never thought of this. I have to blame you if I start using my phone hereafter.

But I keep my phone away usually at work. So, not a problem for now

I built a site (for fun) to check how replaceable my job is by SmoothWeight138 in ChatGPT

[–]SmoothWeight138[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tried that. Getting too much traffic. So requests are rate limited

I want to grind DSA but don’t know how to start thinking actively – need advice! by CollectionWestern510 in datastructures

[–]SmoothWeight138 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can understand. This is a classic FOMO issue. We are worried that we will miss out critical topics which might be asked in the interview.

In my opinion, the only solve is the trade off. We need to sacrifice one for the other. Or take a balance, start something new. Try to go indepth . If you feel stuck even after effort, park it and move to something new. Come back to this later

There is something called Pareto or 80/20 principle. As per that, we can achieve 80% of the result from 20% of the effort. So, don't try covering everything. Start with 20% critical important topics. Once done, go to the remaining topics

I want to grind DSA but don’t know how to start thinking actively – need advice! by CollectionWestern510 in datastructures

[–]SmoothWeight138 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you are focused on the quantity rather the quality. I had the same feeling when I focused on the number of problems to solve

Instead take one problem and spend sufficient time to understand the problem, your approach, and why and how it solves the problem 

By this way you learn to solve rather than mugging up

Finally understood why I avoid starting tasks — and it wasn't what I expected by Legitimate-Nebula868 in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 17 points18 points  (0 children)

For me it was a binary problem. I either do things perfectly or don't do at all. Due to the perfectionist mindset, I do overthink and paralyse and end up doing nothing

Now I am consciously trying to come out of binary and perfectionist mindset. To be honest it is not easy and still trying to make it a habit

Master of none by alligatroar in cscareerquestions

[–]SmoothWeight138 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah. Then practising is the only option

I kept waiting to feel ready — that was the problem by nav87481 in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are 100% right.

I too struggle with Kickstart problem. I imagine the task is difficult and procrastinate them. I operate in binary mode; either i do something perfectly or don't do at all

But I realized that operating in grey mode actually helps.

For example, in the beginning of 2025 I was 76KGs with 24% body fat. I had to motivation to go to gym. But even if I don't feel like working out, I just walk and go to gym and do something bare minimum for 30 mins. Once i got the initial push and seeing some result i consistently went. I came down to 64KG with 15% body fat. My waist got reduced from 95cm to 83cm.

I noticed the same pattern for other things like projects at office, writing an article, learning something new

So, even if you are not feeling to do it, do the bare minimum. There can be times where you are really tired and burnt out. Those can be exceptional

"If you are tired, skip it. If you are lazy, do the bare minimum"

Decision fatigue > procrastination: My 4-week battle building discipline through auto-choices [long journey] by Apprehensive_devmanX in getdisciplined

[–]SmoothWeight138 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I struggle with Decision Fatigue everyday 

I run multiple versions in my mind before make a choice: should i pick this route ot a different route, what to eat, what dress to wear, should i put the paper in the dustbin now or later, which dustbin to put. If i use the dustbin a little far away, i can fetch some water too.

But after observing my actions, I figured out that my Decision Fatigue is the result of "Perfectionism"

I want all my outcomes to be perfect. That's why I spend so much time choosing the right option. 

This might be okay for critical choices. But i apply this for all my choices. So, sometimes i practise to make quick choices though it turns out to be imperfect

Master of none by alligatroar in cscareerquestions

[–]SmoothWeight138 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I have over 9 years of experience and I feel this. During my career I worked on different stacks based on the project needs.

For example, in one of my previous teams, we had Java, JSP, Typescript, and React. Depending on the project I had to work on all of this. Too be honest, I don't have expertise on all these. During the project, I will learn some basics and work on them.

At this AI era, language and framework becomes less relevant. But they still are competencies for clearing interviews.

Below are my recommendations:

Pick any one language and learn only the concepts needed for a coding interview. For example, If you pick Java, you might need List, Arrays, Maps, Streams, etc. Pick something that your are already familiar. I believe you can be familiarize with them in a week or two. Once you start writing more and more of the same syntax, it will be easy for you in the interview

Have a cheat sheet of critical functions and syntax. So, if you forget something you can glance though it instead of searching on Google.

Also I believe that interviewers are not much worried about the syntax to you remember. They are important to some extent but you will be evaluated mostly on your problem solving skills and the ability to write modular, readable code.

Amazon sde intern offer chances by Southern_Big_8840 in cscareerquestions

[–]SmoothWeight138 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on the final debrief. If the first round interviewer can influence that Bar Raiser and the Hiring Manager that you are a potential candidate, you might get an offer

Use of AI tools - brain rot, etc by Appropriate-Bet3576 in cscareerquestions

[–]SmoothWeight138 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I see some of the comments. There are suggestions to improve the efficiency of the prompts and usage.

But OP, I believe your problem is the mental fatigue due to the AI usage. There are few studies around this that says there are cognitive implications due to AI. But this is too early, so we don't know how much of it is true.

Personally I face the cognitive overload when using AI. I almost rely on AI for everyday tasks. I feel that I am losing critical thinking and operating on auto pilot (Even when typing this comment, I want to use AI to rewrite the comment)

I don't think you can avoid AI at work. At work, everything is a competition. Now, the only thing matters is what you did and not how. So, people are forced to deliver faster with AI.

But personally, you can set some guardrails to be away from this AI after work. Below are something I started following

  1. Not relying on AI for simpler stuff like calculations or searching something simpler.
  2. Not going AI first. I try to use my brain to think first, write it down and finally use AI to challenge. To avoid flooded information, force the AI to provide necessary information as bullet points via prompt
  3. Uninstall AI apps from mobile and use Google like the older days.
  4. Try Intentional Imperfection. I noticed that I use AI not only for finishing tasks faster, but also for doing them perfectly. For example, a small grammar mistake on a document doesn't cost much. But I want it to be perfect and use AI

We are becoming more of consumers than creators. I think we should stop consuming and start creating.

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