I was alone in a room of computers, and I had set out to take no positive action but grading homework. I ended up sitting and pacing and occasionally moving the mouse in the direction it would need to go next. What I remember of what my mind was on was the misery of the situation.
I concur. The crux, for me, is whether or not I want to do the particular task.
If I want to do the task, say writing, but I’m not feeling motivated, then enough time being bored will eventually create for me the conditions to be more interested in writing than in staying bored.
If I do not want to do the task, say my taxes, then boredom or doing nothing may actually be preferable. In this case, boredom is not a sufficient motivator and I need to cognitively reframe how I’m thinking of the task and how to approach it. I wrote about this in a previous post, Facts vs Interpretations—An Exercise in Cognitive Reframing. Bludgeoning myself with normative “shoulds/oughts” is, in my opinion, a subpar coping mechanism compared to reframing my thoughts to better align with the task so that I’ll want to do it.
I was alone in a room of computers, and I had set out to take no positive action but grading homework. I ended up sitting and pacing and occasionally moving the mouse in the direction it would need to go next. What I remember of what my mind was on was the misery of the situation.
I concur. The crux, for me, is whether or not I want to do the particular task.
If I want to do the task, say writing, but I’m not feeling motivated, then enough time being bored will eventually create for me the conditions to be more interested in writing than in staying bored.
If I do not want to do the task, say my taxes, then boredom or doing nothing may actually be preferable. In this case, boredom is not a sufficient motivator and I need to cognitively reframe how I’m thinking of the task and how to approach it. I wrote about this in a previous post, Facts vs Interpretations—An Exercise in Cognitive Reframing. Bludgeoning myself with normative “shoulds/oughts” is, in my opinion, a subpar coping mechanism compared to reframing my thoughts to better align with the task so that I’ll want to do it.