(I haven't done any writing work in two weeks. The mood here is equal parts lethargy, lack of will, ennui and the fact that it gets dark at 4:39 in what used to be the afternoon. Today I see that a blog visitor has unearthed this post on laziness and it fits my mood so here it is again.)
I don’t think you’re
lazy. You get up you get dressed
you go somewhere you do things.
You make your smoothie and drink it.
No,
I’m lazy. Once in a while I'll do some fake hard work to avoid real work.
Do you know what lazy
means? It is a disinclination to activity or exertion despite having the
ability to do so.
That’s
exactly it. I'm disinclined to do anything. I sit around. No daily plan. No delaying instant pleasure in order
to get greater pleasure.
What’s wrong with instant pleasure?
Doesn’t
last long.
What about greater pleasure?
I
don’t know. Never achieved it.
Maybe it doesn’t last long either. Name a person who you think isn’t lazy.
That’s
easy. Joyce Carol Oates. She has written over 40 novels and
almost that many plays, short stories, nonfiction. She writes so much people
make jokes about it. I once saw a picture of her at a party and her slip was
showing an inch below her skirt. She works so hard, she doesn’t even know her
slip is showing. If I worked that
hard, I’d go out in my pajamas that’s how little I would care about anything
else.
Maybe you’re not lazy. Maybe you are gestating, as in
incubating ideas that you will use later.
Or maybe life, as in LIFE, is so hard you are rightfully stepping aside
for a day.
No,
I’ve been lazy all my life. I'm lazy about the things that really matter.
If you were not lazy what would you be doing?
I’d
be working much harder and getting things done. I'd be focused. I would kill
for more self-discipline.
Do you know what 'not being lazy' feels like?
Yes. I get lost in the task - I could be dead that's how immersed I am in the work. In fact, that's what I think dead feels like.
Do you know what 'not being lazy' feels like?
Yes. I get lost in the task - I could be dead that's how immersed I am in the work. In fact, that's what I think dead feels like.
I believe we use the word lazy because we don’t know what to call the trait we are really exhibiting. We don’t know to say: I work hard at physical tasks because I don’t know how to access the task I should be doing. Is there any prompt that makes you work hard?
Yes. If I get good news I become hyper and
ideas pour out of me. My head
explodes.
Why do you think that is?
I
think good news jerks us around, jiggles some part of our brain and makes it
want to do things.
So the answer to laziness is to get good news every day.
No.
The answer is to learn to jiggle our own brain and make it act as if it heard
good news.
Is there anyone you know
who has enough self-discipline?
Yes. I know one a person who is all
self-discipline. Everything he
does is deliberate and would be hard for most of us. He never takes the easy road. If he did that experiment where you delay eating the cookie
in order to get two cookies, he wouldn’t eat the cookie. He wouldn’t even eat the reward
cookies. He’s all discipline.
Is that person happy?
No. That person is not happy.
So hard work doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness?
I
guess not although I don't believe in that amorphous, ill-defined state known
as happiness.
What have we learned here?
I
don’t know. Nothing.