Lazy Dopers who somehow became productive.

Has anyone here went from being a waste of carbon to being very productive? If so, how did you make the change? What motivated you to become productive?

Also, describe the change if you can. Did you go from working at a job with little responsibility and resenting all household chores to a working at a job with little responsibility but now you manage to do the dishes? Or, did you go from being a stock boy to being a lawyer (or a similar job with a high work load)?

Responsibility has been a big motivation for me - I went from being an absolutely lazy-ass pot-smoking teenager, to an only moderately lazy working young adult (I’m currently 21).

Basically, when I realized I had bills coming in that I had to pay myself or I’d be out on the street, it really changed my outlook with regard to getting off my ass and going to work in good spirits. True, I have been working since age 15, but I used to have a really terrible attitude about it. Although I still don’t love my job a lot of the time, that attitude has come around a lot ever since I realized I’m going to be working in one capacity or another pretty much my whole life, so I need to come to terms with it and find peace with my work.

I still feel like I need some more motivation, and when the time comes for a serious relationship and later a family, I can only imagine my overall productivity going up (yes, I know there will be stress too. Possibly lots of it. But I’ve already handled a pretty enormous amount of stress for a 21 year old, I’m ready to accept the new challenges when they come to me)

I used to be pretty lazy. Now I do stuff like bake bread every day, brew my own wine, and write pages of material.

What happened? I joined the Peace Corps. No Internet. No television. Nobody nearby that speaks the same language as me. There is no longer any reason to procrastinate. It’s amazing how pointless being lazy is here.

Met a driven woman and became a bit self-conscious of how working just enough to get by and spending the rest of my time arsing about on the internet would appear to a non-lazy observer.

Now I’m working ten-hour days in an administrative job and taking on more-and-more of a workload. It’s all or nothing with me, apparently.

There’s a long story here, but I’ll spare you the details. I spent a decade homeless, unable to get welfare because I didn’t have a street address, and had no luck getting a regular job. Nobody cares that you’ve played on peoples’ records or had your voice all over the airwaves. All they see on your applications is that you haven’t held a long-term job with any company, ever, and your applications go into the circular file. A lot of people, like those closest to me, saw it as my being lazy, with no room for explanation, even if it wasn’t truly the case. I wanted to be a musician, dammit, and by the time I had conceded defeat, I had no track record to fall back on. I have been about as low as a person can go, without having the burden of addiction to compound the problems.

Then, completely out of the blue, one of my hobbies provided me with a way out. I had a mail-order business, and a relationship developed between me and a customer. I ended up emigrating to the US to be with her. We got married in 1998. I put myself in a situation where I simply could not fail, because the only other option was to go back to more of the same. That is not going to happen.

Now, I have a State job doing the other thing I know best. I got promoted just before Xmas to salaried, with benefits and pension. I live in a pretty nice house in the suburbs, which the landlord is going to sell to us privately, later this year. I have job security, a great marriage, toys and equipment, and we have the money to indulge ourselves in our favorite hobbies and pastimes. That’s what motivates me not to be lazy, or fail. I’ve lived on both sides of the fence, and this is the side where I’m staying.

It was the change of locale that helped; America let me in. I’m grateful to America for letting me in, and allowing me to start from scratch to work to get what I have today. I can’t do anything to jeopardize my situation. I can’t let my wife down, and I can’t let myself down. Not that it’s a struggle, mind you. Everything is going as well as could possibly be expected, maybe better. I just needed an opportunity. When it came, I grabbed onto it for all I was worth. It’s paying off, big time.

Adderall!
Seriously.

This is a huge motivator for me, too. After years of self-employment that became more-and-more difficult to distinguish from unemployment, I think I am a much different sort of worker than I was before experiencing the whole subsistence existence thing.

Before, I had a pretty cavalier attitude towards “sick” days, and took more than my share of “sick of working” days. (Felt very secure in my job.)

Now I think I’m turning into that guy – effing obnoxious eager beaver. Always on the look-out for cost-saving measures, etc. I had an e-mail exchange with my boss today about overtime I’ve been working, and declined to be paid for all of it. Compromised and agreed to bank some of it as extra vacation time later. What the hell is happening to me? What’s this on my nose?

Oh, right – I really want this job – and I want them to think well of me at my next review, etc.

I want to repair my credit (in tatters from years of from-Peter-to-Pauling) and start saving towards a house. (In some glorious Eastern city where that’s not just a pipe-dream, as it is in this crazy town.)

Ditto!
Seriously!

What is changing me from being a lazy bastard to an annoying doing-stuff bastard?

Exercise and better nutrition. Seriously.

The process is not yet complete, and I still have to watch getting sleepy and slacking, but I used to be drowsy all the time, and I would spend a lot of time sleeping. Now I go to the gym and eat better and take liquid nutrient/vitamin supplements and have a lot more energy. I suspect I was at least mildly malnourished before.

I have learned hard over time that I can only stay motivated if the task at hand involves some substantial challenge. I literally did almost no work during high school. I slept through most of it and bought my homework every day. Long story, but I still ended up at a prestigious university and I had the talent but almost no preparation. The thrill and fear made me excel at it right away and I became a 4.0 student by the middle of my sophomore year.

That theme has repeated itself over and over. I have been “laid off” from professional jobs that allowed me to get bored and coast. I have excelled in jobs that were so demanding that virtually all my coworkers quit from the stress and frustration more than once.

Like I said, this theme tends to appear in some form all the time for me. I have learned that I have to boost the difficulty and stress level sufficiently to do well. Something that is too easy is too hard for me and I just shut down.

Bumping for more stories.

I’m pretty lazy. I spend too much time on the computer, I love to sit back and devour a whole book in one setting, and I hate working, the 9-5 grind or any other kind. I also hate lawnwork, housework and the like.

I went back to college because I was tired of working factory and warehouse jobs. Too much work (not enough pay).

I haven’t really become productive though, unless you count working part time and going to school full time as productive. I have to admit that my laziness is what pushes me to excel. If I work my way up far enough, I may not have to work as much, and that would be wonderful. My goal is to do whatever it takes to either 1.) get a job that I just love sooo much (unlikely if I am working for somebody else) or 2.) Start my own business either doing something I love, or doing something that makes me rich so I can sell my business and sit around doing nothing.

Of course what I would love is anything to do with books or computers, writing, or something like real-estate or rentals.

Is it bad that I work so I can later be lazy?

I feel like I transition every time I go between home and college.

When I’m at home I feel like I have no energy. A good day might be making it to the gym in the morning and the grocery store in the afternoon. Other than that I just read, watch TV, and go see movies with friends.

But then I get back to school, and there’s so much going on, I just keep going. Some weeks, it feels like the only time I’m in my room is to sleep. I love it.

It’s nice to get to break up school with a few weeks of home every one and a while.

Anti-depressants and mood stabilizers allowed me to actually get up and do stuff. I am living better through chemistry.