• I want to know, to understand, and
• It can be useful to know, you can avoid a lot of situations and avoid annoying but especially manipulative people, when you know the signs.
• You can enjoy life more when you don't worry.

I mentioned that I was disappointed in Kremenchuk with people not doing effort such as reading a book, whereas I do such effort because it is interesting. For this reason I took a break to see whether this mindset can be changed without much effort. I mentioned that you can get rid of worrying for example, but only if you do the small repeated effort that I described of thinking when you worry, that worrying helps no one. Then in time this will turn into awareness and later into a feeling and then the worrying is gone.

Note about worrying: There may be a group effect. You may feel pressured to show that you worry about some people or else others you know think you don't care. Just tell other people what I wrote about it, if that is an issue.

For procrastination it is usegul to look at different tasks that you may not like:

• Required (do your taxes, learn for tests in school and at university, what you do for work)
• Semi required: you can do what you want with more freedom, e.g. self employed, as long as you make enough money with it, then you can change whatever you want.
• Anything such as hobbies, house maintenance, are mostly up to you.

• Question: Are you willing to do effort to better understand yourself, other people, life?

Everything in life is a trade-off: to reach a goal you must do effort. Is the effort worth it? That depends on what is important to you.

I mentioned in the last meeting that sometimes it is good to do something that you don't like. For example to read a bad book and discuss it with others is good to sharpen your ability to analyse. This makes you do effort, creates mental resilience. But doing or continuing effort is not always useful. Balance in life is important.
(no videos that I watched on youtube about procrastination mention this).

I mentioned in the last meeting, and some agreed and gave examples, that it is not needed to never procrastinate.

Just do what is really needed and make life enjoyable, otherwise all you are doing is what 'needs' to be done.
[ as I mentioned in the last meeting, there is so much to do after buying a house and setting up a company that I would only do things to reach goals and never relax and do what I really want unless I delay taking care of some tasks, so, I procrastinate and that is fine for those tasks ]
But what is really necessary? Work, taxes, school, university, but you could change your work, your study etc. if you don't like the required long term effort...

I mentioned the following during the last meeting in the tea break, but to part of the group, so I will repeat for everyone:
Changing your mindset can come very quickly.
- Example about Lviv: The first time in Lviv I didn't like it, noise from cars riding on cobble stone roads, the parks felt more like sport than relaxation. After being here for longer periods my view changed but my view about some of the very hilly parks stayed the same. Until I went to one of these parks again and I saw a note about the park that it is good for your health and I thought "Aha, I need to view them.as being good for you, as sport!" and my negative view was immediately gone...

I said that avoiding effort is mostly about the start, you think the task may be annoying, or boring, or difficult (It is not about difficulty alone, as all youtube videos that I watched claim). Therefore try to make yourself start, doing just a little, some attendees suggested a 3-2-1 method, some mentioned that forming habits take time but I said: it depends on your personality.

In various situations you just have finish and force yourself, in others there is a time limit. Then you can work hard, into the night, or start earlier. Examples:

• a project for your work [ note: if you work too hard for work then your boss can think the workload he gave is normal. Sometimes it will be too much and working extra means that boss doesn't get this signal unless you tell him/her. See also the bad example in Essentialism ]
• learn for a test in school or at university
do paperwork for taxes

You can delay doing these required tasks, but the time limit will force you to do it before a certain date. Doing that just before the deadline is not optimal if you rush. You may not have studied the topic well enough to get a high grade or pethaps you forgot a tax deduction. Thinking "if I finish now then it is behind me, no need to think about it any more", can lead to rushing and then making mistakes. There is a balance in everything: Start early but take your time. (if you start early then you have the time to let everything sink in and if you are relaxed thoughts should pop in your mind if something else needs to be handled to complete your task...).
But note: Trying to finish a task ask quickly as possible

I had that earlier this year with a tax form. I sent it in very early, then realised a few days later (the thought popped into my mind), that I forgot a VAT return, so I had to send in a correction. It was extra work because of earlier not taking enough time before sending it in, because of which I overlooked a VAT return...

Starting early with studying: I could have enjoyed my time studying physics/mathematics much more with more preparation and engagement...

Starting earlier is better, so why not start earlier? Start doing by doing a little bit of the task for just 10 minutes or so on the first day, then you get in the mood automatically.

Of course it can be that after starting you realise "this film is rubbish!", or "this book is stupid" and so on as I mentioned in the previous meeting, but you can then decide what to do: end watching/reading it or continue. I think the times I continued was always disappointed. Example reading the book "Dandelion wine" by Ray Bradbury, I was waiting for it to get interesting, and at a few points I thought "this is the point where it gets interesting", but it never did. On the other hand with the TV series Stargate, I never followed it until I happened to see an episode with mechanical spiders, replicators, season 3 ep.22. I started watching a few earlier episodes and all later episodes were interesting, it grabbed my attention, and this series continued being interesting. [ episodes before that were not interesting to me ]. Usually there should be something that grabs your attention fairly quickly.

I mentioned that with the book "A good to the good life" by William Irvine, about stoicism, I had to work hard to read to p.100. I didn't like it but I mentioned it could be interesting in a meeting in Kremenchuk, so I analysed what I read for a while to be discuss it in a meeting, until I had had enough. It was mostly a waste of time (the overview of classical stoicism was enough to not consider it a total waste of time). You need to be able to put in effort to continue with something if the goal is worth it, but really, the road to the goal should be interesting to you. Otherwise, and especially if you don't think after some time that you will reach the goal or that reaching the goal will not be useful, then it may be better to quit. Think about whether and when to quit. Perseverance is not always positive for yourself.

Example on bike rides: how much effort to do? I sometimes shorten the ride, don't go to my original goal, at all, or not until the next day because I feel tired or I am just not in the mood.

Some things take a lot of time/effort in order to get good at it. I will go over some thoughts about some sports and games that I did or do and why I decided to stop or to limit the time I spent on them. These types of considerations you can apply to anything./p>

• Darts: I know I will need to put in too much time effort and even if I were to become really good I don't think I would enjoy it much. Even professionals make errors such that I think for any other level there will be no fun in it for me... I tried for a year, maybe an hour a day, long ago, after that only seldomly played it again.
• Snooker (a form of billiards): I treat it as a diversion, maybe I would really like it when I become better at it. I don't know yet.
• Discus throwing: I always liked it, but knowing how good I was long ago I do feel a bit of "this is bad", but at the same time I tell myself that it is a process and I know it is already useful in making me get into better shape (I see it in the mirror too), it feels good when the technique is correct (a sort of relaxing feeling) and seeing the discus fly through the air is cool.

Effort, improving yourself:
One point about doing effort is that you may feel it has no or not enough effect (ad I had with playing darts). Some things are not directly measurable such as ability in throwing darts, the number of points per 3 darts can vary enormously until you are able to group darts together more consistently. But you know how long it takes to finish a game.

With discus throwing it is different. I am doing that again many years. Progress is slow but exactly measurable. Getting the right technique and becoming faster/stronger simply takes time. It was slow going when I first started too long ago, and I enjoy it anyway so this is no problem.

In all my hobbies and interests:

• I do/did it as much as it gives/gave me fun, per day, sometimes not for days.
• When I feel it gets boring, I make a change, do different exercises, or don't do it for a while.
• I don't pressure myself to get results, that would negatively affect my efforts to improve myself.

The same goes for anything, such as reading a book, writing a computer program, learning a language.

• don't expect quick progress, and
• you need to do effort

You need to do effort for school, for work, to become good in sports, in playing games. If the goal but preferably also the road to the goal are yo your liking, then you do effort. I presume people here come not just for the tea, so, will you do effort?

Do effort when you feel like it, unlike you need to have mastered something for work or school. But requirements in school/at university also mean that it is known that you should be able to do them, the teaching structure is based around what is possible (in a given amount of time)... This is not so with sports or hobbies or research. For work, some requirements may be unrealistic as there you will get into unknown territory as part of development, new things, just like in any research, unless your work is standard without much creativity and variation.

So the start of doing something long term, something that needs a lot of time, is just getting into it. After that:

• you need to keep in mind that progress can be slow.
  
• you need to realise that all exercises are useful,
• and that you will only see results from these exercises after some time
• to keep your life fun, don't be all work, but do things to relax, that may not be useful for your goals but which are useful to make yourself feel good

do you have goals of which you don't like the road, i.d. the effort until you reach that goal?

These meetings are the start of a road you can take which is about improving yourself such that you don't let negative things affect you and that you are more aware of everything in life, and what is needed for that is exercise.

I gave examples on the overview page and in the last meeting on removing distractions and improve your concentration also by focussing to do something that you don't like.

I further wrote on the overview page for this meeting:

About concentration

On youtube a video by PhiloNautica: https://youtu.be/oQxYeavn8-4 : How we've lost focus and ability to think deep

- This doesn't apply to me. My smart phone is not a distraction. I switched off notifications of for example 'likes' to my comments on youtube. I use it only for web surfing, navigation, watching and analysing youtube videos.
- At ca.5 minutes he talks about: the myth of multi tasking: Well, I never had the idea that that works, instead I knew that that doesn't work...
He talks about waiting for stimulation: Well, I know that I need to create my own stimulation by doing my analyses and making videos in wait for final publication of my project. These videos are up to about 35 minutes, recorded in a single part , so I have everything in my head. I have no problem to concentrate, and in general I do not allow my attention to be taken by useless stuff.
Another example: These 2 sections of 2025-10-11 are written in 1 go... I only have problems watching or reading when a video is bad, stupid (and thus the maker is an idiot) and I still want to analyse it for others. Example: the book "A guide to the good life" (Irvine) which took me a long time to read while writing down my comments, I took many breaks because the book is so bad.

Then to doing effort making yourself to do hard work. Some people suggest making you reprogram your brain, by giving dopamine for doing hard tasks. But I think it is not needed. It even feels to me strange: you are then battling and tryimg to fool your brain... For me the change of mindset to not let youtself get negatively influenced (see my list of life) + make yourself start what you need to do for only 10 mintes, gets you started, in the mood, even to continue later.

Videos on youtube about procrastination

Video: how to make doing hard things easier than scrolling youtube

https://youtu.be/-2jZ-iOR8p4: how to make doing hard things easier than scrolling youtube

I think more important is to just start, then it goes automatically. [ I expanded on this: I thought about my experiences, then wrote my talk and I think my original idea is correct, it is mostly about the start. Only for uninteresting things or things you really dislike something else is going on. That something is difficult is not the issue, that should give you a challenge. ]

"It is hard therefore we don't want to do them." that is incorrectly stated. It can be several factors. For me it being hard is not a factor. It being not fun or not intersting ARE factors. So, there are more interesting or more fun (or less annoying) things we can do first....

'Difficult' is perhaps used here in the sense of not wanting to do it...? No, seems not, see section at 14:30.

He talks about fast sources of dopamine and that you feel bad after doing them, but I never feel bad after doing anything... And yet I do procrastinate sometimes... Especially this period need to deal with paperwork, bureaucracy, business preparations, then shopping, buying tools and supplies to finish some things about the house, and I need some time for myself, just relax, watching some TAS game videos or do discus throwing. Some matters I just do not do in this period unless they have to be done (taxes, paperwork for residence permit etc. These need to be done), because there is no time.

ca. 8:30 fast food etc. : That has no effect on me. I rarely do it but if I do then it is not giving me euphoria nor a bad feeling afterwards. Sometimes in NL I eat chinese food, it is always fantastic, but I don't eat it iften and it does not change how I feel. Note that if I ever feel euphoric I try to regulate it down because feeling very happy means that normal then feels like a depression. A friend wanted to do a high five recently for achieving something and I didn't like it because for me the small achievement was nothing to celebrate, it was "normal", and it wad only one step of several more to go...

I sometimes feel unhappy but it is always caused by the realisation that something in life is not going as I would like, not by not having dopamine, it is about something specific that becomes clear at a certain point.

Dutch guide to dopamine:
https://www.zorgwijzer.nl/zorgwijzers/dopamine

16:30 He says he doesn't take any calls in the evening because they might mention something about which he might worry. But I don't worry so such a rule is not necessary for me...

21:55 "Focus on becoming the person who can do the hard thing". I am, hard things are the most interesting for me, but I still procrastinate. I don't want to do certain things... (things that are required but not interesting in any way).

Video: How to actually destroy procrastination in 56 seconds

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PF2ad6pt5k0
How to actually destroy procrastination in 56 seconds
2.4M views · 1 year ago...more
Kian Luke

This is similar to part of what I suggest: I say just start 10 minutes, then you easily continue for longer or next day because the start is the hardestouldIn the video it should have been explained better.

Video: The procrastination cure you don't want to hear

https://youtu.be/iow5V3Qlvwo: The procrastination cure you don't want to hear

He advocates removing all distractions. This does not work for many things such as doing gardening work, house maintenance.
He mentions boredom, solitary confinement. Well, I stated in a previous meeting in Kremenchuk that if I ever had to go to prison, I would want to be in solitary confinement! I am not afraid of my own thoughts, I start thinking about everything. For me it is positive...

He says Dopamine detox will help you find the entertainment value in difficult things": irrelevant for me. Difficult = interesting, I like interesting...

He then mentions, ca. 7:00 about starting, living in small space, no money, that it motivated him. But that is similar to procrastination: doing something when it is needed...!

He mentioned being bored and editing videos was in that situation entertaining. For me when I get started I automatically am in the flow to do it. And yet I am never bored... I don't need to find it interesting beforehand, it is just what I do when I am working on it. [ mckeown in "Essentialism" mentioned that people are not bored any more these days (smart phones, internet) and that boredom is good for you. I dealt with that in my criticism of the book: it is not needed at all. ]

@jacobmoney people who procrastinate are the ones that can only take action under pressure. If there's no pressure, there's no need to take action..yet. It's a problem.

I sort of agree, but it is only a problem in some cases. Procrastination is not about not wanting to do something boring, but not wanting to do effort that you know needs to be done anyway, and/or not wanting to deal with negative realisations that will come from doing that task (such as doing taxes, will remind you of money problems), so it can be avoidance of negative feelings that you know you could get. But, the delay achieves nothing. So why is there a delay: because instead you prefer to do things that are likely more pleasant and at the same time you can then stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and ignore the issue until you feel: need to do it now! It is not true that it is about delaying doing hard things. Once you start you can see whatever you do as a challenge, it becomes interesting, and the difficulty is not actually the cause for motivation or not. One guy talks about boring things, the other about difficult things. You could anticipate a failure (more likely with something difficult) and I think that is the reason. In a way the attitude of "I do the best I can and do not let circumstances influence my mood" (see my list of life) is a fix to this. So my talks about my list of life can be used to remove procrastination! But first you need to do the effort to put my method into practice!

Video: Why you procrastinate even when it feels bad

https://youtu.be/FWTNMzK9vG4 : Why you procrastinate even when it feels bad,
9.8M views · 3 years ago,
Youtube channel: TED-Ed

2:55 Because procrastination is motivated by our negative feelings, some individuals are more susceptible to it than others: people who have trouble regulating their emotions and those who struggle with low self esteem are much more likely to procrastinate.

That should not be an issue if you are more self aware and use my "list of life"...

I regulate my feelings by the way, I don't let myself get 'too happy' for example because afterwards, normal then feels like depressed... So maybe this helps me, as he stated.

Video: The 15-Second Rule That Makes Procrastination Impossible = Give Me 23 Minutes And I'll Destroy Your Procrastination Forever

Video on youtube: "The 15-Second Rule That Makes Procrastination Impossible" video link?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EkDxsQRbIwo : Give Me 23 Minutes And I'll Destroy Your Procrastination Forever

The video title was apparently changed, because this web page mentions the original title, link, channel name: https://justrecap.it/recaps/the-15-second-rule-that-makes-procrastination-impossible-8abf1ca0e144470a9d1767425c701d40
The reason for the change of title of the video is possibly manipulation (search engine optimisation) because there are many videos with similar titles [ Titles of videos on youtube of the form: give nnn minutes and xyz will happen ].

[ So I found the title of the video again, of what was possibly the first video that I watched on this topic, I wrote it with a few comments, in an email to someone I know (Vlada):
As to self improvement and people making videos: I just watched "The 15-Second Rule That Makes Procrastination Impossible" on youtube. This an example of so many self-help people who cannot properly explain what makes sense. He makes it look like he does understand and explain by stating how the brain works, but you do not need to know that! I will tell more in the next letter if you find it interesting. ]

Copyright W.H.Scholten, 2025. To contact me you can email or send a message via telegram (via phone +31648816383), or via vk.com (https://vk.com/w.h.scholten, which I don't really use but I will get notified of messages from there). I don't use: facebook, linkedin, twitter.