I want to do many things, read great works of literature, travel the world, explore fresh ideas, meet new people, I was to go to college and get twenty different degrees, I want to write, draw, paint, all to the limits of rational comprehension, I was to make myself into a new being. So why haven’t I done any of these things? Why do I get trapped into paying too much attention to the small things, like bills, rent, work? Why do I give up so easily when the first challenge comes along?
Problem is, you don’t know the answer, and I don’t know the answer. Who is ultimately responsible? Me.
What is it going to take for me to become the person my high standards and low motivation want?
Perhaps you’re setting your goals a little lofty? Being realistic with yourself is a good first step. It’s quite easy to get discouraged when you don’t achieve grandiose dreams. Rent, work, and bills are real life, and you’re going to have to deal with them. Try taking a class at your local community college just to teach yourself something new. Instead of getting twenty degrees, why not start off with one? Take things one at a time.
How old are you? If you’re 25 and unhappy because you haven’t achieved your life goals, then you’re deluding yourself. It’s good to have goals as long as they’re realistic. Good luck!
Laziness is a habit. It is not easy to break, but can be. Start by doing some of those things for 5 minutes a day. Increase it after a week or so. Never increase it so much that you won’t do it. Make sure that you *always *do it *each *day. Eventually you’ll have a new habit.
Do you really want to do all those things, or is it just that it’d be nice to have already done them? I can’t remember the quote exactly, but I read somewhere that many people say “I want to write a book” but what they really mean is “I want to have written a book already” and be on to the fun part of Being An Author.
I used to have a list a mile long of Stuff To Do. It really helped me to split it into two lists: Stuff I’m Going To Do and Stuff I Think Is Cool And Might Get Around To, One Day, If I Win A Million Bucks And Don’t Have To Work For A Living Anymore. Since then I’ve actually managed to do quite a lot of stuff on the 1st list, while the 2nd just keeps getting longer. As I got the hang of Doing Stuff and the 1st got shorter, a few things from the 2nd sneaked onto the 1st, just to keep it at a length I like the look of. Maybe splitting your list into sections might help you get some of it done.
Agent Foxtrot
You hit the nail on the head, I’m 26 and I compare my life to my peers, who all seem to have Masters, are travelling the world, or in the case of my dearly missed ex-girlfirend, she is the best writer/poet I’ve ever known personally.
Small steps I keep telling myself, this is not a race.
singlefile
Good to now that I’m not alone in my perpetual laziness.
Khadaji
Sound advice, I think I’ll start doing that tomorrow.
stringy
Exactly. Why do I have to lern this stuff? Can’t I be naturally good at everything? Lists are my friend and enemy. I spend too much time making the lists, revising the lists, making the lists look pretty, I feel like Rimmer from * Red Dwarf.*
Thank you all. Perhaps, when I get this laziness thing taken care of, I’ll famous, and you can say to yourself “I helped tLM achieve that fame. I deserve a piece! Where’s my lawyer?” Then our lawyers can be decidedly un-lazy.
Darn. I thought I would come home from work and find the answer to my life waiting right here in this thread. You say I gotta actually work at it??? In my case the work isn’t the problem so much as organizing the work. I have in fact written the book. However, it is on little scraps of paper all over the place. I am in the process of getting them all centrally located, but frankly that sort of thing bores me so we will probably be going out for ice cream now. That sort of thing interests me.
Heehee, I know the feeling. But colour co-ordinating lists and charts is a soothing activity as long as you have no intention of doing anything mentioned on them It’s a nice way to relax after a long day.
c_carol - ah, thankyou. Of course Pratchett would be the one with a witty opinion on the matter!
I’ve found that setting intermediate goals helps in a couple of ways. First, if you’ve identified intermediate goals as milemarkers to the “big prize” then you have reinforcing encouragement along the way - you get to see progress. Another thing is to not be discouraged. Good luck.
It’s a nice way to relax after a long day.