INTP Laziness

[Architect]

I've tried many things. It's almost crippling to me. If I wasn't a genius I would have failed out of school by this point.

A genius is somebody who makes enough impact on society in an intellectual field that the rest of us monkeys label him or her as a genius. In other words; you're merely smart. In fact it probably doesn't take a lot of intelligence to be a genius. More importantly, you have to be first.

 

[MerlinLuna]

A lot of these answers have seemed to lean off long term goals, instead breaking them up into more manageable chunks. Nonsense. INTP's have a tremendous amount of potential willpower that most don't come to understand. The strategy and challenge of long term goals such as massive financial renditions, pioneering new business plans, and internal struggles of your own that you can work on can bring much satisfaction and make life a heck of a lot easier, which is something we all want. I always compare my options, and choose between the rewards based on the choices I make, but it's good to be competitive.
No one else out there has the computing ability we do. Why let our talent decay?

 

[ℜεмїηїs¢εη¢ε]

A lot of these answers have seemed to lean off long term goals, instead breaking them up into more manageable chunks. Nonsense. INTP's have a tremendous amount of potential willpower that most don't come to understand. The strategy and challenge of long term goals such as massive financial renditions, pioneering new business plans, and internal struggles of your own that you can work on can bring much satisfaction and make life a heck of a lot easier, which is something we all want. I always compare my options, and choose between the rewards based on the choices I make, but it's good to be competitive.
No one else out there has the computing ability we do. Why let our talent decay?

You might be onto something. I always feel the least lazy when I'm being competitive. Actually, I don't feel lazy at all. The problem is I can't seem to become competitive in anything useful.

 

[Starswirl]

A genius is somebody who makes enough impact on society in an intellectual field that the rest of us monkeys label him or her as a genius.

Actually, you can call yourself a genius if you simply get a score of 145+ on the Stanford-Binet.

Or maybe you have to also send an application to the USGD (United States Genius Department).

 

[SpaceYeti]

I'm a fan of sticky notes. When I realize a chore needs completion, I put it off, because I'm in the middle of something. I'm always in the middle of something when a chore comes to my attention. When that thing is done, though, the sticky note remains, whereas the memory of the chore does not. I also like to do chores in a way that makes them most convenient. I take the trash out when I'm going out anyway, I clean when the things I leave on my desk start getting in the way of my coffee maker, etc.

This is an area I very much appreciate my wife. My wife cleans. I don't think it's a wife's place, I'm not sexist, but I do like having someone around who's mindful of chores and can actually get them done without getting distracted by the variations in color the reflection from your TV screen makes (or some equally mundane thing that's only distracting you because it's ever so slightly less boring than the task at hand).

 

[WALKYRIA]

I start with little job and end up doing a lot of things.
I tell myself " c'mon, move your ass and do a little first"... and then I end up working till very late in the night.
Start with little things. And start gently.
WHat used to refrain me and feed my procrastination was to think in terms of outcome, "I have to get top grades and a good outcome".
Never think like that, don't pressurize yourself.. IF you do, you won't amount to anything.
In place of that, just do the job, the best that you can, without thinking about failure... and then, you'll eventualy find yourself absorbed into the job without realizing it.
The switch from the one to the other way of thinking might take a long time.

 

[Tuevon]

I hate finals. Anything of interest. I gotta have my music- just a thing, but my laptop is too distracting.

 

[you_is_eagleton]

It really seems to depend on my level of interest on the matter. If I get really excited about it, I can jump right into it with no laziness holding me back. But I tend to get distracted very easily -- and once I fail to keep the consistent momentum going, everything falls apart and I go back to being lazy.

Same thing goes for topics/projects that I am not interested in. I wouldn't even bother to start it and just give into my laziness.

In general, I'm just a very lazy person who gets distracted easily and loses interest if I see no sign of improvement or imminent success. I wish I could change this habit.

 

[kvothe27]

This will sound really silly, but I sometimes pretend my tasks are all leading up to some epic struggle, and I'll need all the things I'm studying (as though the skills I'm learning are actually magic that I'll need to beat my arch nemesis).

When I go jogging, I weave all sorts of fantasy-based themes into my life while listening to epic soundtracks. It's all really silly, but it works for me.

 

[elusivepeanut]

About 3 months ago I started using the GTD system with evernote, previously I used catch. Here is the site that breaks it down with video tutorials.

The thing that I think INTPs will especially like is the tagging in evernote. It feels so empowering to dump your brain into this notepad, all of your ideas, thoughts, to do lists, quotes, web articles, etc.. and then tag by keywords

http://www.thesecretweapon.org/

 

[Cyberpunk]

I was under the impression that laziness and procrastination was a trait of ENFPs. I'm all like "Fuck the dishes, have you heard about...". If a certain douche allows me to be a bit speculative without going on a roll again, I think it's just the way my Ne works. There's a really shitty, shitty saying that stupid people discuss people, mediocre people discuss events and intelligent people discuss ideas. I'm constantly occupied with "what Sarté said" or what "my INFJ friend spoke about yesterday" or "determinism, there's cool people doing it" that life in the moment sort of fades. And while you introverts are so in there, I'm constantly out there. Anybody feeling me?

Sorry for shitty english, I've been playing dark souls for 14 hours straight and no sleep.

 

[walfin]

Laziness is the mother of invention.

 

[Pyropyro]

This will sound really silly, but I sometimes pretend my tasks are all leading up to some epic struggle, and I'll need all the things I'm studying (as though the skills I'm learning are actually magic that I'll need to beat my arch nemesis).

When I go jogging, I weave all sorts of fantasy-based themes into my life while listening to epic soundtracks. It's all really silly, but it works for me.

Actually that makes sense. We're a strong Ne. We need to see the future and we are imaginative, you have managed to use both in a positive way.

 

[DelusiveNinja]

Albert Einstein stated "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
Leonardo de Vinci said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"
Henry David Thoreau said "Our lives are frittered away by detail; simplify, simplify."

I see laziness as a simplification process. Normally you either a) have to do something or b) want to do something you are doing. Most of us prefer to save our energy to use it one something we want rather than wasting it on something tedious and uninteresting but the extrinsic reward received or punishment avoided through doing it usually makes it worthwhile. If you predict the reward or punishment as not worthwhile to receive or avoid you shouldn't do it, allowing you to spend your time in lala land or where ever else you wish to spend it.

This also works with me keeping my room clean. Basically nothing in my is unnecessary to me therefore making my room "clean" of unnecessary BS. I also typically think and re-think before and making a decision to floccinaucinihilipilificate anything in my room and that said thing goes into the trash can.

Laziness to me is the weeding out of unnecessary task and the simplification of life.

 

[doncarlzone]

I am planning my whole life according to my laziness. I rarely buy any food that require more than 5 minutes of my time. I only do two different washes. I never fold any clothes, I just use hangers for shirts, the rest I just dump into a system of drawers, or the floor. I intentionally manipulated my boss so that I could get a desk away from people, so I can surf the internet half of the day.

I think it is very important that when we are "motivated" that we don't get over confident. Whatever system of "boring tasks" we put in place, has to be as simple and time efficient and humanly possible. At least that's my strategy.

Oh and fuck I hate this. I hate this so fucking bad.

 

[doncarlzone]

I've tried many things. It's almost crippling to me. If I wasn't a genius I would have failed out of school by this point. Last semester of college, I have NEVER studied for a test more than a night before, and probably not for more than 4-6 hours at max. Never listen in class either, always daydreaming.

I recall a perfect example, sitting up the night before a test. I would sit in my chair and stare at my closed textbook on the ground. I'd look at the clock, daydream a bit, and then stare at the book, almost in a paralysis of sorts. Thats how strongly I did not want to read it or study. This continued for 5 hours with my just sitting there looking between the clock and the book, until eventually my mind said "Enough, you don't have enough time to learn what you need to anymore, if you waste another single minute you're done". Panic gripped my heart, and I finally began. 4 hours before the test started.

This is so painfully relatable.

 

[r4ch3l]

This is so painfully relatable.

I know. It sums up my entire existence.
It's not laziness, it's INTParalysis!

 

[Happy]

“I always choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
― Bill Gates

Moral of the story: We should all go work for Microsoft.

 

[Architect]

So how does one utilize laziness? Actually we are far from lazy, rather we like to do things nobody else does, and not do what many like. Sitting around spinning theories is really hard work, if you're not an INTP.

Working with computers epitomizes the lazy thinker. It's all about finding an easy way out.

 

[Valentas]

I learned laziness from Haskell, it evaluates and does work only enough to do what you say to it. I think it is amazing idea.

Then you have more time for experimenting and other fun stuff !

 

[Magus]

Tend to agree with Architect, perhaps it is nit picking but we are more 'unproductive' or 'sidetracked' than we are lazy given the truest sense of the word, although I'm sure INTPs can be lazy as all hell as can other types. Case in point, I'm busy studying everything I'm not being tested on at university.

Also echoing other comments. Laziness can be leveraged to your advantage. Given initial investment it is a fairly straightforward process to optimise things like your diet and wardrobe. I think minimalism (possibly punctuated by bouts of clutter) is a cycle common in many of our lives.

***

To OP, probably the only true way to 'break the cycle' is to break bad habits. Habits form because we want something x, so we form a habit doing something e.g. y to fill that need. The problem is that often what we choose e.g. y might be bad. So I'm hungry with no energy at 3 pm each day, I eat a packet of M&Ms (very bad habit). The trick I've found to breaking bad habits is to analyse everything you do like crazy for about a week or so. This way you're in a better position to diagnose what you're really after (you see the trends) and can replace y with z; the productive habit to fill that need. So I'm aware that I eat too much chocolate not because I just love chocolate, but because everyday at around 3 pm I need a serious energy boost. Instead I have a cup of tea and some fruit/maybe light exercise; better habit, but fills the same need. Habits usually take 2-3 weeks to change though.

So if you have to do an assignment you realise that you get sidetracked after 1 hour into work. Or when the work isn't intellectually stimulating enough. You now know that you have to have a break each hour or somehow make the work more complex; or perhaps finish it as quickly as possible to reward yourself with something complex.

Sorry if this is rambles a bit

 

[r4ch3l]

To OP, probably the only true way to 'break the cycle' is to break bad habits. Habits form because we want something x, so we form a habit doing something e.g. y to fill that need. The problem is that often what we choose e.g. y might be bad. So I'm hungry with no energy at 3 pm each day, I eat a packet of M&Ms (very bad habit). The trick I've found to breaking bad habits is to analyse everything you do like crazy for about a week or so. This way you're in a better position to diagnose what you're really after (you see the trends) and can replace y with z; the productive habit to fill that need. So I'm aware that I eat too much chocolate not because I just love chocolate, but because everyday at around 3 pm I need a serious energy boost. Instead I have a cup of tea and some fruit/maybe light exercise; better habit, but fills the same need. Habits usually take 2-3 weeks to change though.

I think this is where INTPs can hack into themselves and use our sometimes dissociated nature to analyze and modify the course of action...like Architect was saying in the thread about motivation, it's not about getting inspired for us. It's about analyzing our own operating system and then optimizing it to maximum efficiency that breaks us out of procrastination/laziness. And making sure that our goals are aligned with intellectual need or working toward it.

 

[Foxman49]

I actually made a to do list for the things I needed to get done today... and I forgot about the existence of the the list. I think it helped though because I actually remembered to do everything (including registering for this forum ).

My problem isthat I am too lazy to do things that are not school related. It can be a shame, because I need to put some hard effort in to do better. I have enough problems getting up in the morning.

 

[phato]

I actually made a to do list for the things I needed to get done today... and I forgot about the existence of the the list. I think it helped though because I actually remembered to do everything (including registering for this forum ).

My problem isthat I am too lazy to do things that are not school related. It can be a shame, because I need to put some hard effort in to do better. I have enough problems getting up in the morning.

I can totally relate. Especially with the part of having trouble getting up in the morning. I normally just say to my self, that I have to go to school, but then when I finally am at my school, its not even worth it...

 

[Twn]

There's an easy fix for this: Become MORE lazy, and only do things that are 100% necessary, and come with natural motivation.

I started a service-based business not too long ago, and if I dont step up, and get shit done, I dont get paid.


Stop being so hard on yourself. I've actually put off urination, but eventually there is a release. Thats all that matters.


Stop worrying about procrastination, and stop focusing on getting things done. If you are miserable enough (or if you are about to, say, piss your pants), the deed will get done.

 

[mattjce]

I'm currently repeating my first year at college because in the first year I didn't turn up to any lectures after the first week due to a mixture of laziness and social anxiety. I then missed most of my coursework deadlines due to chronic procrastination and it's happening again this year. My final option is to take modafinil to force myself to study so fingers crossed, but I don't like my chances. The irritating thing is I know I'm an intelligent enough person, I just can't seem to force myself to do anything I don't want to do, no matter the consequences.

 

[Doktorin Zylinder]

I don't think I'm lazy. I do the things I need to do. I think a lot of use are thought as lazy because we don't produce a lot of tangible things, sometimes. Most people are of the mind that if they can't see it, it didn't require work. I started writing things down in a note program to show some people what I actually do all day instead of just read or analyze or design. Let's just say they were flabbergasted at the amount of work I do in a day.

 

[Oddity]

Most people are of the mind that if they can't see it, it didn't require work.

Welcome to the wonderful world of J types (especially the SJ types)