Read your full Productivity article and I love it! I'm a big believer in the Taoist maxims 'Doing without doing' and 'No-one knows the usefulness of the useless'. Personally, I find I can only live my life in alignment when I apply the "backwards law": I convince myself I'm fine as I am, don't need to be anything, achieve anything, do anything, and it's only then that I'm ready to be and do all the things I need to be and do. If I start out by demanding a bunch of things out of myself I end up doing everything out of a sense of guilt and fear. I have to trust that all the things I want to bring about will happen naturally without my forcing them: I actually *like* productivity and self-improvement, and I do both of them better when I'm motivated by genuine enthusiasm, spontaneity and energy than when I'm going 'I suppose I should...'
I don't think this is the path for everyone by the way. That's why the 'for "lazy" people' bit of your title is so good - different life advice works for different personality types, and we all have different negative scripts in our heads that hold us back. My problem is an overdeveloped superego, so my MO is geared towards ignoring it. Other people might have more success expecting more of themselves, not less. Everyone's different.
Exactly! You’re so right about others who do better expecting a lot more of themselves—I tend to find that easily overwhelming and like you, do far better focusing on what I enjoy which then allows me to forget myself, lose myself in the work. Ego forgetfulness, so to speak, except not by escapism but by a new focus—something I enjoy but which also takes so much of my attention I don’t have much left to be looking at myself in the moment.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and thanks for your thoughtful response!
Read your full Productivity article and I love it! I'm a big believer in the Taoist maxims 'Doing without doing' and 'No-one knows the usefulness of the useless'. Personally, I find I can only live my life in alignment when I apply the "backwards law": I convince myself I'm fine as I am, don't need to be anything, achieve anything, do anything, and it's only then that I'm ready to be and do all the things I need to be and do. If I start out by demanding a bunch of things out of myself I end up doing everything out of a sense of guilt and fear. I have to trust that all the things I want to bring about will happen naturally without my forcing them: I actually *like* productivity and self-improvement, and I do both of them better when I'm motivated by genuine enthusiasm, spontaneity and energy than when I'm going 'I suppose I should...'
I don't think this is the path for everyone by the way. That's why the 'for "lazy" people' bit of your title is so good - different life advice works for different personality types, and we all have different negative scripts in our heads that hold us back. My problem is an overdeveloped superego, so my MO is geared towards ignoring it. Other people might have more success expecting more of themselves, not less. Everyone's different.
Exactly! You’re so right about others who do better expecting a lot more of themselves—I tend to find that easily overwhelming and like you, do far better focusing on what I enjoy which then allows me to forget myself, lose myself in the work. Ego forgetfulness, so to speak, except not by escapism but by a new focus—something I enjoy but which also takes so much of my attention I don’t have much left to be looking at myself in the moment.
I’m glad you enjoyed it and thanks for your thoughtful response!
Hey, we reluctant cooks gotta stick together ;)