I am a chronic slacker. I procrastinate self-destructively. I have for years.

A

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Makrosky said:
JRMoney15 said:
Ayuhasca is a bunch of bs. There's no way ray would be on board with it. People have died from it and have also had an awful experiences.

You don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about. Let's try to give some good advice to the OP. I think he/she needs it.


No, I do. I've researched it and watched unbiased documentaries. I miss the days when stupid ayuhasca posts would be moved to the section for crap not supported by Ray peat's recommendations.

And if you look above, I did make a recommendation to the OP.
 

charlie

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JRMoney, this is the "Longue" so thats why it has not been moved or brought up. We are not technically in the Ray Peat discussion area.
 

mt_dreams

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There's a lounge? Time to put my big boy pants on.

Our desires have increased 100 fold over the last half century, so the master controller in our brain is basically winging it.

Willpower is good for breaking routines, but don't kill motivation with willpower, it's a recipe for depression later in life.

Everything we do is at the expense of all other possible options/desires. Another way of looking at things is you have been sacrificing all of your other conscious desires to act out what your sub-conscious truly wants, even if that's being a slacker.

If you are an optimistic person, & generally happy, then you have not procrastinated self-destructively. Rather your procrastination has prevented you from acting out certain perceived desires ... there's no need to shame yourself.

There's different types of easy & hard. There's how easy or hard it is to put effort into something. If you are following your true motivations, then putting effort toward them will be gratifying in the moment which makes effort an easy decision. Another type is how easy or hard the effort at hand is. An example like learning to drive in a crowded city can be a hard task at first, but if you are motivated to learn how to drive, you will put effort (time) towards the task until it becomes easier. Most hard tasks get easier with repetition. If your having to constantly will yourself to do something, it's probably because to don't truly care enough about doing it.

Regarding falling behind at school. Confirm with the master controller in your head that if you do not put effort aka time towards your studies, then you will be kicked out of school. college is doable if you put the time in. You may not be top of the class, but most can graduate if they put the effort in. If you still do not put effort, this is your gut telling you it wants to go in another direction.

If your motivation is to do nothing (societies labels this laziness, which was quite common pre-industrial revolution), then it might be your gut telling you to simplify your desires.

Get a firm grasp on how much influence fear has in your decisions. You'll never be perfect, and failure, for the most part, is actually beneficial (even more so during your teens & 20's). You'll thank yourself for breaking through this sooner rather than later. Ways to get over fear is to purposely fail, and realize the fear of failure is usually 100 times worse then the actual pain felt after failing.

edit: Aya is definitely not BS, though it should never be suggested as a way to fix things. This is a sacred powerful medicine, not another way to amuse oneself. My ex was friends with someone whose brother died on this stuff (the news said it was a tea b/c I guess they didn't want people to get any ideas). I became terrified by darkness and heard voices for at least 3 months post aya, so there's safer things to start with before suggesting the mother of all medicines. Without a proper shaman, a bad experience can actually be counter-productive.
 

tara

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I have struggled with procrastination at times (and still do) too.

Some things that make a difference for me as far as I can tell, when I get them right:

1. From time to time explicitly noting what my own larger goals are (not someone else's goals for me), and what the next steps are that I need to take to progress them. Some problems get easier just by breaking them down into clear, specific tasks.
2. Telling someone interested what I am planning to do towards those goals, and then reporting what I have done - the more frequently the better - daily is ideal. I couple of times I've traded this with someone else who also found it useful over a period of weeks, and that was really helpful.
3. If there is something I have had real trouble forcing myself to tackle, either get company to help me focus on it, or find a constructive way of facing the feelings I'm trying to avoid.
4. Attend to health. When I'm not well, it's hard to get anything done. This includes adequate calories, sleep, warm environment, regular sunshine (or whatever daylight is available).
 

barefooter

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you said:
I’m not a defeatist. I believe in self improvement. I’m really an optimist. I’m generally happy. I believe that the world is an awesome place and I believe that I’m an awesome person. I know I can do better but I just can’t seem to muster the willpower for continuous, meticulous work. I’m becoming increasingly disappointed in myself for analyzing and bitching about my problems and not just fixing them. I’m such a wuss, god damn.

You sound a bit like me when I was in college, so I'll weigh in. I hated doing bs work that seemed to serve no purpose for my life. I learned how to complete the work I hated with as little effort as possible, and then pour my energy into the stuff I actually liked and having as much fun as possible. I was lucky to find computer science as my passion in school, and that kept my brain captivated even amongst all the ***t classes I was forced into, and has paned out to be a great career. I still have an aversion to forced crap work, and I think I always will, it's only natural for anti-authoritarian creative thinkers.

First off, I think you're being way too hard on yourself. School is mostly a bull**** authoritarian institution that saps our true motivation and creativity. You are beating yourself up for not having some kind of internal motivation towards doing bull**** busy work your teachers force on you. Give yourself a pat on the back, you're a smart individual resisting being made into a cog. Once you recognize that your aversion to this bs isn't your fault, but the fault of how our society raises and educates kids you can start making things work for you. They're not trying to make you into a smart critical thinker or have you be passionate about life, so take matters into your own hands.

Be glad you're in college and no longer high school (worst time of my life :) ), now you're getting an increasing ability to shape your education in the way you want it to be. Of course, early college is a lot about taking required general classes, so that sucks, but there is light at the end of that tunnel. Do you have areas already where you want to focus? Get into classes in some direction that interests you as soon as possible. You'll still have to do bs and take some classes you hate, but you can at least get to the point where some of your education is stimulating, it will make the bs easier to push through. Find something that really stimulates you and pour your energy into it.

Also, remember to look at school as an opportunity to get out as much as you can. You already seem to have a handle on resisting oppression, based on your hatred for doing bs work. Now, since you're already there, figure out how to actually get something useful out of it. Have an interesting teacher, pick their brain after class. Make cool/interesting/smart friends, when else are you going to be around so many people your age? Put in extra effort when something really interests you, it will fuel you through the boring stuff. You're paying for this ***t, so figure out how to get the most out with the least amount of pain.

You also might benefit from some better planning for tackling homework and projects. You could try breaking things up into manageable tasks, and planning out specific days/times when you are going to complete that task. Often times all it takes is knowing you can do a small piece of something to give motivation to keep going, when staring at the whole project can just seem impossible. As an added benefit, this breaking up of tasks and setting dates is how things get done at post college jobs, so it's a useful skill to have.

Finally, lighten up and try to have some fun. It's college, a rare time in your life when you get to hang around lots of peers in a hopefully stimulating environment. Get the best grades you can, but don't be too hard on yourself if some of them aren't great. As long as you know deep down inside that you're intelligent, creative, loving, etc. that's all that matters. Some mark on a report card doesn't define a person.
 

tara

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Last time I was studying, I got together with a small group of others for study groups a couple of times. It was well worth the time. Helped keep motivated and focused on what we were all supposed to be learning, and much for fun than doing it alone.
 

uuy8778yyi

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give up
TV
video games
football

drugs and alcohol

the world will become different
 

tara

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you said:
So, approaching this problem scientifically, what should I do?
Standup meeting every morning (or sit down if you must) - report in here (use xxxs or similar if you have bits you want to keep confidential):
What are your goals? (Your goals, not necessarily the same as someone else's goals for you. Incl ones you have been stuck on, as well as ones you've progressed well. )
What have you done towards your goals since last posting here?
What will you do next?
Any impediments? (not that we can fix them, but identifying them may be useful for dealing with them)

:D
 
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You mean like hi, I'm Joe, and I'm a chronic slacker ?
 

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