31–40 of 168 posts
For the main example given (exercise), I think for people like me there really is no thinking involved. It's purely an emotional aversion to discomfort and disenjoyment of physical activity. I think the better advice is to search for physical hobbies you enjoy rather than to 'just do it' (tm).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vonnegut had a great quote along the lines of "we become who we pretend to be".
"Fake it till you make it" meme?
In the book, Mother Night, the character is working for the US (and the Allies) but under the cover of working for the Nazis. So it's a bit of a twist on "fake it til you make it". In the latter, you pretend to be what you want to be. In the book he's pretending to be what he doesn't want to be, but the consequence is that post-war he's perceived to have been a Nazi (or at least a collaborator).
It's very difficult for me to do anything like this because I end up forgetting things so much - good old ADHD, not something funny pills alone can solve. Creating a routine and sticking to it works best for me, but I've never been unable to stick with it through more turbulent times. Everything is fine until something, say, an unexpected family visit or a worldwide pandemic, disrupts my everyday life and routine and…
Whatever is the quickest to get me to a list of reminders that I can choose from.
And I do best when I can sort those by effort required to complete. Refill cat food bowls, minimal effort, QED. Find contractor for back porch rework, not as simple. So I break it down and find a smaller step I can do and list that.
Even if I get knocked out of my list, I always have it to get back on track.
Tasks.org is my current tool, after trying many many others.
On my worst days I set a repeating alarm to get my attention and look at the list again. Sometimes exhaustion, sometimes lack of desire, but I have a wife and animals to provide for so one way or the other I make it happen.
For the main example given (exercise), I think for people like me there really is no thinking involved. It's purely an emotional aversion to discomfort and disenjoyment of physical activity. I think the better advice is to search for physical hobbies you enjoy rather than to 'just do it' (tm).
I feel the other extreme is more acceptable. For me, the biggest barrier to getting started on something is all the boilerplate and ceremony around actually doing the thing. Right now, I can go from a resting state in bed to sitting on my rower or running outside within 90 seconds. The same cannot be said for most other physical hobbies. I rationalize it along lines of "If I start right this second, I can be done wit…
For the main example given (exercise), I think for people like me there really is no thinking involved. It's purely an emotional aversion to discomfort and disenjoyment of physical activity. I think the better advice is to search for physical hobbies you enjoy rather than to 'just do it' (tm).
Problem with this theory is that you may not always find hobbies that are equivalent to good workout. I.e. walking will not get your heart rate up.
But now that gyms are closed (I wouldn't go if they were open anyway), I don't have a good substitute. And bodyweight exercises take significantly longer to get the same "pump".
At the gym, I'm forced to get through the workout. At home, it's so easy to hop on the laptop during breaks between sets and get distracted.
If 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…
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 feel like doing it.
No wonder there is such an issue with anxiety and depression when culture seems intent on mind-games that trick people into spending life doing things that they don't really want to do.
Something also that I noted is that it is somewhat easier to do the task you don't want to do when you're tired / sleep deprived - mostly because effectively, my brain is too tired to argue against doing the thing.
I'm sure it wasn't an effective strategy for information retention, and I developed pretty terrible sleep habits which plagued me for years after. But the homework got done...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel the other extreme is more acceptable. For me, the biggest barrier to getting started on something is all the boilerplate and ceremony around actually doing the thing. Right now, I can go from a resting state in bed to sitting on my rower or running outside within 90 seconds. The same cannot be said for most other physical hobbies. I rationalize it along lines of "If I start right this second, I can be done wit…
This is identical to how I feel. My advice to people who want to get in a routine of exercising is to minimize the barrier to entry. For me it was running. I leave my house and can immediately start the thing I don't want to do without having all this overhead to start doing the thing I don't want to do (going to the gym etc).
For things like textbooks, I'll start easily but then, when I reach a new point or new chapter, I will rationalized my self to stop it there and call it a done work, when in reality I worked only 30 minutes instead of and hour. it's like my mind is rationalizing itself to settle for a sub goal.