NGene, I read your blog, no solutions from you.
It just seems like I can never keep myself motivated for more than a day.
| INTP Discussion Forum > The Local Pub > Solutions |
| Posted by: Division56 Jul 6 2004, 01:32 AM |
| Does anyone here have a good solution to the general intp apathy and laziness? Just asking, seems like I can't get anything done anymore. |
| Posted by: Vagabond Jul 6 2004, 01:41 AM |
| Find something that is of interest to you now. What sounded like a good idea a week ago, might not sound like it now - leave it aside. You are talking about leisure activities though, right? 'Cause if you are talking about work or/and studying, I won't be of much help. All I have to do there is push myself to get started - then the INTJ side of me kicks in. What is bugging you? |
| Posted by: nobarcode Jul 6 2004, 03:02 AM | ||
That's what I'm saying, you've been hinting, but not really coming off it. Obviously, you're angry. |
| Posted by: Division56 Jul 6 2004, 05:35 AM |
| I was talking about school-work. It's piling up. NGene, I read your blog, no solutions from you. It just seems like I can never keep myself motivated for more than a day. |
| Posted by: Odyssey Jul 6 2004, 07:09 AM |
| "It just seems like I can never keep myself motivated for more than a day." I'm going to list whatever experience I can recall that's proven to help overcome this extremely common ailment. I'm an INTP and I almost always successfully overcome cyclical apathy and laziness, but - in typical INTP fashion  - I'm trying to figure out exactly how my methods work. I'm spending a lot of time/effort on this, so some kind of appreciation or constructive criticism would be nice, thanks!1}} Seek out people that expect you (matter-of-factly, in a positive way) to do your work, and do it well. Ideal people are teachers, contagiously positive adults, admirable peers, and other real-life people. Usually, if you express interest to the teacher in some part of the subject matter, teachers will get excited enough -about you!- and thus have the ability to inspire you. 2}} Pretend you're a motivated person. Act like you're a motivated, productive person in every way you can, with the matter-of-fact expectation that you are one. If you act like it enough, the lifestyle will get more and more ingrained into your habitual style of thought, feeling, and action. 3}} Think to yourself, in a positive tone "Oh, just do it." If train yourself to think "Oh, just do it," in a way that expects success but not perfection, you'd be surprised how much this can work. [edit] Oh! Refer to file_cabinet's post right below: "I'm going to [do] some kickass ________ and do an amazing job" might work better for you. [/edit] 4}} Set reasonable time limits. Work expands to fill the time you allow for it. If you do easy work first without time limits, time on the easy stuff tends to expand so much that you feel overwhelmed to try to get the hard stuff done in so little time left. I explain this situation because it can seriously KILL your motivation and easily launch you into an apathetic state. 5}} Apathy is a defensive reaction against the pain of not doing your best, given the realistic possibilities. Aim for excellence. 6}} Laziness is caused by perfectionistic demands, especially by oneself. Desire -excellence-, not perfection. 7}} Also, invent creative ways to make specific types of assignments interesting and meaningful to you, even if it means a little more work. There are no rules for this suggestion; just be creative. For example, take advantage of - or experiment with - your particular quirks that relate to work/learning. 8}} Learn to like at least some of what you have to do. For example, I turn unloading the dishwasher into a dance-like art of balance and rhythm. It's fun, though otherwise I'd feel like it's a waste of my time =) ~Odyssey |
| Posted by: file cabinet Jul 6 2004, 07:55 AM |
| when I have to sit down and code for several hours, and especially when I'm not in the mood, I tell myself in my head that "I'm going to write some kickass code and do an amazing job" and then somehow I get motivated.. but for school-work, I don't know if the same trick will apply. |
| Posted by: antireconciler Jul 7 2004, 06:27 AM |
| I feel that way at school sometimes, especially last semester. I think this happens because I'm overworking myself and am not balanced. What I do should be fun, directly or indirectly. Mostly, I don't make time for NOT doing anything, and however fun everything that I do is individually, when they are all crammed together with no time to just be, things start falling apart for me. When I DO find myself in the shitty situation where I have to do something I REALLY don't want to, say, thermodynamics homework, and I'm just sitting there thinking JUST how much I don't want to do it, I just walk away from it and decide to do something else or just sit and do nothing. There are two outcomes: a few minutes will pass and I'll decide that I really do need to do my thermo homwork and feel motivated enough to get to it, or I don't. If I don't, I don't feel guilty at all about not doing it. It wasn't going to get done anyway. I was just going to sit there and keep thinking hateful things about it, and this way I got some time for myself, so I feel ready to do the next thing I have to do but don't want to, curse the fates. Other than that, I try to be aware and mindful of what I'm doing. However much I hate thermodynamics, if I take it one moment, one calculation at a time and under no circumstances think about how much more godforsaken crap I have to drag myself through ... it's not so bad at all. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. |
| Posted by: MacGuffin Jul 7 2004, 08:17 PM |
| All the suggestions so far are pretty good. Of course, you can't be apathetic about getting over your apathy in the first place.... |
| Posted by: antireconciler Jul 8 2004, 05:00 AM | ||
And that's the killer. It hurts to decide you care about caring when you are apathetic about your apathy (... woah), but it's better than the alternative. Not caring is pretty much depression. Tried to live with it, but it really has never worked out for me. Decide you care about caring because you will eventually anyway ... if for no other reason . |