TL;DR - Don't think about it, Just Do It. Nike had it figured out all along.
The Art of Not Thinking
121–130 of 168 posts
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#122Don't make decisions just anytime/anyday/anywhere. Make decisions when you are thinking clearly and rationally. And follow through.
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't rationalize or intellectualize everything. Trying just makes it harder later on when the things you cannot bargain with start piling up, despite all of your engineering attempts to prevent them. Essentially the author is asserting that thinking harder isn't going to fix some classes of problem, no matter how hard you think. Fundamentally, there's a trap. It's a short trip from "I can avoid this if I'm good…
That's what I tried to say in my last sentence. For way too absurd things, if you're obliged that time, do it, and the next time simply refuse and go elsewhere.
Some miserable things you have to do and can't get around it in the future. e.g. taxes.
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
If an action is going to minimise anxiety and depression in the long run, then it's what you want to do, so no mind-games and lying to yourself should be required.
So you do what is in your long term best interest at all times? I live in Las Vegas and it feels like my entire city was built on the backs of people who are unable to think in accordance with their long term plans.
Albert Ellis wrote some interesting stuff about this. He called it "long term hedonism." https://albertellis.org/yolo/
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#125One dumb trick I've had success with when it comes to exercise is to just put on my gym clothes.
It may be several hours before I actually go on that run, but now the task of running needs to be executed before the clothes can be taken off.
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#126“Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live with the fear of it.” -- Logen Ninefingers https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/logen-ninefingers#:~:te...
But also "You have to realistic about these things".
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#127For certain tasks, of course, you can also make them enjoyable, or have a built-in (immediate) reward: you have a podcast or audiobook you want to listen to, but you only do it while exercising/cleaning/whatever.
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#128This reminds me of when I did my master’s thesis. At a certain point I had the distinct experience of being forced to turn off part of my brain to get through it. I described it as “mashing the keyboard while screaming through the feelings.”
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#129If you are in a similar boat, it's likely that when you consider an upcoming dreaded task, there is at least a small part of you that admits the possibility that you will not do the task . And because there is, and because your brain realizes it, it expends mental energy trying to convince you not to do it. Once you are actually doing the task, or it's done, or you realize that you must start doing it immediately, yo…
I think this is all abysmal, dangerous advice. The author says to 'become a robot' and you're saying to 'lie to yourself'. It's all very anti-Zen. I think Alan Watts would say it leads to double-binds and discordant psychological feedback loops that will cause you suffering. Your brain isn't a separate part of you. And you should simply be mindful and fully aware of life, do what you want and enjoy doing, when you fe…
": And you should simply be mindful and fully aware of life, do what you want and enjoy doing, when you feel like doing it."
It's not 'lying' to yourself, it's the higher part directing the lower part to do its job.
I think that we would waste away pretty quickly into nothing if we just 'did what we wanted'.
Even creative efforts take considerable amount of focus and discipline. Nothing is really just 'all fun'.
It takes a considerable amount of social training to hold our civility together.
Our complex socialisation is the only thing that separates us from being animals.
Even primates don't just 'do whatever' - even they have social rules.
Our 'higher selves' are the parts of us moving us forward, we can put our 'lower instincts' on cruise control from time to time (and that's probably healthy) but no question the 'thinker' has to be in charge in the end.
Re: The Art of Not Thinking
#130One dumb trick I've had success with when it comes to exercise is to just put on my gym clothes. It may be several hours before I actually go on that run, but now the task of running needs to be executed before the clothes can be taken off.
I do this as well - if doing a task seems too overwhelming I’ll say to myself “well I’ll just do this small subtask instead”.
It starts small.
“I’ll just stick on my shoes” “I’ll just walk to the gate” “I’ll just run to that post” ...
Before you know it you’ve completed the thing you didn’t feel like doing.