I hate working hard

#1

Post by azeirah » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:35 PM UTC

I want to create things, and I do. I can never get myself beyond the point of simple demos and experiments, because I severely dislike working.

I fail school classes, I disappoint people, most importantly myself and I fail to finish simple tasks, only because I do not work hard.

Where do I go with this? I want to create things, but lose my motivation when it becomes hard.

How are others dealing with these kind of problems? I'm sure I cannot be the only person with a paradoxical lazy-ambitious attitude here.

Re: I hate working hard

#2

Post by nickluft » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:41 PM UTC

Find a career that has immediate feedback and rewards. For example teaching, customer service or acting.

Re: I hate working hard

#3

Post by yutyut11 » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:44 PM UTC

Find projects that intrinsically motivate you.

Re: I hate working hard

#4

Post by sp332 » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:48 PM UTC

Work with a friend who encourages you and keeps you on-task.

Re: I hate working hard

#5

Post by JSeymourATL » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:48 PM UTC

The obstacle is the way. If you've lost motivation, find an empowering focus.

Tony Robbins has some good food for thought> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L5PMShQHas

Re: I hate working hard

#6

Post by ceedan » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:49 PM UTC

Sounds like you're toiling in the wrong career field. Is there something that you have been or are particularly good at or enjoy doing?

Re: I hate working hard

#7

Post by msie » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 6:55 PM UTC

Perhaps you can overcome your procrastination by breaking down problems into easy-to-accomplish tasks or tasks that you can concentrate your focus on. Or get someone to do them for you and that someone prods you into getting things done. I've faced this problem and the productivity experts say focus on habits/processes and not on end-goals. Do some google searching on that. Good luck!

Edit: There's also no shame in learning a trade and doing a 9-5 job for income and indulging in your passion away from work.

Re: I hate working hard

#8

Post by rmtutty » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 7:02 PM UTC

You're describing me until about age 30.

1. You need to realize that if something was easy or obvious, it would already exist. The only things worth doing are things that appear impossible.

2. Don't try to keep it all in your head at once. Get good at making a plan or a list of steps, following them (almost blindly), and correcting course every few steps. Taking a big problem apart and bringing small steps to completion keeps things interesting.

3. Make sure you're doing something you're personally interested in. Not everyone is cut out to dig ditches for the man.

Re: I hate working hard

#9

Post by davelnewton » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 7:14 PM UTC

There's nothing paradoxical here; you get excited at the beginning, and lose interest when you actually have to work. That's laziness, not a paradox.

Re: I hate working hard

#10

Post by azeirah » Thu, Nov 13, 2014, 7:15 PM UTC

ceedan wrote: post #6

Sounds like you're toiling in the wrong career field. Is there something that you have been or are particularly good at or enjoy doing?

I enjoy listening to music, I enjoy gaming and I enjoy the end result of my projects and experiments, but as I've noticed, not the way.

Apart from that, I'm a pretty stereotypical started programming on the TI-84 and did nothing but gaming nerd. I haven't really ever done anything else, except for a 1 year job at a grocery store. I simply took this path of the programmer as something that instantly "made sense". But now, I really don't know anymore if I picked the right thing, or maybe I did and that this is just some kind of weird phase I'm going through.