The first step is to stop trying
Jul. 30th, 2008 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleAfter complaining a bit about aversion to work, I got asked about how I overcome that. Yeah, I guess that would be more useful than whinging.
Thing is, I'm not lazy. Typically, I'll get up at abou 6:30, and in addition to breakfast and the usual ablutions, I might do some vacuuming, clean out the bottom of the fridge, work on a menu, that sort of thing. Then at some point, I'll be on my hands and knees in the kitchen fixing something, I'll look at the clock, and it will say maybe 10:30. My first thought is "Dang, I've wasted half the day already!
So if you're not that kind of person, this might not work for you. But if you are, just having energy and will is not enough - one also has to have a plan.
When I can't get something done, it is usually because of some mismatch between the plan and reality. So the plan has to go. But planning is difficult, and it's hard to let go of plans because you have often put so much work into them already. For example, I might plan to get all the spices into a particular drawer, only to discover that they don't fit, so something else has to move, and so forth...
Progress means facing bad news. It doesn't feel like progress when the goal seems to recede faster than you can chase it. This is a particular problem with my professional work. Anyway, the approach I use is time-consuming but it does lead to progress. The elements are:
1) Stop trying. Effort is wrapped up with anxiety, which obstructs progress. The effort has to stop until the anxiety is gone, or it just makes it worse.
2) Be there. Was it Woody Allen who said "99% of life is just showing up"? If you want to get something done on a problem, spend time with it. Quite a lot of time. If you don't have the time, then the problem isn't important enough for this approach to work. So rule #1 doesn't mean that you ignore the problem - you just stop doing things that take effort. If you get distracted, be distracted, but when you are done with the distraction, keep going back to the problem.
3) Observe, closely and patiently. Read relevant materials in detail, slowly, considering every word. Do not hurry.
4) Write a story. This does not necessarily mean something in words - I mean "story" in the most general sense possible, just something that records the facts of where you are going and how you intend to get there. It could be a list, or a drawing, or a basket of tools.
5) Read the story. Use the story to repeatedly remind yourself of what is going on.
6) If, after some time, you feel like breaking rule #1, do so. But only if you want to. If exerting effort causes anxiety, stop.
My experience is that getting going on projects involves not just having a correct plan, but letting go of plans that do not work. Progress and disillusionment are closely related things. Would it be unforgivably touchy-feely to say "letting go is hard"? This is really what this approach is about - staging a proper funeral for your false beliefs.
Oh, I almost forgot:
7) Get off LJ. ;-)
Thing is, I'm not lazy. Typically, I'll get up at abou 6:30, and in addition to breakfast and the usual ablutions, I might do some vacuuming, clean out the bottom of the fridge, work on a menu, that sort of thing. Then at some point, I'll be on my hands and knees in the kitchen fixing something, I'll look at the clock, and it will say maybe 10:30. My first thought is "Dang, I've wasted half the day already!
So if you're not that kind of person, this might not work for you. But if you are, just having energy and will is not enough - one also has to have a plan.
When I can't get something done, it is usually because of some mismatch between the plan and reality. So the plan has to go. But planning is difficult, and it's hard to let go of plans because you have often put so much work into them already. For example, I might plan to get all the spices into a particular drawer, only to discover that they don't fit, so something else has to move, and so forth...
Progress means facing bad news. It doesn't feel like progress when the goal seems to recede faster than you can chase it. This is a particular problem with my professional work. Anyway, the approach I use is time-consuming but it does lead to progress. The elements are:
1) Stop trying. Effort is wrapped up with anxiety, which obstructs progress. The effort has to stop until the anxiety is gone, or it just makes it worse.
2) Be there. Was it Woody Allen who said "99% of life is just showing up"? If you want to get something done on a problem, spend time with it. Quite a lot of time. If you don't have the time, then the problem isn't important enough for this approach to work. So rule #1 doesn't mean that you ignore the problem - you just stop doing things that take effort. If you get distracted, be distracted, but when you are done with the distraction, keep going back to the problem.
3) Observe, closely and patiently. Read relevant materials in detail, slowly, considering every word. Do not hurry.
4) Write a story. This does not necessarily mean something in words - I mean "story" in the most general sense possible, just something that records the facts of where you are going and how you intend to get there. It could be a list, or a drawing, or a basket of tools.
5) Read the story. Use the story to repeatedly remind yourself of what is going on.
6) If, after some time, you feel like breaking rule #1, do so. But only if you want to. If exerting effort causes anxiety, stop.
My experience is that getting going on projects involves not just having a correct plan, but letting go of plans that do not work. Progress and disillusionment are closely related things. Would it be unforgivably touchy-feely to say "letting go is hard"? This is really what this approach is about - staging a proper funeral for your false beliefs.
Oh, I almost forgot:
7) Get off LJ. ;-)
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 06:33 pm (UTC)Oh. Sorry. Wrong context.
Never mind.
Homer Simpson sez...
Date: 2008-07-30 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 07:06 pm (UTC)BTW, when you said "Then at some point, I'll be on my hands and knees"... I didn't expect you to be in the kitchen.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-30 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-31 08:23 am (UTC)Projects
Date: 2008-08-01 12:21 am (UTC)A useful technique is to just drop it for a while. Go do another item on the list or have lunch or whatever. I find things often get solved by letting them rattle around in the back of my head picking up flotsam & jetsam. Ideas happen when you're not trying. Overnight is especially good.
A fundamental law of all projects is: You can't just do one project. One thing begets another, and sometimes that begets a third op more. It's just the way things are, it's no big deal, and the sun will still come up in the east tomorrow.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-01 02:38 am (UTC)