NationStates Jolt Archive

So.... yeah. I don't ever do anything if it would require more than a minimal amount of effort. Typical you say? I suppose so, but not when you get to things like eating, exercising, finding a job, going to school, making friends, posting on internet forums. (Before you say anything, this counts as about minimal effort.) I know that the only way to fight laziness is, well, to do stuff; but starting to do stuff when you aren't doing stuff as a rule requires more effort than I'm willing to make. Thus, I'm stuck.

Anyway: Are/were you lazy, some, most, or all of the time? What did/do you do about it? Is it any cause for worry on my part, or is it just, well, laziness?

I know this sort of Lazyness... as chronic lack of motivation it can even be a serious symptom for several emotional disturbances like depressions.

Chronic laziness can be a sign of depression or other chemical imbalance. Some medical issues can make you too apathetic and tired to do anything (anemia for example, also other nutritional deficiencies).

Laziness most often is caused by a lack of self esteem.

Yeah, you're basically talking about a lack of motivation.

I suffer from that a lot too. A lot of combat sports people suffer from lack of motivation multiple times during their careers due to the demands of their sports. Many even drop out completely. You can see this a lot in amateur boxing and wrestling.

Take some Crack. That'll put some spring in your step.

Depends on whether I enjoy the Subject really...If i hate the subject or activity, ill be incredibly lazy...but, if im even remotely interested in it, i can be a little more motivated...

I suffer from a lack of Subjects to be interested in...

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n221/Savient/failol.jpg

Figure out a way to support yourself by doing as little as possible. Lots of writers have been doing it for centuries. Pundits, actors, gamblers -- not all of them, to be sure, but enough to make the possibility enticing to the unmotivated.

What makes you move? What gets you excited? If it's nothing, I'm not sure you can HAVE a career in professional nihilism, but Nietzsche came close.

There's a funny book that I simply cannot remember the name of so sorry about that but anyway...

It basically says that we,as a society, used to tolerate laziness, it actually ties this in with Catholicism, not that the author is a proponent of Catholicism, but he says that the rise of Protestantism shifted society to the values of hard work, a fairly dry look at life and etc., compared to the colorful, festival-driven ideals of Catholics.

It may not be religion so much as the rise of North Western European culture, the colder climes leading to necessities over frivolities.

Anyway, he says we've lost this toleration, that laziness, or simply hanging around and doing what you feel like, being frivolous to some extent, it's been lost.

He then goes rather hippy, advocating quitting the rat race, taking up the mandolin and growing your own vegetables, basically getting back to a communal market economy where life is a little more enjoyable.

Muravyets wrote an interesting post on her decision to drop what she was doing and focusing on art, something she enjoyed despite the lower, if not non-existent, pay to start with.

We're pressured to work our way up, and somehow I also feel we've lost sight of being lazy, why we're lazy and whether it's a good thing or not.

It's been rolling around my mind lately, a majority of the reason I write on NSG is simply a selfish desire to have the space to write in itself, the opinions often come second for me, it's more the expression of ideas.

I used to write, I used to enjoy it and I gave it up out of an idea that I need to get serious in life - I wonder if that was the right decision because I'm sure not as motivated.

Chronic laziness can be a sign of depression or other chemical imbalance. Some medical issues can make you too apathetic and tired to do anything (anemia for example, also other nutritional deficiencies).

Laziness most often is caused by a lack of self esteem.
Hmmm. Yes, I definitely lack self-esteem, but again, I'm not sure what to do about that. (Anything that doesn't require too much effort of course. :P)

Yeah, you're basically talking about a lack of motivation.
... ain't that exactly what I said?

Take some Crack. That'll put some spring in your step.
LOL

Depends on whether I enjoy the Subject really...If i hate the subject or activity, ill be incredibly lazy...but, if im even remotely interested in it, i can be a little more motivated...
This, essentially. Now all I have to do is find something I'm really interested in.


Figure out a way to support yourself by doing as little as possible. Lots of writers have been doing it for centuries. Pundits, actors, gamblers -- not all of them, to be sure, but enough to make the possibility enticing to the unmotivated.
well, I can always take something I'm good at -- like ......
.... uh ..... I'll try that again.

I can always take on a career that doesn't require either much work or much social interaction. Therefore, I have decided to become a Philosopher. but wait, I require a degree to be able to teach that, and if I don't, nobody makes money just from writing philosophical treatises......
...... cut! Take 3.

I uh... look! a distraction! *runs off*

I enjoy History, Teaching History doesnt require much work, and has great hours=Im trying to finish the degree to become a history teacher, lol...

And i was a substitute for awhile and if you stay at or above about 8th grade the kids arent so bad either...

Though a 19 yr old Substitute makes it hard to get credibility, lol...though the look of surprise on some students when they found out was priceless...

Hmmm. Yes, I definitely lack self-esteem, but again, I'm not sure what to do about that. (Anything that doesn't require too much effort of course. :P)
drink more water, eat better, exercise more, and accomplish something, you'll feel better about yourself soon.

I make a list every day, of things I need to do, the first thing on my list is "make a list" after I'm done with the list, I mark that off. I feel better and go back to bed *nod*

half ass is better than nothing though, seriously, walk for 30 minutes a day twice a week, see if you don't feel better.......

drink more water, eat better, exercise more, and accomplish something, you'll feel better about yourself soon.

I make a list every day, of things I need to do, the first thing on my list is "make a list" after I'm done with the list, I mark that off. I feel better and go back to bed *nod*

half ass is better than nothing though, seriously, walk for 30 minutes a day twice a week, see if you don't feel better.......

Yeah...but thats thirty minutes worth of walking and effort expending, lol:p

Yeah...but thats thirty minutes worth of walking and effort expending, lol:p

true, but he could think about idle things........and also like not do other things because he's "too tired from walking" :p

drink more water, eat better, exercise more, and accomplish something, you'll feel better about yourself soon.

I make a list every day, of things I need to do, the first thing on my list is "make a list" after I'm done with the list, I mark that off. I feel better and go back to bed *nod*

half ass is better than nothing though, seriously, walk for 30 minutes a day twice a week, see if you don't feel better.......

*shrugs* I already do just about the bare minimum of exercise for my age (18), that being about an hour and a half a day on average (45 minutes to an hour of which is walking, another 15 minutes or so running, 15 to 30 minutes attempting to lift pieces of metal about a tenth of my weight). I drink enough water that I'm almost never exceptionally thirsty, and I eat between one and two full and healthy meals per day (can't eat breakfast due to a rather weak stomach). All right, so I never accomplish anything, but three out of four isn't bad, right? :P

(I suppose the main problem is that I get discouraged by not having the stamina to do any more exercise, so I never attempt to do more than my minimum; that the kitchen is all the way over there; and that I don't really have much to accomplish in the first place and even when I do accomplish things I don't feel particularly fulfilled by that knowledge and tend to attribute the accomplishment on others.)

Anyway, bedtime.

I don't know whether I qualify for the label "lazy" or not.

On the one hand: Sleep is one of my top five favorite things to do. If I spend the entire day reading in bed next to my sleeping (lazy) cat, I consider that a day well spent, even if I'm out of milk and clean socks. I really hate having to run ordinary errands like go to the post office or grocery store, and I'm one of the world's worst housekeepers. Such little tasks are just monumental efforts to me, and I avoid them as much as possible.

On the other hand: My laziness has served me well in my career and various jobs because my desire to avoid effort translates into a motivation to be efficient. This improves productivity and saves time. That means I get to spend more time goofing off. I have never been one of those people who keeps busy all the time. I am either active or idle, and never the twain shall meet. When I'm active/busy, I'm a workaholic maniac driving myself relentlessly to keep working until it is done (teammates call me a slave driver). When I'm idle, I live on raw food and usually don't even get out of my pajamas until 2pm, if at all.

My advice is this: Learn to use your powers for good. If you really are lazy, use it as a way to develop efficiency. If you have little energy, then you shouldn't waste it on pointless activities.

Also, Smunkee is right -- a lack of energy is not the same thing as being lazy. You might actually just be tired. Try getting more sleep, eating fresh fruits and vegies, cut down on fats and salts, drink lots of water and get lots fresh air. I don't know if you're an American, but I've read many articles that claim that public health studies indicate that more than half of Americans are sleep deprived and don't even realize it.



Oh, and Barringtonia, being an artist is damned hard work. Lazy artists are called waiters or store clerks or office workers. :p

Smunkee is right
^must.sig.this.

also, Muravyets is right. Didn't Ben Franklin once say 90% of his inventions were because he was lazy? (not a direct quote but the general gist of it)

It's hard to get motivated with a defeatist attitude.

drink more water, eat better, exercise more, and accomplish something, you'll feel better about yourself soon.

I make a list every day, of things I need to do, the first thing on my list is "make a list" after I'm done with the list, I mark that off. I feel better and go back to bed *nod*

half ass is better than nothing though, seriously, walk for 30 minutes a day twice a week, see if you don't feel better.......

Agreed. Exercise got me off antidepressants. I was on Celexa from 2000 to 2006. I took up hiking and yoga in November of 2005 (the stretching part, not the spirituality), and by April of 2006, when my prescription ran out, I decided not to renew it to see what would happen, and it turns out exercise evened me out far better than the prescription. That saved me money, too ($75/refill every two months = $450/year = bitchin' hiking boots, poles, Camelbak, National Park Pass, Trails Illustrated maps, and some of the best scenery in the world).

I don't know whether I qualify for the label "lazy" or not.

On the one hand: Sleep is one of my top five favorite things to do. If I spend the entire day reading in bed next to my sleeping (lazy) cat, I consider that a day well spent, even if I'm out of milk and clean socks. I really hate having to run ordinary errands like go to the post office or grocery store, and I'm one of the world's worst housekeepers. Such little tasks are just monumental efforts to me, and I avoid them as much as possible.

On the other hand: My laziness has served me well in my career and various jobs because my desire to avoid effort translates into a motivation to be efficient. This improves productivity and saves time. That means I get to spend more time goofing off. I have never been one of those people who keeps busy all the time. I am either active or idle, and never the twain shall meet. When I'm active/busy, I'm a workaholic maniac driving myself relentlessly to keep working until it is done (teammates call me a slave driver). When I'm idle, I live on raw food and usually don't even get out of my pajamas until 2pm, if at all.

My advice is this: Learn to use your powers for good. If you really are lazy, use it as a way to develop efficiency. If you have little energy, then you shouldn't waste it on pointless activities.

Also, Smunkee is right -- a lack of energy is not the same thing as being lazy. You might actually just be tired. Try getting more sleep, eating fresh fruits and vegies, cut down on fats and salts, drink lots of water and get lots fresh air. I don't know if you're an American, but I've read many articles that claim that public health studies indicate that more than half of Americans are sleep deprived and don't even realize it.



Oh, and Barringtonia, being an artist is damned hard work. Lazy artists are called waiters or store clerks or office workers. :p

You sound very much like me. And you're outstandingly accurate on every point you made, especially that last one. Well said.

*shrugs* I already do just about the bare minimum of exercise for my age (18), that being about an hour and a half a day on average (45 minutes to an hour of which is walking, another 15 minutes or so running, 15 to 30 minutes attempting to lift pieces of metal about a tenth of my weight). I drink enough water that I'm almost never exceptionally thirsty, and I eat between one and two full and healthy meals per day (can't eat breakfast due to a rather weak stomach). All right, so I never accomplish anything, but three out of four isn't bad, right? :P

(I suppose the main problem is that I get discouraged by not having the stamina to do any more exercise, so I never attempt to do more than my minimum; that the kitchen is all the way over there; and that I don't really have much to accomplish in the first place and even when I do accomplish things I don't feel particularly fulfilled by that knowledge and tend to attribute the accomplishment on others.)

Anyway, bedtime.

Exercise for its own sake is difficult to maintain. That's why I like hiking. Getting out where you can't hear traffic, where it's you, the trail, the trees, the mountains, whatever...and all you can hear is the wind...it's amazing. Then you get to the top of Mt. Pilchuck, or Mt. Si or the base of a glacier's moraine at Mt. Rainier...and you're somewhere very few people ever go. All you hear is the river, and mental clarity becomes possible, if not automatic.

Cycling, too. You set a goal like riding from Everett to Bellingham (60 miles), and you get there, and the feeling of accomplishment is incredible. Plus, you're in Bellingham and you can go to the bookstores and used CD shops and a cafe. Chill out at Boulevard Park while lunch digests, or catch a concert at the University and then ride back. That is a great day, in my book. Better still if you've got someone with whom to share it all.

^must.sig.this.

also, Muravyets is right. Didn't Ben Franklin once say 90% of his inventions were because he was lazy? (not a direct quote but the general gist of it)

Smunkee is always right. Obey the Smunkee. :D

I don't know if Ben Franklin said something like that, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but the mere suggestion that he did is good enough for me. He's my hero. If I were a little kid, you could get me to drink my milk by telling me Ben Franklin drank milk.

But one of my past bosses did tell me once (I think he was quoting someone else) that the best workers are the lazy ones because they are the ones who will find the most efficient way of doing anything, saving the company both time and money. :)

Oh, and Barringtonia, being an artist is damned hard work. Lazy artists are called waiters or store clerks or office workers. :p

Absolutely, the point you'd made was that our priorities are often focused wrong and this can demotivate us, we can feel we're lazy.

It truly made me think.

:)

I'm quite lazy by nature also. But this makes me incredibly efficient in other ways. I find exercise and being outside helps enliven me, and I sleep better as a result. I keep busy with things I enjoy, music mainly, and try to do the other things in the remaining time (sometimes doesn't work out so well when I have an essay I don't like but have to get it done in the few hours I have left).

snip
yes, when I asked my parents about this a year or two ago, they told me that being lazy is fine if that motivates you

Exercise for its own sake is difficult to maintain. That's why I like hiking. Getting out where you can't hear traffic, where it's you, the trail, the trees, the mountains, whatever...and all you can hear is the wind...it's amazing. Then you get to the top of Mt. Pilchuck, or Mt. Si or the base of a glacier's moraine at Mt. Rainier...and you're somewhere very few people ever go. All you hear is the river, and mental clarity becomes possible, if not automatic.
I like hiking too, but, I have a minor problem. I live in a big city. And I can't drive. Nor do I know anybody who can take me out to some rugged windswept landscape to toil a few days in the pursuit of a distant objective indicated solely as a highlighted name on a USGS quad, nor do I have any idea how or where to find such people, and assuming I did know, I would be unable to approach them.

Cycling, too. You set a goal like riding from Everett to Bellingham (60 miles), and you get there, and the feeling of accomplishment is incredible. Plus, you're in Bellingham and you can go to the bookstores and used CD shops and a cafe. Chill out at Boulevard Park while lunch digests, or catch a concert at the University and then ride back. That is a great day, in my book. Better still if you've got someone with whom to share it all.
That's an idea, although I'm not sure where NYC's major cycling routes are, and whether any exist linking it to other cities or locations (I don't really want to be pedaling down I-95 for instance).

Anyway: Are/were you lazy, some, most, or all of the time? What did/do you do about it? Is it any cause for worry on my part, or is it just, well, laziness?

I don't know if I'm lazy. I don't do a lot for school or clean up or similar stuff. But I do swim each day (for one reason or another it's almost compulsive, but it's also healthy and fun, so I don't mind) I also do quite some effort for things I enjoy, like going out or going to friends or eating.
Maybe I'm not lazy but really sort-sighted, schoolwork is ok, but sometimes I don't do it, and then I lag behind, so I have to catch up, but I don't do all so eventually I'm so far behind I don't want to work and it only gets worse. If I have a deadline it's not that hard to start working. That might be it.

So.... yeah. I don't ever do anything if it would require more than a minimal amount of effort. Typical you say? I suppose so, but not when you get to things like eating, exercising, finding a job, going to school, making friends, posting on internet forums. (Before you say anything, this counts as about minimal effort.) I know that the only way to fight laziness is, well, to do stuff; but starting to do stuff when you aren't doing stuff as a rule requires more effort than I'm willing to make. Thus, I'm stuck.

Anyway: Are/were you lazy, some, most, or all of the time? What did/do you do about it? Is it any cause for worry on my part, or is it just, well, laziness?

Do you smoke weed?

How lazy I am usually depends on how awake or stressed I am. When I'm relaxed and was actually allowed the sleep the night before I'm anything but lazy, but when it's been a stressful day or I'm just exhausted I usually don't want to get up to do anything.

Do you smoke weed?

No, how is it?

No, how is it?
Weed is awesome.
Its the greatest excuse to do nothing

Accept playing poker, you can be drunk, high, tweaking, whatever.
No matter you're altered state of mind (save for being pissed off) u can always play poker.

Gwljdodnfyglijjijip, learn to play poker, its a great skill to take up if you're a lazy bastard

And i was a substitute for awhile and if you stay at or above about 8th grade the kids arent so bad either...

8th grade! :eek: Yikes! I sub for K-6, and anything above about 2nd grade exhausts me!

I make a list every day, of things I need to do, the first thing on my list is "make a list" after I'm done with the list, I mark that off. I feel better and go back to bed *nod*

I like that idea! I make lists too, but I get frustrated when I don't fully complete any one task and don't get to cross anything off. Sometimes just feeling like you've accomplished something, even making the list, is really helpful.

Oh, and Barringtonia, being an artist is damned hard work. Lazy artists are called waiters or store clerks or office workers. :p

Here here. I'm a blocked writer on hiatus masquerading as a teacher. ;)

I've been told by people that I'm the laziest person they know. It's hard to argue... and so much effort. :P

On a serious note, have you ever been assessed for ADHD? I certainly don't think all laziness is due to that (it's both over and under diagnosed) but it's sometimes a factor. I was diagnosed at 7 with ADHD Inattentive Type, and for my whole life I was called either lazy or stupid by teachers. Usually stupid first--my sixth grade teacher thought I should be dropped from GATE--then when standardized testing came around and they saw my percentiles the label was changed to lazy and usually stuck.

In some ways I do think I'm lazy, but a lot of it is a lack of stimulus. I do things at the last minute all the time, always have, and I think it's because the worry and chaos raise my adrenaline enough that I can pay attention. This happens even with things I enjoy doing, so it's not just a meh-don't-feel-like-it thing.

*shrugs* I already do just about the bare minimum of exercise for my age (18), that being about an hour and a half a day on average (45 minutes to an hour of which is walking, another 15 minutes or so running, 15 to 30 minutes attempting to lift pieces of metal about a tenth of my weight). I drink enough water that I'm almost never exceptionally thirsty, and I eat between one and two full and healthy meals per day (can't eat breakfast due to a rather weak stomach). All right, so I never accomplish anything, but three out of four isn't bad, right? :P

(I suppose the main problem is that I get discouraged by not having the stamina to do any more exercise, so I never attempt to do more than my minimum; that the kitchen is all the way over there; and that I don't really have much to accomplish in the first place and even when I do accomplish things I don't feel particularly fulfilled by that knowledge and tend to attribute the accomplishment on others.)

Anyway, bedtime.

you have faarrrrrrrr more motivation than i do.

I like that idea! I make lists too, but I get frustrated when I don't fully complete any one task and don't get to cross anything off. Sometimes just feeling like you've accomplished something, even making the list, is really helpful.
on days like today when I feel overwhelmed and yucky I do what my husband terms a "reverse to-do list" where I write down everything I have done, and then mark it off........seeing what I did accomplish while I felt like I wasn't getting anything done.....it's helpful


wake up- done
shower- done
feed kitties- done
eat- done
do 1 load of laundry- done

see? I'm all kinds of accomplishment today!

I've been told by people that I'm the laziest person they know. It's hard to argue... and so much effort. :P

On a serious note, have you ever been assessed for ADHD? I certainly don't think all laziness is due to that (it's both over and under diagnosed) but it's sometimes a factor. I was diagnosed at 7 with ADHD Inattentive Type, and for my whole life I was called either lazy or stupid by teachers. Usually stupid first--my sixth grade teacher thought I should be dropped from GATE--then when standardized testing came around and they saw my percentiles the label was changed to lazy and usually stuck.

In some ways I do think I'm lazy, but a lot of it is a lack of stimulus. I do things at the last minute all the time, always have, and I think it's because the worry and chaos raise my adrenaline enough that I can pay attention. This happens even with things I enjoy doing, so it's not just a meh-don't-feel-like-it thing.
Me too!! It's "gifted problem child" syndrome. "Gifted" meaning smart and "problem" meaning smarter than our teachers and/or stuck in a system that's too slow for us. We're always the loners who sit staring out the window or scribbling random stuff in our notebooks, or else are in a little group at the back of the room, passing notes and fooling around. We hand in every report a day late, do our homework on the bus in the morning, but we ace every test and get the best grades on every exercise.

Why do we daydream or act up? Because we get bored sitting waiting for the rest of the class to catch up with us. Why do we procrastinate? Because we don't need 4-6 hours to do the assigned work, and it's the same boring work we've been dealing with all day, so why shouldn't we take a break after school to do fun stuff? The 30-45 minute trip to school is more than enough to do these assignments. (Heh, in NYC, my teachers could tell from my handwriting on my homework assignments, when the bus/train was moving, at a stop, moving again, etc.)

The story of my entire childhood schooling was one report card after another with Teacher's Remarks such as: "Would be an excellent student if only she would apply herself"; "Gets bored easily"; "Daydreams"; "Procrastinates"; and my personal favorite (don't remember which teacher wrote this), "Does not suffer fools lightly."

But I was lucky to attend one of the best elementary schools in NYC, with some of the best teachers who knew perfectly well I was neither stupid nor too lazy to do work when required. That particular school, rather than just label and forget us, went to a lot of trouble to expand its curriculum in phys ed, science, the arts, and languages, which at least kept us "gifted" "problem" students working and out of trouble.

And that was all great for me up to about age 15, but it meant I entered high school already overqualified for every class (I had been doing college level work in the 5th and 6th grades). Every year of schooling just got progressively more boring for me, and I got progressively less willing to "focus" on it. I was already overqualified for any college program I was interested in, and since money was really tight, I just went straight to work. Never did get a degree in anything.

And I have yet to find a job doing anything other than running my own career as an artist that is not boring, repetitive, unchallenging BS that I can't keep doing for more than 2 years.

So the result is I have the resume and first-blush reputation of a lazy-ass slacker who can never commit to anything. But am I really lazy, or just under-utilized?

I'm still better off than some of my "gifted" "problem" peers, who occupied their under-challenged minds by becoming hackers or running in-home drug labs, and just burning out their brains and their days with that bullshit.

Me too!! It's "gifted problem child" syndrome. "Gifted" meaning smart and "problem" meaning smarter than our teachers and/or stuck in a system that's too slow for us. We're always the loners who sit staring out the window or scribbling random stuff in our notebooks, or else are in a little group at the back of the room, passing notes and fooling around. We hand in every report a day late, do our homework on the bus in the morning, but we ace every test and get the best grades on every exercise.

Why do we daydream or act up? Because we get bored sitting waiting for the rest of the class to catch up with us. Why do we procrastinate? Because we don't need 4-6 hours to do the assigned work, and it's same boring work we've been dealing with all day, so why shouldn't we take a break after school to do fun stuff? The 30-45 minute trip to school is more than enough to do these assignments. (Heh, in NYC, my teachers could tell from my handwriting on my homework assignments, when the bus/train was moving, at a stop, moving again, etc.)

The story of my entire childhood schooling was one report card after another with Teacher's Remarks such as: "Would be an excellent student if only she would apply herself"; "Gets bored easily"; "Daydreams"; "Procrastinates"; and my personal favorite (don't remember which teacher wrote this), "Does not suffer fools lightly."

But I was lucky to attend one of the best elementary schools in NYC, with some of the best teachers who knew perfectly well I was neither stupid nor too lazy to do work when required. That particular school, rather than just label and forget us, went to a lot of trouble to expand its curriculum in phys ed, science, the arts, and languages, which at least kept us "gifted" "problem" students working and out of trouble.

And that was all great for me up to about age 15, but it meant I entered high school already overqualified for every class (I had been doing college level work in the 5th and 6th grades). Every year of schooling just got progressively more boring for me, and I got progressively less willing to "focus" on it. I was already overqualified for any college program I wasn interested in, and since money was really tight, I just went straight to work. Never did get a degree in anything.

And I have yet to find a job doing anything other than running my own career as an artist that is not boring, repetitive, unchallenging BS that I can't keep doing for more than 2 years.

So the result is I have the resume and first-blush reputation of a lazy-ass slacker who can never commit to anything. But am I really lazy, or just under-utilized?

I'm still better off than some of my "gifted" "problem" peers, who occupied their under-challenged minds by becoming hackers or running in-home drug labs, and just burning out their brains and their days with that bullshit.

the remnant of my gifted childhood is stifling perfectionism. If I can't do something perfectly I don't even want to try. If I can't do a perfect job, I would rather leave it undone completely. If I don't understand something immediately I get frustrated and give up. It's a curse.

the remnant of my gifted childhood is stifling perfectionism. If I can't do something perfectly I don't even want to try. If I can't do a perfect job, I would rather leave it undone completely. If I don't understand something immediately I get frustrated and give up. It's a curse.

You have my sympathy because that is a curse. I know a lot of people with that hang-up, and they all struggle with it.

I have a perfectionism hang-up, too, but of a different kind -- I get obsessive over every tiny detail of every single thing. The last big collage I finished -- right up to the day it was supposed to go on the gallery wall, I was tweaking one piece of paper along one edge, up 1/4 of an inch, down 1/4 inch, up again, down again, up again...etc etc etc, until the alarm I set for myself went off and I just had to glue it and go. I won't quit a project if I can't do it perfectly, I'll just stay in it forever, until it is perfect. That's why my house is filled with unfinished projects of every kind, and after 20 years of writing, I still have neither finished nor given up on my novel. ;)

If it wasn't for deadlines, I wouldn't have a single finished project to my name in my entire life. And if I weren't such a procrastinator, then I'd never do anything but one thing every day of my life, obsessively trying to get it perfect. Thank the gods for that kind of laziness, that's what I say. My alternative would be some kind of crazy OCD thing.

Yeah, I'm a total perfectionist as well: even in my art (music), after completing a piece -- on the rare occasions that I do so instead of abandoning it halfway through because I get bored -- if I feel that it's flawed, instead of going back and editing it to make it better, I'm more likely to just scrap it. (I also don't pay much attention to details when writing a musical work, but the same goes for the written word, and my drawings -- almost all of which are maps or charts, largely depicting places or trends that don't actually exist or are only tangentially related to real places or data.)

anyway, so... increasing motivation for doing everyday activities, like social interaction or getting in shape or learning things. anyone have any thoughts on that front?

So.... yeah. I don't ever do anything if it would require more than a minimal amount of effort. Typical you say? I suppose so, but not when you get to things like eating, exercising, finding a job, going to school, making friends, posting on internet forums. (Before you say anything, this counts as about minimal effort.) I know that the only way to fight laziness is, well, to do stuff; but starting to do stuff when you aren't doing stuff as a rule requires more effort than I'm willing to make. Thus, I'm stuck.

Anyway: Are/were you lazy, some, most, or all of the time? What did/do you do about it? Is it any cause for worry on my part, or is it just, well, laziness?

Too lazy to make a poll, were we?

I'd look it up, but I don't feel like it.

And maybe that's already been said, but I don't feel like reading the thread, either.

And maybe... ah screw it.

Yeah, I'm a total perfectionist as well: even in my art (music), after completing a piece -- on the rare occasions that I do so instead of abandoning it halfway through because I get bored -- if I feel that it's flawed, instead of going back and editing it to make it better, I'm more likely to just scrap it. (I also don't pay much attention to details when writing a musical work, but the same goes for the written word, and my drawings -- almost all of which are maps or charts, largely depicting places or trends that don't actually exist or are only tangentially related to real places or data.)

anyway, so... increasing motivation for doing everyday activities, like social interaction or getting in shape or learning things. anyone have any thoughts on that front?
Well, they say necessity is the mother of invention. Try this: Burden your life with inescapable obligations. Sign contracts that require you to both do things and pay for things or suffer very annoying consequences. [NOTE: It is very important that the consequences be annoying. Merely bad consequences never seem to be motivating enough, but something that is really irritating can usually get even the laziest slob pissed off enough to move.] Then get a job. Make sure the pay is good enough to lure you into thinking you can take on more obligations, but not so good that you could afford to quit it within a reasonable amount of time. If you cannot find motivation within yourself to want to do things, maybe it can be forced out of you by having to do things. At the very least, you will learn what you DON'T want to do, which may help you find what you DO want to do. And wanting to do something is a great motivator.

Good luck. Write when you get work. ;)

Lazyness is inherited, as I can personally attest to. However, that is no excuse, people must strive to overcome their weaknesses.