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The Three Kinds of Laziness

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Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#31

Post by [deleted] »

oblique63 wrote: post #27
ctdonath wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But "snap out of it" is exactly it. The person must make the choice to do , regardless of any array of fears, disabilities, circumstances, or excuses. No matter how real the issues, it still is a matter of choice. Skirting death can clarify this. Do or do not. There is no try.

Something about this stance has always bothered me. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always just seen this as condescending because 'having a choice' has always been blatantly obvious to me. I will immediately take that back and apologize if a majority of people really don't realize this, but so far it has always seemed like most people give rather 'meh' reactions to these sorts of responses because you're no…

[deleted]

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#32

Post by oblique63 »

joelrunyon wrote: post #29
oblique63 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something about this stance has always bothered me. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always just seen this as condescending because 'having a choice' has always been blatantly obvious to me. I will immediately take that back and apologize if a majority of people really don't realize this, but so far it has always seemed like most people give rather 'meh' reactions to these sorts of responses because you're no…

If you're trying to learn how to walk, what's more helpful: learning the mechanics of how you walk & why we're physically capable of doing it or telling you to just start putting one foot in front of the other. If you want to do something (anything), you can break down actionable mechanisms all you want, but at some point it has to move from theoretical into action. It's tougher with this stuff (lazyness) because it'…

This is true, but I feel we need to try harder before reaching this conclusion that "oh, it's inherently too theoretical/has too many solutions, so you're just going to have to figure it out by yourself". Because even in the scenario that it did have too many possible solutions, wouldn't it be more helpful to provide at least one in addition to the theory? I think it would, as long as you make it clear that there are other possibilities out there and that this particular solution might not work for you.

The crux of the issue for me, is that intelligence research (to my rather limited knowledge) seems to be converging on the idea that people have different inherent [genetic?] constraints on learning ability. Not learning capacity mind you, just that it might be more challenging for certain subsets of people to understand quantum physics (for example) than others, and that that could be traced back to how much 'actionable' material they are exposed to -- if they're not exposed to enough, then they could easily be left behind and be blamed for not 'choosing' to get it. This is what bothers me. Especially since I know I often find myself struggling for ages with things that other people seem to grasp with significantly less information than I needed to 'get it'.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#33

Post by WalterSear »

joelrunyon wrote: post #29
oblique63 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something about this stance has always bothered me. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always just seen this as condescending because 'having a choice' has always been blatantly obvious to me. I will immediately take that back and apologize if a majority of people really don't realize this, but so far it has always seemed like most people give rather 'meh' reactions to these sorts of responses because you're no…

If you're trying to learn how to walk, what's more helpful: learning the mechanics of how you walk & why we're physically capable of doing it or telling you to just start putting one foot in front of the other. If you want to do something (anything), you can break down actionable mechanisms all you want, but at some point it has to move from theoretical into action. It's tougher with this stuff (lazyness) because it'…

You can break it down ad infinitum, but if the real reason you can't do something is that you are afraid to, or you don't actually believe it's possible, then no amount of Nike slogans will make a difference. And furthermore, the implication is that, if they don't get up off their ass, it's their fault, and not something in their environment (including their internal one) that can be changed, and is what they should be actually focusing on.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#35

Post by vishaldpatel »

davidroberts wrote: post #13

How about the fourth kind of lazyness--not knowing what the hell to do out of the many choices available, so you sit around hoping the right choice will make itself obvious. It can turn into a very long wait.

Put all your choices in a hat and pick one. Your time runs out even faster when you lay there immobilized by choice.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#36

Post by orangethirty »

davidroberts wrote: post #13

How about the fourth kind of lazyness--not knowing what the hell to do out of the many choices available, so you sit around hoping the right choice will make itself obvious. It can turn into a very long wait.

Pick one ad get moving. Nothing proves you wrong like doing things.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#37

Post by hkmurakami »

3 weeks ago, I was hit by a car. I was cycling. The car was going 50mph. When I was hit from behind, it felt like a wall had come out of nowhere and had slammed into me. On the ground, I was in so much pain I couldn't move, yet as I lay on the ground screaming, I was strangely calm enough inside to be thankful that I wasn't dead.

I was in the hills (I had been training to prepare for a multi-month bike tour), so I was helicoptered to the hospital. If just a few things had gone worse, I could have been paralyzed or even dead. The driver had his eyes off the road to adjust his sun visor, so literally anything could have happened. I was aware of this myself but the paramedics and doctors all made sure to make me aware of my said luck. I've somehow gotten out with just a few broken ribs and abrasions throughout the left side of my body (probably will be permanent).

It's definitely brought a renewed sense of appreciation for the time I have left here on this little blue ball.

I wasn't going to write about this until all the insurance claims had been settled, but I felt compelled to spill the beans here on this occasion here. I guess it's a sign that I've grown pretty close to this community.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#38

Post by brudgers »

Hacking is often prompted by a fourth species: productive laziness - lest we forget, seeking to not be lazy is also grasping.

Productive laziness leads to the improvement of tools from new programming languages to editor extensions to automating testing.

Re: The Three Kinds of Laziness

#40

Post by throwaway1980 »

Does anyone else feel kind of confused and guilty when they read this? It just seems so condescending to me.

I like eating and sleeping. I pay a lot of attention to these things. If you're eating well and sleeping well, your life is probably going pretty good. Sure, I'm going to die, that's why food and sleep matter even more. This planet would be a pretty happy place if everyone was eating and sleeping as much as they needed.

Second, what the heck. Too lazy to work on perfecting myself? I thought spiritual enlightenment was about having a smaller ego, not a bigger one. I'm going to feel more motivated if I focus on how awesome I'll be if I do the inner work? You can't do this stuff for very long because you want to get something out of it, you only do it in the long term because circumstances push you into it and you have no choice.

Third, details vs. essentials. Details are bad now? You won't get far with only one or the other. Yes, essentials are important, but so are details. In startup terms, a great idea is essential, but you're dead without a great execution.

Anyway, "laziness" is such a crap word in a spiritual context. As if enlightenment was an achievement, when the point of just about every religion is being, not doing.

Eat. Sleep. Give yourself a break when you hit a wall; perhaps you ought to re-evaluate your priorities. Do a thorough and meticulous job on all of your little projects. Pay attention to what you're doing, and you'll come out of it all the wiser. Lack of progress in any one area is not laziness, it's a signal that you need to try a different course of action.

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