I’ve claimed that Willpower compounds and that small wins in the present make it easier to get bigger wins in the future. Unfortunately, procrastination and laziness compound, too.

You’re stressed out for some reason, so you take the evening off for a YouTube binge. You end up staying awake a little later than usual and sleeping poorly. So the next morning you feel especially tired; you snooze a few extra times. In your rushed morning routine you don’t have time to prepare for the work meeting as much as you’d planned to. So you have little to contribute during the meeting. You feel bad about your performance. You escape from the bad feelings with a Twitter break. But Twitter is freaking out. Elon Musk said what? Everyone is weighing in. This is going to occupy you intermittently for the rest of the day. And so on.

Laziness has a [...]

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Outline:

(01:44) I’m spiraling! I’m spiraling!

(02:54) Do what you can

(03:33) A) Emergency recovery

(05:49) B) Natural recovery

(06:14) Wait for a reset point

(08:53) Analyze the circumstances that caused it

(12:17) C) Heroic recovery

(12:50) Deep psych work

(15:16) Conclusion

The original text contained 1 image which was described by AI.

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First published:
September 19th, 2024

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JBR6AF9Gusv4u6Fwo/laziness-death-spirals

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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