Motivated Laziness: Earn Relaxation by Doing the Work
Watching a movie, listening to an album, or reading a book. Sometimes these things make me feel bad. Why? Because I do them as a form of procrastination. I have more important things to get done. Things that can bring me forward. Tasks that will change my future.
I know what I have to do to change my life. But reading another book won’t have that kinda impact.
It’s not to say that reading a book won’t have an impact. But it’s clear to me that it’s not going to change my life right now. I know what I have to focus on. I know the 20% that will change my life. And it’s not the reading of another book or the walk through the next forest.
The fine line is that the other extreme doesn’t work either. Not giving myself the time to slow down, to get inspired by reading or listening. So I have a dilemma. What should I do? When I allow myself to do these things, I’m very likely to push important tasks away. When I don’t get some downtime, I’ll burn out.
Turn laziness into a form of motivation. Or motivated laziness.
The only solution that I can think of right now is to plan the relaxation. The joy. The calm. The reading. The movie watching. To know when I’ll do these things. To restrict myself. To define work hours and play hours. And that way, turn the laziness into a form of motivation. Or motivated laziness. Knowing what I’ll do. Do it with motivation. I don’t do it to stay away from work. I do it because I know I have done the work. I earned the reward. Now I can recharge.
I haven’t mastered this skill. I’m still fighting my inner weaker self. Some days I can execute with ease. Other days I want to do nothing at all — even though I made big plans the day before. And then there is the connection to the Motivation Amnesie situation. The one thing I have to remind myself of: make a plan for motivated laziness, do the work, and then: feel good being lazy.
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Originally published at makeityour.life on September 17, 2017.
