4 ms·
Not a bad piece, but for me it turns out almost all of my so-called procrastination and laziness is rooted in a congenital medical condition. When I can manage
by DoreenMichele 5y ago
Not a bad piece, but for me it turns out almost all of my so-called procrastination and laziness is rooted in a congenital medical condition. When I can manage to take good care of myself, energy and mental focus lead to productivity. When I can't, then I look like some kind of loser to the outside world.
I suspect that under recognized health issues are a common factor in such patterns. I knew a guy who swore he wasn't allergic to anything but began every single day with something like an entire pot of coffee and ended it with up to an entire bottle of wine. Uppers in the morning and downers at night is a common medical approach to managing severe allergies.
The other thing that helped me enormously was reading some book from a library when I was living in Germany in my mid twenties. (No, I have no idea what the book was called.)
It covered an idea that was supposedly fairly common before modern psychology became popular. The idea was that you have a certain budgeted ability to do a particular type of thing and if you aren't getting enough of that thing, you will do more of that type of thing voluntarily (as a hobby) and if you are being forced to do more of that type of thing than your internal budget supports, you will start experiencing burnout.
Programmers routinely give a variety of anecdotal testimony that fits with this concept. Some can program all day at work and come home and program some more to work on a side project. Some are so done with it after programming all day. Others loved it when it was their hobby but have come to hate it now that it is their day job. Their internal budget only supports doing this part-time and such people tend to change careers at some point and then eventually rediscover their love of programming as a hobby.
I think one key to making life work is figuring out how much internal budget you have for different sorts of things and arranging a life that fairly consistently uses up that budget without demanding more and also somehow pays the bills. And then everyone thinks you rock and you get to be contented.
And few of us get told that. We usually get told x, y and z external things matter a great deal and we need to somehow conform to that instead of being told our lives should be designed around ourselves and that's the path to success.
- ulnarkressty 5y agoWhat is the medical condition if you don't mind me asking? And what does taking good care of oneself mean? Sleep enough? Exercise?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- epicureanideal 5y agoIs there a reason why uppers in the morning and downers at night helps manage severe allergies?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- rkhassen9 5y agoThis quote. From Doreen's long lost German book is pure genius. It is the first and best description of the reality I've been experiencing: "The idea was that you have a certain budgeted ability to do a particular type of thing and if you aren't getting enough of that thing, you will do more of that type of thing voluntarily (as a hobby) and if you are being forced to do more of that type of thing than your internal budget supports, you will start experiencing burnout." Everything else I've read has generally been about increasing capacity, and perhaps to some extent one can, but perhaps there is a sweet spot. For example, in lifting weights, you have your capacity for today and for this week, and you want to manage hitting your sweet spot for where you are at a given time so that you can grow without injuring yourself. This shifts the conversation from trying to find and endless source of creation inside yourself (not realistic) to an awareness of and managing your current energy budget for a specific type such as creativity so that you tend to your self and optimize your choices so that energy is not wasted.
- denkmoon 5y ago>an entire pot of coffee and ended it with up to an entire bottle of wine. Uppers in the morning and downers at night is a common medical approach to managing severe allergies Pardon? Can anyone elaborate on this idea?
- sva_ 5y agoAllergies cause tiredness through inflammation caused by release of antibodies and histamines, afaik. Hence the use of an upper as a workaround for wakefulness. On the other hand, allergies may also cause restlessness through symptoms such as itching, a runny nose, burning eyes, etc. So a downer might help someone ignore those symptoms. That's at least how I understood it. I never thought about it like that before - quite enlightening. On the other hand, not everyone who regularly drinks coffee in the morning, and alcohol at night has allergies. I'd guess it's probably the minority.
- DoreenMichele 5y agoPlease note the large quantities consumed with great regularity. Most people aren't doing that. I'm not comfortable with how much attention that detail got. It's speculation on my part and there could be other explanations for the behavior, though it fits with what I have heard from people who were on prescription drugs for their serious allergies. I think the general point that "under recognized health issues likely contribute to so-called procrastination" is solid, but I'm not really comfortable with the direction this went in comments.