Day 43: The Evil Power of Dancing Youtube Cats

Excuse #5: I’m not very productive.

By now, it is clear what the problem is: we want to achieve a lot in life, but life itself gets in the way. Life has the nerve to give us Netflix, YouTube, and Facebook. How are we supposed to get anything done?

If you thought you were unique in this respect, I’ll have to disappoint you: this “productivity problem” is a common denominator in all of humanity. That strange feeling you have in the morning, when you realize you won’t do those things you put on your mental to-do list the night before — that happens to all of us.

The Greek philosophers called this problem “akrasia”. It’s not confined to you, me, and our parents — it’s been around for thousands of years.

Akrasia is defined as a state of acting against your better judgment, like when you eat a piece of cake even though you’re on a diet, or you spend hours watching YouTube videos instead of going to bed on time. It is the enemy within, the dark force that works against our goals of losing weight, launching a business, saving money, or working harder.

It is the force we forget about when we get all excited about our New Year’s resolutions. The force that features in the middle of February, when it starts pushing us away from those resolutions. Everyone is susceptible to it, even top business people, artists, and writers. Akrasia supports a state of procrastination and speeds up a lack of commitment to our true goals, but it is different in every human being.

Even though they didn’t have social media, Greek philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras were also constantly distracted from their goals. Akrasia is so difficult to define that even the ancient Greeks had trouble figuring out what’s happening in our brains and why this problem affects us the way it does. This is the question that obsessed them: Why do we do things that go against our better judgment?

Aristotle believed akrasia was the “weak factor” in our lives, based on the human spirit or the complexity of our passions. In many cases, people are aware of their weaknesses, which can help them to prevent the situation in the first place. In Aristotle’s opinion, our human passions set akrasia into motion: we know we shouldn’t flirt because we’re married, or steal money because it’s a crime — yet we do it anyway because our passions control us. Socrates, on the other hand, believed our weaknesses are too strong to do anything about them.

I disagree with Aristotle’s fatalist view on the human condition, but he does make an interesting point by categorizing akrasia as impetuosity and weakness. Those two characteristics send us down the spiral of inertia, even when we know we have to take action if we want to change our lives.

Akrasia is a mix of impulsivity and a need for fast satisfaction. That need arises from our constant search for positive reinforcement. We want to feel good about what we do, so instead of making good, long-term decisions, we prefer doing things that provide instant pleasure. That’s why we silence our internal productivity voice whenever it tries to persuade us to behave differently.

Here are a few examples of long-term goals that don’t bring immediate, automatic pleasure:

• Saving money rather than spending it on superficial things
• Not getting drunk when we still have to drive
• Leaving a bad relationship even though we are afraid of being alone
• Eating healthy food that is beneficial for us
• Getting fit, finding a better job, working harder

The pleasure of those actions is a future state, but our brain is looking for short-term satisfaction. Nevertheless, the true you needs long-term goals. Let me give you an easy example.

Storytelling is one of the most precious human traditions: we love telling and hearing stories. There are two types of experiences we tell stories about: the ones that are easy to achieve and the more difficult ones. The story that was easy to achieve is rarely exciting. It is fun to do but boring to listen to, e.g. “Last night we had some drinks in a bar, and then we went dancing until the morning. It was great.”

Even though the experience was nice, the story is pretty boring. Nobody will be fascinated, since it’s not inspirational — it’s easy.

However, when I tell you, “Once I realized my first marriage was over, I jumped on the first flight and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in tears, wondering whether I would survive, die, or sink into a depression,” that’s a different story. The experience was painful, but telling the story brings satisfaction and makes people want to engage with me. Why? Who was she? Why Kilimanjaro? How did you do it? Was it hard?

Akrasia pushes us to do easy things that are not necessarily good for us, and to ignore the goals we want to achieve. Our brains are conditioned by this force pushing us in the opposite direction of long-term productivity.

However, once you become aware of that, you have taken the first step to realizing that your situation is not unique and that everyone you admire has experienced the same thing.

Now that you know you are not alone, the next step is finding a solution to destroy akrasia once and for all.

Day #43 Stats Goanna Social

Day #43 Hours worked: 8(back to work)

Overal Hours worked: 264

Original Funds: $13.500 AUD

Overall Invoiced : $42.000 +

Clients Pending : 3

Phone calls: 0

Emails sent: 17

FB / Lead generation interaction: 3

Active Leads: 5

Feeling: Tired