One step at a time

This was done in the middle of the night, when I should have been sleeping...

Fighting laziness is more than just making a decision and sticking to it. Do you know why? Because making a decision and sticking to it is more difficult than it sounds. Therefore I suggest that we try to figure out how to stick to a decision, once made. 

First we need to find out why we are lazy. Are we just born lazy, like Martin said, or is there something more to it? I think in my case there is something more to it, yes I have always been lazy, but in some areas I am more lazy than in others. Why is that? There are two causes that I have identified so far... 

• The first one is this: If I find that I can do something to a reasonably acceptable degree, I do not work at it. For some reason I am satisfied with doing well at beginner level, but never taking it further. Let's use my violin playing skills as an example - when I started out I did very well with my first examinations. Then, when it got more difficult, I simply gave up. Why? Because I was being lazy! I enjoyed sounding good (as beginner) without practice. Therefore I wanted to keep on playing without practice. Needless to say, my relationship with my violin isn't nearly where it could have been, if I had worked at it. I want to make it public now. I WILL get my violin up to standard, even if it takes me twenty years to do it. I will play Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Beethoven and all the others. Even if it is only for my grandchildren
• The second reason is that I always find excuses to do other things instead of doing what matters. I usually take something that is not difficult to master and focus all of my attention on that. The problem with this is that it is more than likely that the thing I am working at has no real value in relation to the thing I should be concentrating on. We can use playing computer games as thee prime example in my life. I have spent more hours playing online games in the last year than I have spent on any other relationship (human or inanimate) . I think it is safe to say that I spent more time playing a specific game than I did sleeping. Replacing what is important with some senseless relationship is a form of laziness and it is definitely a form of addiction. So here we deal with two problems at the same time. Everything in your life is truly entwined. 

Now that I know some of the reasons for being lazy, it is already easier to fight laziness. But just knowing is not enough! We have to do something about that knowledge. Take small steps in the beginning of your campaign against laziness, otherwise you will overwhelm yourself and just fall back into being lazy. 

How do we take those small steps? What is a small step and what is a big step? 

Small step: Pick up the violin and do scales

Big step: Pick up the violin and try playing Mendelssohn's violin concerto

If you start of by trying the concerto, you will frustrate yourself and put the violin away in disgust (believe me, I know). If you play scales, you will at least hear an improvement in the sound you produce. Playing scales once isn't enough though. We need to do it consistently, on a day to day basis. That is where the difficulties starts creeping in. How do you keep yourself motivated to keep on keeping on? This is where I struggle a lot! I'm not afraid to start something, but once I get the hang of something I usually set it aside. or when I do not get the hang of it easily, I shove it very far away!

Ugh, I get sidetracked way too easily! Keeping yourself motivated. Right. Set up a roster or a time-sheet. Put it where everyone in the house can see it. Follow it strictly, otherwise there is no point in making it. Why put it up where everyone can see it? So that the other people in the house can encourage you to do your thing, duh!! 

So that is one small pointer on how to overcome laziness, in my next post I will add a few more of those, and I will try to address the addiction factor as well. 

PS - I boarded today. It was a lot of fun! This crazy Dutch instructor helped me to correct my balance and to put rhythm in my turns. I still look a bit awkward, But I fell only once during the two and a half hours I spent riding. That's progress right there!! :D