LOL....do this or you're fired!
How do you combat laziness?
by AlmostAtheist 44 Replies latest jw friends
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moshe
Hey A-A you are just being true to your ancestral heritage. The successful hunter-gatherers learned to survive by expending the least amount of energy needed to survive. I have the same problem with just chilling for a long time before I start a project and I will expand a task to fill all the available time I have. Drives my wife nutso.
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poppers
I find that when I imagine starting something, even something as simple as addressing an envelope, it becomes this huge hill in front of me that gets steeper with every step. It isn't like the closer I get to completing the task, the easier it becomes. To the contrary, the more time/effort I invest in a project, the HARDER it becomes to keep working on it. I do ok in the middle -- already started, not nearly done. It's the "getting started" and "finishing" phases that are uphill battles for me.
See the job, do the job, stay out of the misery. The misery is the story we tell ourselves about anything - here is imagination at work. Notice how you keep a story going about something - this is where you make it hard on yourself. The things that absolutely must get done will get done regardless of how you think about it. Getting anything done with less stress is up to you based on the story you tell yourself about it.
Whatever task is at hand simply do it without building a story about it in your mind. Stay focussed on the task itself and not the end result - pay no attention to how far along you are in the task. That way each task is fully experienced just as it is and not how the mind may imagine it to be. Keep returning the actual task and any mental input that may be needed - any mental imput that doesn't impact the accomplishment of the task should be ignored.
In other words, feel the doing of the task as you go along, feel everything fully. When you notice yourself slipping into stories about it, return to the feeling aspect of it. Stay present, remain focussed on feeling it. Thinking about any of it draws energy away from the actual "doing" of it. Before you know it it will be done, and you will find the experience of doing it mentally relaxing.
poppers
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SWALKER
AA----I think anti-depresent is a misnomer. It's not just for "depression" but rather for helping chemical imbalances going on in our brains. A close friend of mine recently started taking one and could not believe the difference it made within a week. Going from dragging around doing almost nothing to jumping out of bed and getting so much accomplished was well worth the benefit of going on this drug. (It was a serotonin uptake, which makes you feel good!!!) Go to the doctor and get a check up and tell them what's going on. Educate yourself by looking up information on the net....if you can find the energy!
Swalker
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AlmostAtheist
I was just about to write a well thought out post but halfway through it became too much of a struggle.......
And I was gonna thank everyone for their ideas, but there's so darned many of them... it'll take FOREVER... so...
;-)
Thanks, everyone. I'm sure there's some depression mixed in there somewhere, as several commented. And it does feel very much like writer's block, as JGnat mentioned. (Thanks for those links!) And of course, my boss asking me how much longer my project is going to take (a nice way of asking why it's taking so long!) was "motivating", ala LSheep's comment.
Beer, as much as I love it, may be part of the problem. I notice that if I drink on a given night, my next day tends to be more difficult to deal with. Maybe the anticipation of a Friday beer will serve as motivation for the week? Can't hurt!
Have a good, productive, non-lazy evening!
Dave
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AlmostAtheist
Whatever task is at hand simply do it without building a story about it in your mind. Stay focussed on the task itself and not the end result - pay no attention to how far along you are in the task. That way each task is fully experienced just as it is and not how the mind may imagine it to be. Keep returning the actual task and any mental input that may be needed - any mental imput that doesn't impact the accomplishment of the task should be ignored.
VERY nice. Thank you! I will take a whack at this tomorrow with a piece of the project that I have a lovely horror story written up about in my mind. Toss the story, do the task. I'll give it a go.
Dave
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JWdaughter
I try not to fight the inevitable and resourcefully try to keep well stocked with bon-bons to meet just such a challenge.
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iggy_the_fish
the only reliable way I've ever found to combat my own almost terminal inertia is to get myself in situations where people are relying on me to do something, or if the fruits of my labour will be on display somehow. That's not necessarily very healthy - but I've never yet found any sort of way to motivate myself to do anything so AA you have my sympathy. Unfortunately, I've got myself into some situations where I've promised other people more than I could deliver which has definitely not been healthy, but there are also other odd times where it's worked ok. I have an envy for self motivated people. Hope you find something that works.
ig
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jgnat
A fierce wife goes a long way...
My husband would agree with you on that one, M.J.
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katiekitten
OK, heres a sensible suggestion. I have a To Do book.
I write everything in it that I want to do, as that saves me remembering it, and it frees up brainspace for other things. Also I put nice easy to do things on there as well as more important stuff, that way I feel like I am getting things ticked off at a satisfying rate.
Its mostly for work but I put non work things on there too. I have assumed the air of someone who is very effective since I got my book because it does help me get things done. Plus I put a coulpe of nice things on there too like "Buy self some earrings".
