tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post4029313985248130537..comments2024-03-10T23:01:51.493-05:00Comments on Stupid Motivational Tricks / Bemsha Swing: Procrastination as Askesis Jonathanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-3584276141656845412017-07-28T18:03:37.506-05:002017-07-28T18:03:37.506-05:00Later: here is kind of an interesting piece on thi...Later: here is kind of an interesting piece on this, although again it assumes writing, dislike of writing, is the problem. <br /><br />http://www.chronicle.com/article/Aiding-the-Writing-Stalled/240737/<br /><br />I'm more interested in the comments than in the article. But it's yet one more salvo on writing as problem.<br /><br />I have decided mine is reading. I feel so guilty about Leslie B.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10020364290777579994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-11896443598621628202017-07-01T11:04:38.380-05:002017-07-01T11:04:38.380-05:00I am still working on The Theory.
Of course, I lo...I am still working on The Theory.<br /><br />Of course, I look at "procrastination" as anxiety and block; I find that if I procrastinate on work (as opposed to other things, like house painting, that I simply find dull or distasteful and would rather someone else did for me), it is because I fear the experience of anxiety, that leads to frozenness, which is block. So, knowing how to Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-15232518866290102382017-06-14T04:35:13.014-05:002017-06-14T04:35:13.014-05:00Oh, and here's a title for the essay that coul...Oh, and here's a title for the essay that could come out of all of this: "The Mystery of Bartleby, the Scrivener." One would have to look up all the writing on Bartleby, of course.<br /><br />There is also smart research in my obscurely published essay on acedia. Which is what happens when you are trying to do askesis, the meditation of ascetics, and you lose concentration. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-90379758342748582342017-06-14T03:39:15.773-05:002017-06-14T03:39:15.773-05:00*and* I keep having more revelations and I am too ...*and* I keep having more revelations and I am too amazed to sleep. This never happens to me.<br /><br />Block (I don't call it procrastination, that's just not starting; my experience is inability to progress while working, writing in circles due to mental fog): <br /><br />Negative reason for it: what you say, rejection of self.<br />Positive reason for it (positive impulse even if Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-87033237971198427222017-06-14T01:18:33.374-05:002017-06-14T01:18:33.374-05:00...and I *keep* having more ideas on this.
Why do......and I *keep* having more ideas on this.<br /><br />Why do people like to be in this not-quite-working, not-quite-playing state? Perhaps it is because that is the amount of self they have available at the time. They are not present enough either to really work or really play. It is in a way like doing light reading, not reading a complex literary text or heavy theory all the time. When we have Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-13441739635620990682017-06-13T22:41:36.602-05:002017-06-13T22:41:36.602-05:00STILL more: I never used to procrastinate, about s...STILL more: I never used to procrastinate, about school or work anyway, because there would have been no payoff: why not finish, why suffer, and why nor give yourself those satisfactions? I did, however, procrastinate on some other things, and it always had to do with fear of violence.<br /><br />I became a procrastinator much later and part of it had to do with that capitalist concept, time Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-14304871010077644572017-06-13T15:29:52.144-05:002017-06-13T15:29:52.144-05:00Last-last brilliant idea:
Going public with your...Last-last brilliant idea: <br /><br />Going public with your ideas, and standing on them, was in my childhood the way to cause a very great family fight with extreme violence and possible annihilation.<br /><br />So, am willing to play with ideas, privately: have conversations, muse on blogs, write drafts, give conference papers, and so on. But an idea I go public with has to be something I do onAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-59392730276678882842017-06-13T14:59:00.486-05:002017-06-13T14:59:00.486-05:00Felices viajes! I am about to take 6 weeks off and...Felices viajes! I am about to take 6 weeks off and travel, too -- maybe I should take a blog vacation.<br /><br />One final realization on this:<br /><br />You have to consider that the unconscious is working on your behalf, not against you.<br />Behaviorist theories, the idea that you must create good habits and eradicate bad ones, do not consider the possibility that unconscious motivations, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-55651457821998306642017-06-13T14:12:29.225-05:002017-06-13T14:12:29.225-05:00You have good insights into this. Busting through ...You have good insights into this. Busting through procrastination shouldn't feel forced, and that is a very Protestant idea, one that I often find myself echoing despite myself. <br /><br /> I'm going to be taking a bog vacation starting now, going to Chicago for Julia's graduation and then to Buenos Aires, so I won't be responding to comments or posting until late July. I hope Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-88671769275258304772017-06-13T13:51:49.836-05:002017-06-13T13:51:49.836-05:00And also, and this is key (for me): me feeling I d...And also, and this is key (for me): me feeling I do not deserve the satisfaction of finishing work has to do with me not standing up to abuse / manipulation.<br /><br />I just had this huge blowout fight with someone at work. That I disagree with. Him very upset that I disagreed and got kind of mean. I realized that right though this person may sometimes be, my putting up with him and therefore Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-24034792115173485532017-06-13T13:13:21.941-05:002017-06-13T13:13:21.941-05:00And/but the interesting text on this is the one on...And/but the interesting text on this is the one on my blog and you should read it. Check out the last line:<br /><br />"So I came out with my ideas, did not procrastinate, because I thought that the best way to avoid failure or death. But in many other instances, I procrastinate because I wish to avoid death."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-62705104692989114252017-06-13T12:57:39.584-05:002017-06-13T12:57:39.584-05:00*typo above: he thought *academia was uncool*typo above: he thought *academia was uncoolAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-49970158352816055062017-06-13T12:54:14.179-05:002017-06-13T12:54:14.179-05:00OK, I commented but the comment was too long. I pu...OK, I commented but the comment was too long. I put it on my blog where it got yet longer. It's here https://profacero.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/a-rough-draft/ and I think it's coherent, or has interesting things in it. I got a couple of insights from writing it.<br /><br />It doesn't talk about my possible procrastination over career change. This is something I would like to think Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-38364203806526692372017-06-12T23:08:20.753-05:002017-06-12T23:08:20.753-05:00The standard view I've always heard is that pr...The standard view I've always heard is that procrastination stems from "perfectionism." I'm sure this is how many people understand it, but I have my doubts. I've always thought that if you were a perfectionist, you start early and do things right. You would be self-critical, but you would do the work. You might be reluctant to release the final version, but you would haveJonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-45269288586607392622017-06-12T20:48:52.199-05:002017-06-12T20:48:52.199-05:00OK, I am now back. Let me see. I have thought abou...OK, I am now back. Let me see. I have thought about this so much over the years, because of saying yes to things I want to say no to, and finding myself blocked, and calling that procrastination, and trying to solve it with what looks like sensible advice.<br /><br />So: it is a standard idea, and perhaps the overarching standard idea. But everyone, when they first understand it, thinks it is Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-29611037533530208192017-06-12T15:28:47.409-05:002017-06-12T15:28:47.409-05:00Oh, yes, I have ideas on this, but not time to wri...Oh, yes, I have ideas on this, but not time to write them down at this moment.<br /><br />Also, another thought (for me) on this: people just don't approve of my writing process. I can explain that, too, later Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-35962585921915419762017-06-12T14:14:40.202-05:002017-06-12T14:14:40.202-05:00I didn't know it was a standard idea. It hit ...I didn't know it was a standard idea. It hit me today as though it were my original thought. When I do stop procrastinating it feels good, but why do I prefer being bored and anxious to this simple pleasure? It is like a separation from the self, what the self knows would make it feel satisfied. Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-73550781361938932922017-06-12T14:10:48.036-05:002017-06-12T14:10:48.036-05:00Ah -- and also -- one needs to feel one has the ri...Ah -- and also -- one needs to feel one has the right to concentrate, and to the time that is goes into struggle with material. I find that all the emphasis on "productivity" is misplaced, and attention to pleasure of work is more important.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1055932257464975902.post-3990609077150081422017-06-12T13:01:27.243-05:002017-06-12T13:01:27.243-05:00This is one of the standard analyses.
I still sa...This is one of the standard analyses. <br /><br />I still say that what one needs is access to self. With this, anything is possible, and without it, very little is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com