"Laziness death spirals"
I read lesswrong far less frequently than I used to, but this post came across my feed and I snagged it to be read later. Nothing amazing, but enjoyable none-the-less.
When you're in a laziness death spiral, it's hard to do anything deliberate. The first and most important step, which does take some willpower but not a lot, is to acknowledge, "I'm in a laziness death spiral today."
If you don't acknowledge it, here's what happens: You vaguely notice you you've been wasting time today; you feel a twinge of guilt, so you quickly decide, "I'm going to turn the rest of the day around, starting right now." And does that work?
Often it doesn't! Sure, after a small lapse you can just get back on track, but if enough laziness momentum has built up, a momentary reaction doesn't cut it. Deciding things quickly, in response to negative emotions, is exactly how you got into this situation! You're going to turn it around on a whim? You'll have a different whim in the next hour; what then? You need to take a step back and get your mind outside of the problem.
|
Everybody says disciple is so important. But they never want to tell you why. I'll tell you why discipline is so important. It's the strongest form of self love. It's ignoring something you want right now for something better later on. Discipline reveals the commitment you have to your dream. Especially on days where you don't want to. The future you is depending on the current you to keep the promises you made yesterday.
|
In Praise of Pointless Goals
What Larios achieved is what I call a Big Pointless Goal: an aspiration that lacks grand purpose, yet requires substantial effort to attain. (An editor of mine also calls these “stupid quests.”) Many other examples are less extreme. The journalist Kim Cross once attempted 100 wheelies a day for 30 days on her bike. The professional runner Rickey Gates traveled every street in San Francisco. A friend of mine is making a five-foot-long rocking triceratops—think a prehistoric-themed rocking horse—in order to fulfill her childhood dream of riding a dinosaur.
[...]
But best of all, chasing a pointless goal sends you on a journey, and people rally around journeys; a hero on a stupid quest is a magnet for helpers and co-conspirators. Cross, the journalist, never did nail the wheelie, but she won another prize instead—time with her 12-year-old son, who started learning the trick alongside her.
|
