😴 Lazy? Or Unmotivated?
Whenever I try to return to posting regularly, I'll ask myself why I find it so difficult to get back into things and often the answer tends to be related to motivation. Time is certainly another factor but when we're motivated to do something, we find time... we make time. So motivation is definitely significant.
But something else came to mind a couple of mornings ago. I came down to our kitchen and found some rubbish on our kitchen side. Unfortunately, this is a fairly frequent occurrence in our house and it drives me mad...
When I see a scene like this, I think "You lazy c.... The f...ing bin is there. Just open the f...ing bin and put the rubbish in."
I'm then reminded of a Michael McIntyre sketch...
Then somewhat randomly, my thoughts went back to Steemit and I thought that maybe this isn't laziness, it's simply a lack of motivation. There's not enough motivation to live in a tidy house.
So why would we say that one thing is a lack of motivation and another thing is lazy?
📚 Some Definitions
LAZY - not willing to work or use any effort (Source)
UNMOTIVATED - not wanting to do something, or not wanting to do something well (Source)
The definitions are very similar and could easily be interpreted as being the same. So why is it that when I find rubbish next to the bin and not IN the bin don't I think "that's a lack of motivation" instead of "that's lazy"? Perhaps Google can help... (👈 this is a cool website if you haven't seen it before - great for replying to questions from people too lazy to use Google)
Laziness, lack of motivation, and depression are all completely different from one another, but often look quite the same writes one Blog
which goes on to write:
Being lazy has an intention. It’s a preference. You want and enjoy doing absolutely nothing. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes you just need a lazy day in order to relax. However, when it comes to daily tasks, laziness begins to have a different impact. You have desire, but aren’t willing to put the effort in.
The first half of this paragraph semi-makes sense. There are days when I choose to be lazy - spend the day in my pyjamas and watch a box set (pre-children anyway). Ok, but the rest of it isn't that helpful. What do they say about motivation...
Lack of motivation is essentially lack of passion. There are no goals, desire, or willingness to work. You simply don’t do anything, there is no faking it like laziness does. Lack of motivation is usually a deeper psychological problem and could have some elements of depression.
Your lack of motivation is a reaction to your current situation. It can be triggered by being picked on, put down, lack of clear direction, not living up to expectations, or always being told what to do. In time, this leads to losing any passion you might have had previously.
Well, this makes a lot more sense. And the subtle differences in their definitions become clearer now.
Lazy and the use of the word "willing".
Motivation and the use of the word "wanting".
Well, I'm happily in the process of confusing myself. I don't agree with the statement that Laziness and lack of motivation are completely different to each other and that like the definitions, the difference is far more subtle. More to do with feeling and psychological state than purely by the actions that are (or aren't) undertaken.
Maybe this (more brutal) assessment is closer to my thoughts...
Laziness barely gets the job done, lack of motivation doesn’t even care that the job exists. Source
Perhaps... Laziness is not doing something that needs doing. Lack of motivation is not doing something that you could do.
Hey, I really like this post, because I have dealt with these things that you mention, I think with all of them: laziness, lack of motivation and depression. Happily, I have found paths and answers in the past.
In my search I found a concept that perhaps fits better: procrastination.
It is when you would like to do something but you keep putting it off, and putting it off. Until there comes a point where you don't understand why you don't or can't focus.
The answers that you find are several and they are not related to laziness, but are related to other deeper concepts: sometimes the desire to do something very well, perfectionism, do not let you see where to start.
Other times it is that we do not have a plan, we only see in the distance what we would like to do but there is no realistic method to do it, such as breaking the task into smaller parts.
Although it seems a bit silly, I found that in my case the latter helped me to focus, that is, to know what my goal is, and then divide it into mini-tasks. That opened a light for me and a path to start moving.
I have used it to do simple tasks, such as sewing, running errands, in Steemit I have not had this problem so much because many of the things I do are already pre-defined, I just do them and that's it, and I leave a margin for the ones I do new ones or I'm creating If I don't know what to do I go for the simplest, and so on.
My personality tends to be a little distracted, bohemian at times, I spread out, but it helped me a lot to write things down, know what I wanted to do, and then break those tasks down into smaller things. When you do one of those little things you feel a path opens up.
Perhaps in your case, you have not found that path, and that leads you to postpone it, it is something that happens to us that sometimes we do not know how to handle it.
That's my experience, maybe I'll give you one more piece to that puzzle you're putting together hahaha...
I leave you greetings and a hug, I liked reading you.
Thank you for mentioning some interesting points. I keep referring back to the first article that I reference which I'm increasingly disliking 🙂 They consider procrastination to be a sign of laziness and your perfectionism point as unmotivated.
I think that like you, when I do something I want it to be the best that it can be. Perhaps this prevents me from starting some things, because to do something to my best ability, I need to be in the right mindset and to be in the right mindset, I probably need the right motivation.
Much like my reply to this comment 🙂 I read it a couple of days ago when you shared it but I didn't want to "lazily" reply without the appropriate thought and effort. And perhaps in writing this, it highlights to me the difference between how I think about lazyness and motivation.
I think that my entire life is broken down into little tasks. I'd love to focus on doing one thing and seeing it through to completion but it would mean that I'd neglect everything else that (I think) needs doing. And perhaps that's why I struggle to write as much any more... I want to write the perfect post (perfectionism) which requires a lot of time (let's say 2 hours on average). I don't feel that it's something I can do in 30 minute intervals so I end up not doing it at all. So if I want to continue posting more regularly, then I probably need to find a way to write in smaller chunks and post it whenevevr it's complete.
I don't think I'm ready for this puzzle yet.
I'm very glad you were neither too lazy nor too unmotivated to pick out all the interesting quotes that train us to be amateur psychologists in a flash!
Of course, "lazy" is something quite different from "unmotivated"!
When I am unmotivated to do something, I find 1000 things whose completion is much, much more important. Then I am busy until exhaustion - that is the opposite of lazy. Hm. But maybe it's called something else entirely: procrastination.
Okay, I confess: I am a master of procrastination and therefore a case for the (hobby) psychologist. If only I wasn't so terribly unmotivated to consult one... 😂
I think we all love to be a psychologist every now and again - I'm a cognitive psychologist most days 🙂
I like the "of course" 🙂 I would say that my brother is lazy. Whenever I visit my mum and he's there, he's either lying down on the sofa or more likely, in a different room sleeping. I'm told that he works hard at his job but I don't see that. I see him lying down. Always lying down. So can he work hard at his job and be lazy too? Or is he not lazy but instead, lacking motivation to do anything other than lie down? 🤔
Interestingly, the first article I referenced had this sentence in it:
Under the **lazy"" section 🤣
Procrastination was also the golden mediator that first came to my mind: we like to put off and put off and put off what we are not intrinsically motivated to do. We are not too lazy to do it, we just lack motivating reasons ;-)) This being "lazy" is more of a general state, complete lack of drive, contentment with being stuck....
Prokrastination war auch der goldene Mittler, der mir als erstes einfiel: wir schieben gerne auf und auf und aufer, wozu wir nicht intrinsisch motiviert sind. Wir sind nicht zu faul dazu, uns fehlen nur motivierende Gründe ;-)) Dieses "faul" sein ist mehr so ein allgemeiner Zustand, komplette Antriebslosigkeit, Zufriedenheit mit dem Verharren...
@chriddi mentioned procrastination too and I found it interesting that the first article included procrastination under "lazy". But I don't consider procrastination as lazy - it's not a lack of willingness, it's a lack of wanting so like you say "not intrinsically motivated to do". Or maybe they're the same thing.
To me, this says that it's more to do with "energy". We're generally lazy when we never have the energy to do anything. If we've got the energy but simply don't want to, then maybe we're unmotivated.
The more I think about it, the more I think that the first article I referenced is a load of crap.
Alright, this is a little bit technical and also laziness and unmotivated are two different things..., Somehow confusing though because they sound the same
But this is what I thought...👉...I think when unmotivated is more frequently than motivated It turns to laziness.
It is normal to feel unmotivated most times maybe due to some situation surrounding us...., but the fact is that..such a situation will not always happen...🤷♂️..., but if unmotivated becomes the topic of the day always, then It can be considered as Laziness.
Still, I may be wrong with this understanding...
TEAM 1
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