Improve flow

Author: john-kurkowski

src/content/posts/2025-05-20-procrastination-by-doing.mdx

@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ description:
 
 import jarOfRocks from './jar-of-rocks.webp'
 
-I suffer from a particular form of procrastination: procrastination by doing. I
-have some tips to fight it. First, let me illustrate procrastination by doing.
+I suffer from a particular form of procrastination: procrastination by doing.
+Let me illustrate what it is. Then, I have some tips to fight it.
 
 Let's say I have a big-picture software architecture task my boss assigned me.
 My problem is not that I instead watch Netflix, unable to get off the couch. I
@@ -28,14 +28,11 @@ None of these are the assigned task.
 Oh gee, it's the end of the work day! Guess I'll take another stab at the big
 task tomorrow.
 
-And so it goes for days.
+And so it goes, sometimes for days.
 
 The parable of the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand comes to mind. People
-interpret it a lot of ways and it is problematic in a lot of ways.[^1]
-
-> All models are wrong, but some are useful.
-
-Here's my takeaway of the parable.
+interpret it a lot of ways and it is problematic in a lot of ways.[^1] Here's my
+takeaway of the parable.
 
 <figure>
   <img
@@ -44,10 +41,11 @@ Here's my takeaway of the parable.
     height='auto'
     alt='A pencil sketch of a jar mostly full of sand, with several rocks and pebbles interspersed.'
   />
+  <figcaption>All models are wrong, but some are useful.</figcaption>
 </figure>
 
-- The jar represents the bounds of what you can accomplish in a day, i.e. finite
-  attention, time, and energy.
+- The jar represents the bounds of what you can accomplish in a day. You have
+  finite attention, time, and energy.
 - Rocks represent big-picture tasks that will accomplish something
   extraordinary. You might not immediately know how to do them. It will take
   some exploration.
@@ -65,22 +63,22 @@ pebbles, then sand. If you insert the sand first, you leave no room for the
 rest.
 
 Opening your email client for what we optimistically estimate as a 1 minute
-check or a 5 minute reply instead wastes 15-45 minutes. Checking email multiple
-times a day compounds the waste. If you fill your day with activities like this,
-you won't leave room for the bigger tasks. You're filling your jar with sand
-before you add the rocks and pebbles. You were supported to fill the jar in the
-opposite order. You procrastinated on the big-picture, valuable task, not by
-doing nothing, but by doing a different, lesser task.
+check or a 5 minute reply instead wastes 15-45 minutes of your day. Checking
+email multiple times compounds the waste. If you fill your day with activities
+like this, you won't leave room for the bigger tasks. You're filling your jar
+with sand before you add the rocks and pebbles. You procrastinated on the
+big-picture, valuable task, not by doing nothing, but by doing a different,
+lesser task.
 
 The dopamine hit of smaller sand tasks is rewarding and more addictive than the
 difficult, mysterious big rock task. Small task dopamine is a slot machine
 though. Slot machines don't always pay out. Especially in your long-term
-satisfaction. The days of focusing on sand and never the high-visibility rocks
-you're supposed to? That could get you fired. What if the slot machine bankrupts
-you? It's similar to how a real slot machine exploits gamblers.
+satisfaction. The days upon days of focusing on sand and never the
+high-visibility rocks you're supposed to could get you fired. The slot machine
+could bankrupt you, similar to how a real slot machine exploits gamblers.
 
-I have a few tips to reframe the todo list procrastination by doing, to properly
-order the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand.
+I have a few tips to reframe and fight the todo list procrastination by doing,
+to properly order the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand.
 
 1. Do the hardest thing first.
 2. Start before you're ready.
@@ -90,23 +88,23 @@ order the jar of rocks, pebbles, and sand.
 
 When you start work for the day and are still waking up, slurping your coffee,
 you might be tempted to catch up on email, what happened since you signed off
-yesterday. Be careful, those notifications are _sand_. Addressed first, they
-will fill your jar.
+yesterday. Careful, those notifications are _sand_. Addressed first, they will
+fill your jar.
 
 Be deliberate when you open your email client. I recommend whittling down the
-checks to around once per day. Be explicit with your team and boss about email
-reading, and responsiveness expectations. Be explicit that there is a tradeoff
-if email replies are expected first thing in your morning: it is energy that
-could be directed to rocks. Does the boss not want rocks getting tackled
-consistently?
+checks to around once per day, and not first thing. Be explicit with your team
+and boss about email reading, and responsiveness expectations. Be explicit that
+there is a tradeoff if email replies are expected first thing in your morning:
+it is energy that could be directed to rocks. Does the boss not want rocks
+getting tackled consistently?
 
 Now that you've punted the sand on your todo list, pay attention to your mind
 drifting away from rocks and instead toward pebbles. "I'm still waking up, just
 a quick task to warm up to the day." No, that's the dopamine slot machine
 calling again. Go for the rocks.
 
-When your energy dips later in the day, and you need to stop your big rock task,
-_then_ you can address sand, like opening your email client.
+When your energy dips later in the day, when you need to stop your big rock
+task, _then_ you can address sand, like opening your email client.
 
 I think we've come to believe the warm up task is sensible, because we compare
 our brains warming up to knowledge work the way an athlete warms up their body
@@ -115,25 +113,29 @@ knowledge work. A better way to wake up your brain prior to the rock would be
 with exercise, like a walk. That stretches the brain's capacity for the next
 part of your day, rather than consuming its finite attention.
 
-But don't let the non-work exercise bleed into the sand of non-work chores.
+But don't let the non-work exercise become the sand of non-work chores.
 
 ## Start before you're ready
 
 For a mysterious, big rock task that's full of unknowns, the payoff is not
 obvious to the brain. The brain will face boredom or existential crisis. Even if
-you resist the knowledge work pebbles and sand, you might still be tempted to
-locate your favorite pen, put on just the perfect mood productivity playlist, or
-boil water for the next cuppa. All while starting the laundry machine, because
-that chore parallelizes.
+you resist the knowledge work pebbles and sand, you might still be tempted to:
+
+1. Locate your favorite pen.
+2. Put on the perfect mood productivity playlist.
+3. Boil water for the next cuppa.
+4. All while starting the laundry machine, because parallel productivity
+   efficiency.
 
-You don't need any of the pen, music, boiled water, or laundry to tackle the
-rock. You can do it without them. Skip them for now.
+**Don't.** You don't need any of the pen, music, boiled water, or laundry to
+tackle the rock. You can do it without them. Automatic as some of them seem,
+coordinating them will drain your limited attention and time. Skip them for now.
 
-If you chip away at your big task for 20 minutes, your body will likely want to
-continue. This is the same strategy as [_don't break the chain_], and [_systems
-over goals_]. The big rock task will have meaningful progress for the day. Even
-if you don't finish the task, you'll end the day a lot more satisfied, with
-something to show, versus if you hadn't touched the task at all.
+Rather, if you chip away at your big task for 20 minutes, your body will likely
+want to continue. This is the same strategy as [_don't break the chain_], and
+[_systems over goals_]. The big rock task will have meaningful progress for the
+day. Even if you don't finish the task, you'll end the day a lot more satisfied,
+with something to show, versus if you hadn't touched the task at all.
 
 To be sustainable, however, you should even embrace _not_ finishing the task.
 
@@ -166,8 +168,8 @@ body. Given a break, your subconscious mind digests the task. The following day,
 it may have a better solution for you, at the ready.
 
 After your workday, don't return to the work. You won't be putting in high
-quality work, you'll get diminishing returns, and you'll hurt your sleep. The
-work will be there waiting for you the next workday.
+quality work. You'll get diminishing returns. You'll hurt your sleep. The work
+will be there waiting for you the next workday.
 
 Plan to stop the work before it's done sometimes. So the work doesn't overwrite
 everything else in your day or life. To be sustainable and not burn out. Life is
@@ -193,6 +195,7 @@ important parts of your life.
     [Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54785515-four-thousand-weeks)
     has a good critique of the parable. For example,
     [there are many rocks that never make it near the jar](https://www.benwhite.com/misc/choosing-rocks/).
+
     The book is also a good introduction to mindfulness about big, mysterious
     tasks forcing you to reckon with your limited time on earth. The existential
     dread is easier to bury with distractions like email or social media.
@@ -201,8 +204,3 @@ important parts of your life.
     I'm hesitant about this analogy, because a marathon is brutal. It is
     dramatic to compare life or work to an athletic challenge only a small
     percentage of humans will ever do.
-
-    A sprint is brutal in a different way, here meant to contrast activities
-    sustainable over a long time span vs. activities only sustainable over a
-    short time span. It is funny that Agile names its timed chunks of work after
-    an unsustainable activity.