Taxonomy of Procrastination
> Is there a failure mode from having too much willpower?<p>Yes.<p>I was a terribly undisciplined child and carried much of that with me into college and early adulthood, so I spent over a decade doing "self discipline workouts".<p>I'm happy to report that it worked: I now have the ability to tell myself "you need to do X" and I will indeed do X. No matter how unpleasant. No matter how long it takes.<p>I'm unhappy to report that it worked: I can willpower myself into burnout easily and only notice how unhealthy I was being when I force myself (or my partner gently forces me) to take a vacation.<p>Overall I'm happy with the tradeoff, but it <i>is</i> possible to become an incredibly unhealthy version of yourself by overcorrecting on procrastination.