My greetings to all blog readers!
Today marks the beginning of the second week of the vibrational training “The Art of Resonant Creation,” where we have taken a rather unusual path in preparing to fulfill a cherished dream for 2012… Instead of the usual planning and goal-setting, working with limiting beliefs, getting rid of subconscious programs, and removing emotional blocks, we chose a different path… combining activation of the right brain hemisphere, a focus on the heart, and vibrational exercises.
The first week was entirely dedicated to the right hemisphere… the results are astounding. And I don’t want to stop there.
Therefore, in the coming weeks, a series of materials on working with the right hemisphere will appear on Klyuchi.
And I will start with an article by Ivan Pirog titled:
What Hinders Self-Discipline?
Part One
Hello. It’s time for us to get acquainted with the causes of chronic laziness. It’s time, finally, to know the enemy by sight! To do this, we will embark on a journey through the dark corners of the mind and conduct a couple of interesting investigations.
Our goal: to find out how the subconscious controls behavior, prompting us to put things off “for later,” abandon projects, and while away the time in idle inaction.
If the topic of laziness interests you, join in — it will be fascinating! For…
In all seriousness and without unnecessary sentimentality, we will talk about the parts of the brain that govern human behavior, encouraging us to put things off “for later” and be lazy. The topic is serious, so prepare some tea and twenty minutes of free time 🙂
We’re off.
“Two Ways to Tame Laziness”
As is known, there are two global directions in the fight against laziness:
The first direction is mastering the skill of creating internal motivation, which will automatically propel you toward your goal. Today, there are good techniques that can sharply increase the level of enthusiasm in your blood. It just remains to practice them.
The second direction is working with internal conflicts of the mind, such as: the endless striving for perfection, fear of failure, lack of self-confidence, fear of criticism, doubts about the correctness of actions, and all that sort of thing.
In principle, both directions are extremely important, as they complement each other perfectly. But in this article, we will talk about the second direction — working with the internal contradictions that prompt laziness.
And now our topic is…
“Laziness as a Defense Against Negative Experiences”
If you think logically, there is no benefit from laziness — only trouble in life. But upon detailed investigation, it turns out that laziness is a rather useful thing!
To see this, let’s conduct a small experiment.
Let’s ask the lazy person a question: “If you stopped being lazy right now, chose a goal, wrote a plan, and moved forward every day… What unpleasant thing could happen to you?”
The answer that usually comes first is: “nothing bad will happen to me.” But if you think more carefully, some rather interesting thoughts might come to mind…
Let’s look at a list of common answers:
- “I will lose my freedom and enjoyment of life. I’ll become a robot, deprived of simple joys and entertainment”;
- “I won’t be able to handle the weight of responsibility and will break under the onslaught of an endless flow of work”;
- “I will find it unpleasant to do difficult work”;
- “I won’t be able to do it well and will become disappointed in myself (I might not succeed at anything)”;
- “Despite all my efforts and hard work, failure may still befall me”;
- “I will fall in people’s eyes if I do a poor or low-quality job”;
- “When the results of my work are on public display, I am subject to criticism and ridicule from those around me”;
- “After spending time and energy, I will suddenly realize this isn’t for me and give up”;
- “People around me will envy my successes”;
- “If I achieve a result, someone will take it away from me and claim it as their own”;
- “I’ve often abandoned projects before, and this project will likely meet a similar fate”;
- “My choice might upset my parents”;
- “In the end, I will only regret the time I wasted”;
And all of these are answers to the question: “What unpleasant things could happen if I give up laziness today?” No wonder people tend to be lazy!
So it turns out laziness protects us from repeating unpleasant experiences from the past. It helps us avoid feelings of guilt, shame, disgrace, frustration, powerlessness, anger, irritation, a sense of slavery, and so on.
For example, laziness as a shield against criticism. What’s so unpleasant about criticism? It can trigger feelings of dejection and resentment, a sense of giving up, and a drop in self-esteem. No one wants to go through that again. So, what’s the most effective remedy against criticism?
Doing nothing.
A pretty simple example. Yet, it’s no less relevant and illustrative. We’ll have time to look at many more examples like this later. But for now, I suggest we dive deeper into the topic.
“Diving into the Brain…”
Our brain is equipped with a special department that scientists call the limbic system. This is a rather complex and evolutionarily ancient part of the brain, which, among other things, is responsible for “turning on” and “turning off” emotions.
Inside the limbic system lies a whole factory for producing emotional chemistry (the hypothalamus). When an emotion arises, the released chemicals enter the bloodstream, and information about this event instantly spreads to every corner of the brain. Suddenly, we find ourselves experiencing a particular feeling.
We can observe emotions as certain sensations in specific parts of the body. For instance, resentment gets stuck as a lump in the throat, joy expands the chest and brings lightness, while anxiety burns in the solar plexus.
Why do we need emotions?
Partly for making quick, safe decisions based on past experience. Partly for expressing ourselves through complex and subtle feelings like delight, sarcasm, arrogance, and curiosity.
In the context of self-discipline, we are interested in the basic emotions that influence our decisions and actions. It is these emotions that incline us toward actions resulting in immediate comfort, rather than the joy of productive self-realization.
Which basic emotions govern our behavior? Let’s find out now.
“How the Subconscious Mind Controls Behavior”
One of the useful functions of the limbic system is remembering life experiences. Both positive and negative. The brain stores negative memories so that in the future it can give an emotional alarm signal in time: “Stop! If you do this now, you’ll face the same trouble as before!”
In this way, the limbic system takes care of the comfort of our survival. Through emotions, it reminds the conscious mind of past mistakes, potential pitfalls, the danger of making a certain decision, and so on and so forth.
If you like, you can call this emotional intuition. In real life, it works like this. Imagine a situation…
The first time a kitten was bathed, it experienced shock. Its brain remembered this event. Now, whenever it hears water running into the bathtub, the limbic system instantly sounds the alarm. It triggers the emotion of fear. And as long as that fear is present, the kitten will stay as far away from the bathroom as possible.
The same thing happens with people. The only difference is a wider range of emotions, sensations, and thoughts. Let’s look at a second situation…
A child was scolded for mediocre results with phrases like “you did poorly—you need to try harder.” In those moments, they experienced some unpleasant emotions. The limbic system remembered everything and one day figured out how to avoid repeating such situations.
Eureka! To protect against criticism, you need to convince the conscious mind to avoid actions that might invite criticism. To do this, you simply need to activate the emotion of fear! And then you immediately lose the desire to take those actions. It’s simple.
The child grew up and became an adult. Now there’s a small problem in their life. Every time they take on difficult tasks, the limbic system sends a fear signal: “Don’t do this! You’ll do poorly and get scolded again!” This fear creates a background discomfort that hinders perseverance.
And now for the most interesting part…
As soon as they put the task off “for later,” the limbic system instantly rewards them with a pleasant feeling of relaxation. It triggers calmness and a sense of freedom.
And all of this is to reinforce safe inaction!
In other words, the brain uses an emotional whip to make us avoid certain actions. And when we avoid those actions, it rewards us with an emotional carrot. In this way, the behavior of avoiding work quickly becomes ingrained and turns into a regular life pattern.
It’s quite difficult to consciously resist this process. It’s easier to negotiate with the limbic system so that it changes its internal processes and stops activating protective fears in situations where they are truly unnecessary. When they get in the way of being productive.
“The First Step on the Path to Taming Laziness”
Before starting to work with the limbic system’s fears that generate laziness, it’s necessary to analyze them. From experience, I can say that the problem of laziness is never solved by tackling it “head-on.” First and foremost, it’s worth figuring out what its benefits are.
Each person has their own set of reasons and benefits. If you want to work with laziness, get a workbook or a text file where you can write down your personal reasons for avoiding actions.
This list will be needed for further work.
In the article “How to Transform from a Lazy Person into a Hellish Workaholic?” I already suggested an approach for exploring the mind’s favorite strategies that it uses to intimidate us into avoiding work. If you’ve already conducted the experiment and have working notes, that’s great! It means you’ve already done an important part of the work.
Now let’s discuss the most common fears that throw a wrench into productivity.
If, while reading, you find that a particular fear feels familiar, write it down in your workbook or a text file. This will be one of the items to work through using special techniques.
So, let’s begin!
“Fear of Mistakes, Failure, and Defeat”
The fear of mistakes is a classic. If you’ve researched laziness on the internet, you’ve probably already come across descriptions of it. Here, we’ll skip the Captain Obvious clichés and dig even deeper.
The fear of mistakes is a warning signal that your self-esteem might suffer as a result of re-experiencing negative emotions associated with an imperfect outcome.
This fear urges you to stop taking action right now, so you can think about how to do it right the first time. Its motto is: “Measure twice, cut once.” But if you don’t know how to do it well right away (due to lack of experience), you can fall into a trap of inaction.
In reality, the limbic system is completely indifferent to the outcome. It doesn’t care whether things turn out well or poorly. It doesn’t operate with concepts like “perfect,” “beautiful,” or “excellent.” It’s only interested in comfortable survival without negative emotional upheavals.
What feelings is the limbic system avoiding when it triggers the fear of mistakes?
It’s avoiding shame, disgrace, frustration, worthlessness, depression, and loneliness. These are the experiences that criticism and self-criticism typically evoke in people.
Essentially, the fear of mistakes doesn’t exist. There’s only the fear of reliving the feelings listed above. And personal experience tells us that the cause of these feelings is poorly done work.
“Want to avoid being scolded? Do it well! Do it so flawlessly that no one can find a single fault. Can’t do it perfectly? Then don’t do it at all.”
Does the fear of mistakes sound familiar? Then try to understand what feelings and emotions arise when you make a mistake, as well as when others criticize you, believing your work results are far from ideal. Remember how your parents reacted to poorly done work and what you felt at that time.
Make notes in your workbook. You’ll need them for further work with this fear. When you come to an agreement with your limbic system not to trigger the fear of failure, a massive amount of energy will be freed up to channel into productive tasks.
You’ll also stop reacting so sharply to criticism.
“Fear of Losing Freedom and Enjoyment of Life”
Friends are noisily playing in the yard. Their cheerful voices drift in through the open window. They’re having fun. They’re free. But I have to do my homework. I must clean the house. I have to… And until this “have to” is done, I’m trapped.
How I want to drop everything and join them! And how I hate that stupid “there’s a word ‘must’!” But if I go out to play now, I’ll get a good scolding from my parents.
Another variation for today’s youth: “Oh, how I want to play on the computer… I hate this homework!”
If this situation sounds familiar, it means you are the happy owner of a fear of losing freedom. Congratulations! Or rather, my condolences, because there’s little pleasant about it.
Parents always end up with a lazy child if they diligently instill self-discipline by piling on responsibilities, restricting their freedom, and using punishment.
They often do this out of a fear of feeling shame in front of others if their child does poorly in school, is disobedient, or doesn’t help around the house. But the long-term result is always the same.
As you’ve probably guessed, the child’s limbic system reliably stores all the negative emotions caused by lack of freedom and parental pressure. As soon as the parental pressure leaves their life and the grown child gains freedom, they can finally enjoy doing nothing and let loose to the fullest. Freedom from pressure! Hooray 🙂
But a small trap might be waiting here…
As soon as the grown child decides to become persistent in achieving a goal, as soon as they decide to plan their daily tasks and complete them on time, the limbic system immediately sounds an alarm: “Careful! You might fall back into the slavery of boredom and obligations you had in childhood!”
And this alarm signal is felt as a very specific sensation in one part of the body or another. Usually as a feeling of some discomfort.
In other words, in adult life, despite conscious intentions to achieve success and gain self-discipline, a person will feel internal emotional sabotage: “If you act every day, you’ll lose your freedom. Stop trying so hard!”
Not all children experience boredom and a sense of servitude when doing homework. But if you are familiar with this from personal experience, be sure to write down in your workbook all the feelings that lack of freedom and servitude evoke.
These too will need to be worked through with the goal of releasing them from your life.
If you share this text somewhere online, please credit the author.
With respect and gratitude,
Ivan Pirog
P.S. Read the continuation of the article here: What Hinders Self-Discipline? The Final Part