I had an epiphany related to akrasia today, though it may apply generally to a problem where you are stuck: For the longest time I thought to myself: “I know what I actually need to do, I just need to sit down and start working and once I’ve started it’s much easier to keep going. I was thinking about this today and I had an imaginary conversation where I said: “I know what I need to do, I just don’t know what I need to do, so I can do what I need to do.” (I hope that makes sense). And then it hit me: I have no fucking clue what I actually need to do. It’s like I’ve been trying to empty a sinking ship of water with buckets, instead of fixing the hole in the ship.
Reminds me in hindsight of the “definition of insanity”: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I think I believed, that I lacked the necessary innate willpower to overcome my inner demons, instead of lacking a skill I could acquire.
Once I was facing akrasia and I kind of had the same thing happen. I knew what I needed to do, and I ruminated on why I wasn’t doing that.
I thought at first that I was just being lazy, but then I realized that I subconsciously knew that the strategy I was procrastinating from was actually pretty terrible. Once I realized that, I started thinking about how I might do it better, and then when I thought of something (which wasn’t immediate, to be sure) I was actually able to get up and do it.
Sometimes “laziness” is being aware on some level that your current plan does not work, but not knowing a better alternative… so you keep going, but you find yourself slowing down, and you can’t gather enough willpower to start running again.
sounds like a growth mindset discovery! Congratulations!
For my benefit can you try to rephrase this sentence with alternative words or in a more verbose form:
I know what I actually need to do, I just need to sit down and start working and once I’ve started it’s much easier to keep going. I was thinking about this today and I had an imaginary conversation where I said: “I know what I need to do, I just don’t know what I need to do, so I can do what I need to do.”
mainly a taboo on the multiple meanings of the word need that you tried to express. without knowing the tone; it just sounds confusing.
Meta: I suspect people have rewarded you for achieving an epiphany.
I know what I actually need to do, I just need to sit down and start working and once I’ve started it’s much easier to keep going.
Let’s say, I have some homework to do. In order to finish the homework, at some point I have to sit down at my desk and start working. And in my experience, actually starting is the hardest part, because after that I have few problems with continuing to work. And the process of “sitting down, opening the relevant programs and documents and starting to work” is not difficult per se, at least physically. In a simplified form, the steps necessary to complete my homework assignment are:
Open relevant documents/books, get out pen and paper etc.
Start working and don’t stop working.
I know what I need to do, I just don’t know what I need to do, so I can do what I need to do.
Considering how much trouble I have getting to the point where I can do step one (sometimes I falter between steps one and two), there must be at least one necessary step zero before I am able to successfully complete steps one and two. And knowing steps one and two does not help very much, if I don’t know how to get to a (mental) state where I can actually complete them.
A different analogy: I know how I can create a checkmate if I only have a rook and king, and my opponent only a king. But that doesn’t help me if I don’t know how to get to the point where only those pieces are left on the board.
A suggestion. Commit to a small amount of the work. i.e. instead of committing to utilising a local gym, commit to arriving at the gym. after which if you decide to go home you can; but at least you break down the barrier to starting.
In the homework case, commit to sitting down and doing the first problem. Then see if you feel like doing any more than that.
Hope this is appropriate for here.
I had an epiphany related to akrasia today, though it may apply generally to a problem where you are stuck: For the longest time I thought to myself: “I know what I actually need to do, I just need to sit down and start working and once I’ve started it’s much easier to keep going. I was thinking about this today and I had an imaginary conversation where I said: “I know what I need to do, I just don’t know what I need to do, so I can do what I need to do.” (I hope that makes sense). And then it hit me: I have no fucking clue what I actually need to do. It’s like I’ve been trying to empty a sinking ship of water with buckets, instead of fixing the hole in the ship.
Reminds me in hindsight of the “definition of insanity”: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
I think I believed, that I lacked the necessary innate willpower to overcome my inner demons, instead of lacking a skill I could acquire.
Once I was facing akrasia and I kind of had the same thing happen. I knew what I needed to do, and I ruminated on why I wasn’t doing that.
I thought at first that I was just being lazy, but then I realized that I subconsciously knew that the strategy I was procrastinating from was actually pretty terrible. Once I realized that, I started thinking about how I might do it better, and then when I thought of something (which wasn’t immediate, to be sure) I was actually able to get up and do it.
Sometimes “laziness” is being aware on some level that your current plan does not work, but not knowing a better alternative… so you keep going, but you find yourself slowing down, and you can’t gather enough willpower to start running again.
sounds like a growth mindset discovery! Congratulations!
For my benefit can you try to rephrase this sentence with alternative words or in a more verbose form:
mainly a taboo on the multiple meanings of the word need that you tried to express. without knowing the tone; it just sounds confusing.
Meta: I suspect people have rewarded you for achieving an epiphany.
Let’s say, I have some homework to do. In order to finish the homework, at some point I have to sit down at my desk and start working. And in my experience, actually starting is the hardest part, because after that I have few problems with continuing to work. And the process of “sitting down, opening the relevant programs and documents and starting to work” is not difficult per se, at least physically. In a simplified form, the steps necessary to complete my homework assignment are:
Open relevant documents/books, get out pen and paper etc.
Start working and don’t stop working.
Considering how much trouble I have getting to the point where I can do step one (sometimes I falter between steps one and two), there must be at least one necessary step zero before I am able to successfully complete steps one and two. And knowing steps one and two does not help very much, if I don’t know how to get to a (mental) state where I can actually complete them.
A different analogy: I know how I can create a checkmate if I only have a rook and king, and my opponent only a king. But that doesn’t help me if I don’t know how to get to the point where only those pieces are left on the board.
A suggestion. Commit to a small amount of the work. i.e. instead of committing to utilising a local gym, commit to arriving at the gym. after which if you decide to go home you can; but at least you break down the barrier to starting.
In the homework case, commit to sitting down and doing the first problem. Then see if you feel like doing any more than that.