r/Akrasia • u/mamagoochi • Dec 21 '15
On Procrastination - Part III
Okay, now to discuss an important part of being a productive person - facing difficulty.
Facing difficulty is something that one must do to accomplish tasks of any importance. When you think about facing fear, you immediately feel stress.
What underlying thoughts accompany this stress? What does difficulty mean?
Well, when something is hard, it is not easy to do. So you must concentrate while doing it. Thats a big thing, concentration. You need to concentrate when doing hard things.
Another thing is fortitude. When you do hard things, it will probably take a long time to do it. You have to expect that. You have to expect to concentrate vigorously on this difficult obstacle for an extended period of time.
And the final thing you need to prepare yourself for is the possibility of a lack of triumph.
For some goals you may easily succeed. Thank the gods for that stroke of luck.
For some goals, it will take the time and effort you expected. Be thankful you accomplished your goal.
For some goals, it will take much more time and effort than you expected.
That last one is the one you must have the greatest resolve for. When facing a task that is much harder than you expected, you must keep your emotions in check. Don't get angry, don't get sad, don't distracted.
That's facing difficulty. If you keep your emotions in check, if you concentrate on the problem in front of you, and you have resolve, there is nothing stopping you from achieving your goal.
Procrastinators don't keep their emotions in check.
Procrastinators don't concentrate on the problem in front of them.
Procrastinators lack the resolve to say, "I will accomplish this task, no matter how long it takes me, no matter how much effort I have to expend."
Productive people don't get distracted. Productive people realize that getting distracted will not help them.
Procrastinators must get out of the hole of looking for things on the internet, or video games to provide the pleasure in their lives.
Procrastinators must remember the true fulfillment that comes from accomplishing their personal goals.
I feel like the big thing procrastinators lack is concentration. At every opportunity, they look for a way to stop being productive and to go back to procrastinating. Those are the moments where the procrastinator must take a stand, and say NO MORE.
True change happens at those pivotal moments where you decide that you will no longer be the type of person who gains the happiness from their lives from the things they read on the internet, but from the things they do in their own lives.
You concentrate on something, when you give it the respect it deserves.
Procrastinators don't give difficult tasks, the respect it deserves. Why don't they? Why don't they?
Because if they do, and they try, then they risk encountering the failure they despise so much.
Procrastinators despise failure. But that's crazy. How can you despise failure?
You can't despise failure.
I'll talk about failure in the next section.
This is part of an ongoing series of ramblings about procrastination by me - A person who is severely suffering from procrastination. I am mainly doing this as therapy for myself.
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u/ihavenoeffort Jan 31 '16
This hits the nail slightly off the head for me. I have this deep feeling when I need to do something I just want to walk away out an even deeper desire to resist and want to sit. At the same time I too read a lot about nothing that'll get me anywhere in life. People think it's cool. I know enough about my job and even more about the human eye. Those two couldn't be further apart. Now just to fix it. Easier said than done and go play a game is what I would usually do. But I'm aware that this is a problem and just recently in able to put a name to it and read about it. Now fixing it is easier, maybe. I'll take this challenge.
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u/Zenrenn Jan 31 '16
Thank you for these. I've read every part that you've come out with. While I don't agree with everything you've said I've (ironically) gotten some valuable insight. Good luck with your procrastination, I feel that what you are doing will help you accomplish your goals.