Trying to beat procrastination? Use rationale and simple math.

Trying to beat procrastination? Don't read this article then. Seriously, stop reading. If you're really hardcore on Not procrastinating, just stop here and close this page.

If you're just here to kill some minutes, keep on reading...

You know what helps me (attempt to) beat procrastination? Using simple mathematics to justify my (probably incorrect) conclusions and this will be a post about combining patterns to project something meaningful and hopefully, useful.

Here I will assume that you are procrastinating from a project, whatever that may be; but I will refer to the activity you're procrastinating from as the project.

So, since you're already procrastinating (by reading this), let's waste a couple of more minutes, shall we?

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Say you have two patterns that you can apply on a sequence of numbers (on a number line) and the goal is to advance, i.e. increasing the value of x-axis (meaning you doing more stuff) to reach a (hopefully) predefined goal, x = 9.  Notice how a project's completeness convergence representation is a variable, not a constant...because we all know that projects never have a fixed dead-line.

Here, let i be the current state (current number on the line) and the following two equations the patterns applied to the sequences for trying to advance to the goal (you finishing the project), by advancing the value of the x-axis (and the only axis there is since we're working in a single dimension).  Also, our step will be a day; so it takes a day to reapply the pattern to move to the next number on the line.

Now say the patterns are these: i = i + 0 and i = i + 1.  In these patterns, i + 0 represents you !working i.e. procrastinating.  On the other hand, i + 1 represents you advancing (i.e. adding value) in your project.

Seq. k: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Seq. l: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Now let's apply both patterns to our sequences, starting with i = 0 (you haven't started on the project yet):

Step 1:

l =>
i = i
i = 0 

k =>
i = i + 1
i = 1

So i of l is still 0 but i of k is now 1. (yay, progress)

Step 2:

l=>
i = i
i = 0

k=>
i = i + 1
i = 2

Now i of k is 2, so there's even more progress.  We're finally moving forward (...to the right, to be exact).  Not surprisingly, i of l is still a whopping 0.

etc... stopping when i = x.

For the mathematically inclined, here's how I applied the patterns on the sequences:

Are you seeing the pattern and where I'm going with this?

Applying the summations, we get k = x and l = 0:

k = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1
k = 9 ∴ k = x.

l = 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0
l = 0.

I did not choose the 1 constant by random. For this example, the 1 constant referred to the work-load you dedicate on a project at a point in time. Also, it's a constant not a variable so I'm assuming that if you do x amount of work today, you will do x amount of work tomorrow. Reason is because you need to get into the routine to get things moving.

Back to the pattern. Let's say that you complete the project when x reaches 9, so x = 9. If your point of convergence for the project is at infinity, you probably need to rewrite your specs so I'm assuming it's not.

As you have noticed, when you do nothing each day, your project will be ready after an infinite number of steps whereas if you add 1 to get the next number in the sequence, the range is much, much, much smaller than the infinity range.

So, if you add 1 every day, at the end of day 1, if x represents our goal and t the number of work activities remaining, t will be t = x - i, and you know that in this case, i is incrementing at each step meaning that t will decrease in each step until it converges with x, t = x and that's when you should open the champagne and celebrate because your project is 'complete'.

Keep in mind that if you choose the l sequence, there will never be any champagne for you. Infinity > x - i (to put it mildly).

My advice is to find an appropriate work-load constant for the task at hand so that you don't do too little (and not get in routine) or too much (get bored from the project again). I used 1 as the constant because I'm assuming you're lazy so you want to do the minimal number of work each day.

I hope this wasn't all meaningless dribble for you...and don't forget, I might be wrong.

Am I Captain Obvious? Sure, I didn't dispute that. Did you just waste 5 mins of your precious time? hopefully not =)

And now I end on an ironic note: I wrote this post because I'm procrastinating from other stuff.

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Now, my math notation may not be perfect and it probably isn't even acceptable, but I hope you got the point. Now, close your browser and start working bitch.

Oh and yea, if you notice any mistakes in my logic and math, please inform me (learning is the key).