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Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

swapnilchauhan.com

121–130 of 284 posts

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#121
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it’s a bit of a personal question, but can you elaborate on your ego diluting experience?

I think it would be really hard to understand without experiencing it. But I will write down anyway. So before dilution I had this strong idea of who I was. I had this back story. There were certain things I do. And certain things I don't do. I used to judge everyone. I had a very high opinion about myself and used to constantly do or find things to validate that. Now I don't have a story in which I live on. Each and…

I really enjoyed this post; thank you.

"No regard for authority or beliefs. Everyone is equal. You want to know and not believe." I am often amazed / in awe of the internet for leading me toward this place. My mind and equanimity opened much further as a result of the knowledge share that occurred over the last 20 years. Much less judgment, more curiosity. Paradoxically this has led me to revisit areas, like religion, that are often dismissed as irrational.

Although, I try not to use words like that because I am still working through it.

How are you working through: why I am aware?

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been heavily dealing with the existential questions you are referencing but it only gets worse. What helped you in resolving those issues or come to terms with them?

I find that Islam has the most satisfying and complete answers about these existential questions.

All the books contain beautiful wisdom. For me that's what is so stirring about their lasting poetry -- you can hear the long echoes of human truth.

However, I don't know Islam very well! Do you have any suggestions for where to start? A specific translator? Thanks in advance.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you experience this or are you guessing? Because I think you are thinking this again through ego. I don't have a thought that I appreciate sunset when I see one. The sunset looks magical. There is a shift in experience. Before watching sunset was like watching in 420p. Now it's 4k. The consciousness is heightened. You only see the sunset. You don't think of old memories of sunset. Or random events from past or th…

I'm guessing but it's not without some experience. I feel like I trick myself all the time - to guide myself towards becoming what I want to be. There was a time when I felt unintelligent and incapable of great, technical things. So I kind of just did things that it seemed capable people did. I felt like people who are smart, capable, and rich now, hacked things when they were young and were rebellious and broke the…

> I don't know what it means to think this through ego.

I think most people are familiar with the feeling of being in a 'flow state'. Contrasting this with times when we indulge in a stream of 'self referential thought' is, in my opinion, a good way to grasp how ego influences our state of mind.

Try to imagine being in a flow state without actually doing anything other than observing. It's something I experience at times when I'm in a beautiful natural environment. I try to bring this feeling into my everyday life.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would be really hard to understand without experiencing it. But I will write down anyway. So before dilution I had this strong idea of who I was. I had this back story. There were certain things I do. And certain things I don't do. I used to judge everyone. I had a very high opinion about myself and used to constantly do or find things to validate that. Now I don't have a story in which I live on. Each and…

I've been heavily dealing with the existential questions you are referencing but it only gets worse. What helped you in resolving those issues or come to terms with them?

The karmic traditions developed this most completely and thoroughly. You don't need to buy into the supernatural claims to benefit from them.

A great starting point can be Shinzen Young's The Science of Enlightenment and/or Sam Harris's Waking Up.

After that, you might look into Why Buddhism is True or The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or Mindfulness in Plain English.

The Healthy Gamer Youtube channel also has great videos going into this and how they tie into psychology.

David Chapman's https://meaningness.com/ is also pretty great.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#125
Review: The author uses this article to say why they're not writing as much as they want. They break it down into two reasons: self judgement of quality, and the quality bar set by articles and projects in their sphere of reading. It ends with having acknowledged the issues, the author is ready to write more.

Opinion: having seen this with many friends I think the author does good to acknowledge it, but the main thing to figure out is why they're writing. To be prolific at writing does not need to imply prolific at publishing.

I've actually started to write these review style comments because far too often the articles posted here don't have substance and interesting debates happen around bad data. So I wanted to see a change and critique the content not just the general concepts behind it. I now write more without having to accept my contributions are significant. But also create a network effect where friends read my reviews instead of being swayed by the upvotes and comment sizes, or worse the algorithm.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that Islam has the most satisfying and complete answers about these existential questions.

I don't like idea of only one religion getting it right. There are multiple paths to truth. Pretending only one religion has it is ignorance and lying and not truthful. And truth is what we should strive for. Irrespective of which society you were brought up in.

He didn’t say that had the answer, just the most complete one. Sorta makes sense when it’s the youngest religion I suppose? They wouldn’t make the same mistakes they made 600 or 4000 years previous.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did abandoning your ego impact your morality compass? Is there a not caring anymore dimension to it?

It's actually the opposite. I found ego was what was stoping me from doing right things. When I had the opportunity to do a right thing previously I used to think someone else will do it or it's not my job or what If I fail. Now I just do it.

How do you define "right"?

From an exterior point of view, your behavior seems potentially dangerous, like a disinhibited illuminated drunk that any people or situation can easily point any way as they see fit.

How do you make sure you don't become an "awful" person for those around you ?

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#128

TIL: there are randoms in the world who feel the exact what I feel, on daily basis for past three or four years. It is frustrating. One recent mindset change I have adopted that reduces the feeling of overwhelming is: 1. Say it out loud, "I have plenty of time" and breathe deeply 2. "I have to work within constraint for which I do not have control of" 3. Can things be a lot more worse then they are? Fortunately, the…

> 1. Say it out loud, "I have plenty of time" and breathe deeply

The older I get, the less this is true, but the less I stress about it. There’s a great many things I’ll be able to accomplish, but never everything that I would want to. And that is fine.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#129

I suffered from this. The issue is the ego. Ego has a lot of ideas about itself and others. Ego has such high opinion about itself it only can do great work. Which prevents it from doing anything. It's kind of a way of avoiding failures. Because failures will break the grant ideas about himself OP has created. I accidentally went through a spiritual awakening which diluted ego. I have no problem in doing any kind of…

This mirros my experience during my studies. The first few years were excruciating.

Re: Procrastination and the fear of not being good enough

#130
Something that's not really answered in this post but maybe in another one is - why are they writing?

I used to have the exact same ambitions, blocks and difficulties writing (you can see on my blog).

Turns out, I just don't like writing. It's something that many smart minds extol as a great practice, which I 100% agreed, but once I gave it a serious go for myself, just didn't really enjoy the journey, product nor the outcome.

Usually, you need to like one of those elements otherwise there's a good chance you're not doing the thing for yourself, but because someone else is giving you the reason.

Do try though, because you won't know until you do.

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